228
THE WEST SHORE.
September, 1681
DAI.I.KSCASCADKS RAILROAD.
The distance between The Dalle and
the Lower Cascade is, by railroad
measurement, 46 miles. The connt ruc
tion of a road lied along the bank of
the Columbia, between the two point
named, it work of greater magnitude
than the tourist, though a civil engineer,
would imagine. The road bed ha to
be made over, in, and through Mil id ba
salt rock for nine-tenth of the distance.
Much of thi rock rise almost perpen
dicularly from the river many feet in
the air. A track hit to be cut through
the tide of thi rock, involving much
drilling and the explosion of much
imwdcr. In cvcrnl place huge tec
tion of the rock have U-cn thrown
into the water. At other place deep
cut have lecn made in the olid rock.
At two place, tunnel, each over four
hundred feet in length, have liecn bored
through cliff of olid rock, w hich ric
abruptly for hundred of feet above the
water. At one place, known a Shell
Kock, the road had to lc constructed
over a mat of liding fragment of ba
saltic rock, which moved from near the
summit of the mountain w henever the
lnitlom rock was disturlied, a a pile of
wheat will lidc down from the top
when a khovel full I removed from the
Itoltom. To crown all, about four feet
from the ktiiface the fragment of rock
are rucased in ice, not ice that i clear
a crystal, but ice that hn Uin dicol
ored by the lock it embrace. Chief
Engineer ThicUcn it of the opinion
that, way back in that period when
the .while man (knew not of the cxit
ence of the Columbia river, there was
a w inter 0 uch great severity a to
feee the water which trickled through
t!l vt pile of bmken rock from the
mall stream that flow down the
mountain tide in rainy weather, and
that the un ha never mce had power
lo thaw it to a greater depth than a few
feet frotr. the surface. To iio thit
mas of sliding, ice-bcddcd link, tent
Htraty dam wcic made of timter at
aiiotik jMiintk aUive llie tt.uk, to retain
the rock a excavation were made, and
kolid wall of uiakoury were construct
cJ to keep the slippery ma in place
Thk work, jAcr much kkillful labor,
wa utHkfully performed, ami a solid
road bid made below the wall. There
arc numerous place requiring long
embankment lo le male, and many
heavy fill, while ilnre are a Urge num
ber of piece of trestle work required,
one bridge being eighty-five feet high
and evcn hundred feet long. 1 hen
the roHil Led i a very crooked one,
icing, n one engineer described it, a
ucccion of curves, many being quite
sharp. Taken a a whole, the road
bed lwtwccn The Dalles and Portland
i a very heavy one to construct. It is
estimated that the section between The
Dalle and the Cascades will cost an
average of $42,000 per mile, or a total
of $2,000,000. The work of construe
tion i being prosecuted with great
energy, there now being engaged in
the lalior aliout 4,000 Chinamen and
400 white men. TI.e work it of such
a character that few, if any, scrapers
can be used, and only about 200 horses
hone are employed, mostly in cart
work. Several steam drills are em
ployed in the rock work, and large
(uantitici of powder are daily used in
blasting. The engineer confidently
expect to have the grading between
The Dalle and the Cascades finished
before the first of Octolier, when the
grading force will lc set to work be
tween the Cascade and Portland
Nearly seventeen mile of track have
been laid, beginning at the Lower
Cascade and extending above She!
Rock. Trestle building and track lay
ing arc both being pushed a fast as
timber and rail can be obtained, and
it i confidently predicted that the track
will be laid and regular train running
to the Cascade before the first day of
next November. Several ship loads of
iron are daily expected to arrive at
Portland. At a point some 15 miles
below the Cacade, known a Table
Rock, the work of boring a tunnel 630
leet long 1 being proecuted, the work
men already being half way throueh
Chief Engineer Thiclsen expect to
nave the care running between Wall
Walla and Portland before New Year'i
day.
An idea of the magnitude of some
of the woii can lie obtained by imagin
mg a section of rock about 800 feet
long, 30 feet wide, and from 90 to 150
feet high, being blown into the river
by the S'inultineous discharge of seven
UisU, containing an aggregate of to.'
000 pound of Judon, pccic ot
giant powder. The passenger on the
boat tKtween The Dalle and the Ca.
Criilrt fl m I r.i 1 . U . ' .
" imercti mem in
viewing the operation o( loo grader,
whose numerous camps call to mind
the tented field." Daily the passen
gers on the up boats are saluted by the
firing of numerous saiad blasts, resem
bling a light cannonade, throwing
clouds of dust and smoke into the air
and sending showers of rock far out
into the river. When the road is fin
ished between The Dalles and Port
land, a ride over it will afford a treat
to lovers of mountain scenery, which
cannot be excelled in any other part of
the earth. Those of our readers who
have made the passage between the
points by steamers, and gazed in awe
and admiration upon the towering
mountains, upon whose heights tall
pines are dwindled into shrubs in diz
ziness of distance, between which flows
the mighty Columbia, will miss, in
riding the cars through the same re
gion, one-half of the picture, because
only the mountains on the Washington
side of the river will be seen from the
car window. But those who come
after us will find enough to admire in
half the magnificent scenery to com
pensate them for the expense of the
trip. The O. R. & N. Co. will, we
understand, put observatory cars on
this portion of the road for the benefit
of tourists.
A FRUIT COUNTRY.
A ride through the northern and
older settled part of the country at this
time will be apt to convince the most
skeptical that for fruit growing this
region is unsurpassed both as regards
quality and productiveness. Apples?
peaches, pears and plums grown here
will compare as regards quality and
size with any of the most favored lo
calities either west or south, in fact the
fruit attains a size here that would be
called enormous when compared with
fruit of the same varieties grown in
any of the eastern states. Trees are
breaking down with their enormous
load of fruit, so productive is the soil
and climate lor the growing of fruit.
Although but a few years has elapsed
since that branch of agriculture was
undertaken and the trees are all young,
numerous orchards will yield, at a low
estimate, five tons of apples to the
acre. Quite a number of trees will be
ruined this year, caused by the limbs
breaking from the enormous loads of
fruit they have to carry rtndlttan