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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1881)
The West Shoee. VOL. 7-No. 11. Portland, Oregon, Novombor, 1881. tmfn ! Ik Send this number of Tub Wbst Shore to your friends in other State. It will give them a correct idea of the general location and appearance of Portland. : NOVEMBER. There is no poetry about November unless some day breaks in with cheer ful glow and bracing air to wake life again to thoughts of pleasure. The plow has done its fallow work and waits lor spring. The Indian summer time is past. Bleak winds shiver through leafless orchards and drive the trooping dead leaves into the hollows of the fence and midst the thickets. They once made shadow for the Au gust sun and rustled to the summer breeze, . but now there is no call for shadow, and oak and maple throw oft" . their foliage that they may better battle with the cruel winter winds. The " houk "of the wild goose is only heard where some bt-latjd flock is hurrying to its southern home and all the migra tory birds have bid their summer homes good-by, the cold rime of winter touches the early day with frostwork fringes; the morning sun comes coldly up the southern sky or else the leaden clouds drop their rain in gloomy silence. The chill of November's breath makes one love the evening fireside after the working day. The farmer haul home his winter wood and the city dweller lays in stores for months to come. Jtut the perfect year must have November in its train to con trast with the blushing spring and gorgeous summer. Somlcr firs and sullen pines throw their shadows on the landscapes, yet nature is not dead but rests her forces as if in sleep, ill her promises have been filled. Smelling buds crew into bloom and leaf, and the growing fruit has ripened and ken gathcreJ. After the toil of spring time and harvest man, too, enjoys the. pro ducts of his labor, that the lately fal lowed fields are green with growing erain. and through all the realm of . i i t...ii. nature, bud and root ana sccu ami rest in the soil of mother cartn, tuny matured, waiting coming ray that shall warm them to new life and bloom ami fruitage. rOKTUNI) OK TO DAY. The history of Portland, from the time the fute of its name hung on the turn of a copper cent down to the present time, has been so often in print that it has become as familiar to Ore- gonians as the omnipresent splendor of Mount Hood or the boast of their never-failing crops. The Portland of to-day can he seen for itself and its growth felt by its citixens. In as brief an article as the nature of this magaxinc demands it will be impossible to con solidate all the points of Interest in our city, as it exists at this immediate writ ing, but it has nevertheless been sug gested that something entertaining might be prepared, of interest at least, to those not residents of Portland. With no idea of presenting a methodical, statistical and exhaustive description has this sketch been prepared, but rather with the purpose of showing In a random statement of facts, something after a bird's-eye-view pattern, the present status of our metropolis. Situated upon rolling lands, the drain age of Portland is easily directed, and its mortuary report shows of what great sanitary benefit to its population has been the selection of such a town site. Independent of this, where is the city for which Nature has spread out a more lautiful panorama, constantly ii view? The hoary-headed sentinel that tower up Into the cloud "and wear their cap of snow in the very presence of the regal sun," tha grand water-courses, the fir-fringed monn tains the fertile valleys are a daily feast for eye and soul. Around us wt have gardens perennially in bloom and tree green throughout the year, and houses free from the icy blasts of Mix climes. As a business centre Portion I i without rival on the Pacific Co eicept San Francisco. Her Front an First street stores art a wonder i visitors immense in dimension and i actual trade. There is no city in it. United State of not more than three time the population that dor anything Pt . I SlUfW MM . I MM. ke as much business as Portland, or that has expended more money in the ast two years on new imiulings; ami no city anjwhcre Inthe world where to people are richer fr fdfit.i, and no here in the United Stale where they are leu burdened with taxes. Portland's stores are vast warehouses for the entire Northwest, from which the merchant f Oregon, Washington, Alaska and luho to a great extent draw their sup- lie, and the city itself Is the only foreign shipping port on the Paclllc Coast, north of the California tnrtrop- lis of real importance. Situated ad- antngeously at the outlet of the rich Willamette Valley, and practically at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, the fertile regions mined by those streams pay tribute ml empty the treasure of their field nto our lap, year after year. A the centre of the Trans-continental Railroad Company' system of transportation, with ocean strainer plying between here ami California, with steamboat ami railroad line running north, south and east, and two separate tines to connect us directly with the Atlantic Stale rapidly working toward Portland for their Pacific terminus, who can wonder that much of our real estate has almost loubled in value within two year and that there I practically speak In not a 1 welling house or store within the imils of the city for rent r Our schools would be an oi iiwnnit to any city, ami the cost of uiiiiulaiuing them is less r pupil than in almost any other place. The lira department consists of six steam fire engine torn panic and one hook and ladder i well managed and satisfactory to prorly holder and insurance men. The tmlire force I efficient, but scarcely large enough in mimWrs, for the growth of our population; while the municipal government ! simple ami economically conducted. The principal street are paved with Ilelglan block, and many of the other with macadam, and are all well lighted with gas, and coal-oil lamp in lite outskirts. A yet we have but a single street car company, but one embracing the principal thoroughfare has been recently orgnled ami will s