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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1881)
January, 1881. THE WEST SHORE. a few drops. The Cascade range of mountains form an eternal lofty barrier piercing the clouds, against whose evergreen western sides the watery clouds impinge and weep for the bene fit of Webfoot. The clouds that float higher pass on, wrapping the denuded basalt of Mt. Hood in many a fathom of the purest white, and in winter dropping snowy down on Hood River valley from ten inches to four feet deep. The atmosphere in summer, which, in Portland, is stagnant, damp and sultry, and at The Dalles is hot, arid and horri ble, as that which sweeps the burning sands of Sahara, is balmy,soft and invigs orating here; always cool enough to make it pleasant for harvesters, and cool down the combativeness of the rattle snakes, which are numerous, as they lie basking in the sunshine, so that not one that I have heard of has bitten man or other brute here since the world began. People in passing up and down the Columbia have often told me they saw something different in the atmosphere as soon as they struck this valley, from anything they have seen elsewhere. The springs, though cold, sweet and clear as the fabled springs of Pagan Muses are impregnated with mineral, though not prcccptible to the taste. 1 have a spring strong enough to run a mill ; sweet cold and limpid, which nevertheless, turns all the wood that lies in its waters into solid stone in a few years. There in here, us in all other countries, a wide difference in the waters for another spring that heads within thirty rods of this seems to be freighted with. death to all who drink it. I once read in an old Latin book that waters partook of the char acter of the man who owned the land on which they took their rise. If this should be so, in Hood River or in the hills that surrounded the throne of Priam, the rule would have an exception, as also in the artesian wells of Michigan, where no two springs are alike in a single town, all healing, though only forty rods apart and owned by different men. Whether attributable to the water, the atmosphere, or to the pure society of Hood River, I cannot tell; but I do know that I have never yet struck a spot where invalids mend as they do here. Infirmity comes hobbling on crutches; and often, though aged and spine crooked, flings away iU wooden! supports, stands erect and goes away cured; or settles down and marries a young girl, uud would you believe it? raises a family. I said the climate was sui gtntris I might say the same of the soil, or whatever it is that makes or orchards produce better apples than grow in the Willamette valley, superior peaches to those brought from California, liner almonds than come from Chili or Los Angeles, and all kinds of fruits you can mention, equal to any you can find out side of the tropics. The blight has however nearly ruined the peach crop for three years in succession, while the hard winter of 1879 has killed many of the almond trees. We live in hopes that the gods will cease frowning soon. There is no country on the face of the cartji that has not its drawbacks. Hood River has its share, but as few us any other country I have yet seen. It is take everything into account,thc bright est and best spot I have yet seen. The atmosphere reminds me of Chili in South America so translucent that Mt. Adams, sixty miles away, and Mt. llood, twenty-live miles distant, seem at your very door. Smoke and fog that intervene in the Willamette val ley, and gives an indistinct outline, are unknown here; and we sec these Mountain Kings, as they behold the distant snows of the Andes in Santiago, Chili, through an atmosphere that brings them to your very feet, and causes the artist to come here for the finest sketches he can get. The scenery is, in my eye, superior, more grand, awful majestic and beauti ful than anything I have witnessed 011 the Hudson, among the Andes, in the Sandwich Islands, or in the wilds of Central America. The loveliest and most enchanting is from Wind River Mountain, and Shell Rock opposite to it to Hood River. Arriving at Hood River Landing and reaching the bluff one mile back, you see Mt. Adams fifty miles to the north, white with eternal snow. White Salmon River, (named by the Indians from the fact that f very fall it is so full of sal mon with white flesh and destitute of fat, that you can scarcely put in a stick, without touching one,) empties into the Columbia opposite the landing, while Hood River empties itself a mile above. The mountains on either side are covered with graft, with an occasional '5 clump of evergreen. Cattle, horse and sheep roam over the mountains, nibble ul the bunch grass and grow fat. The scenery is to a poet's eye, beautiful, grand and lovely. To n man who is hunting a place to raise corn and hogs, it is not so attractive. Thia country seems to have been made for poets and invalids who seek for health and new life. A poet, even far from home and friends, may feel like Tom Moore, when standing on the banks of the Schuylkill ! "Oh nature, tlioiiyb Uovx-d ami bright sro thy O'er llicliniw of aenllon enclmnl Inuly tttruwni Vet faint arc they to the luntre thai i.luyi, In s smile (rum a heart thai li fondly uur own." AN ORKtiON SUNRISE. Lust Wednesday morning, Dec. 8lh, the lovers of the beautiful who were fortunate enough to have shaken the drowsy God of slumber from their eye. lids, betimes, had the opportunity of witnessing one of the most brilliantly beautiful morning dawns that ever broke upon the sight of man. The air was as balmy as in spring-time, and light fleecy clouds floated in th East, cm horizon, growing gradually more dense towards thu West till lost in a somber belt of dark and frowning clouds that spanned the extreme West' cm view. This was the aspect of the heavens just before sunrise. Soon long waves of dreamy light threw their beams upon the huttcm skies, tipping the cloudlet's edges with lines of gold en splendor, heralding the approach of the god of day. The scene for the next few moments bailie the power of the pen or the artistic genius of the brush. Lighter grew the Kastern ho rizon and more densely dark and low ering frowned the Western. Now lines of light came creeping Westward and the whole mid-heavens shimmered in a lield of kaleidoscopic beauty ami fjoldcn grandeur. The wholo of the lorizon is bhicd with gold and em erald flushings, as from Last to Wet the King-(Jod sent .his shining lances to rift the angry and sodden clouds that mocked the inspiring scene. Fleecy clouds that hung below this dismal masa of rebellious vapor, blushed till from their leathery edges, globules of fire darted their piercing ray and hid the hideous presence or the enemies of the the coming day. (AWei.) A hundred families can find good homes in the different Vullies on the North Chahalam, Clatsop county. The land is rich and some of it In entirely clear of timber.