December, 1881
THE WEST SHORE.
would have cost him at least $5 in cash,
five hours of hard traveling, at his own
risk of person and team, and the loss
of three hours for business, and much
discomfort and exposure of health.
With such facts the fares are over
one hundred per cent, and the business
opportunities are over one hundred per
cent, more, and the personal insurance
and comfort probably over one
hundred per cent, more in favor of the
railroads instead of against them.
THE GAIN BY RAILROADS.
This 300 per cent, gain in travel is a
factor, which can be proved on any
ordinary line. The railroad, as a rule,
improves traveling facilities, safety and
business power fully three hundred per
cent. This per cent, can be measured
up still higher by the opportunity to
meet correspondents at stations, do
business and move on by the same
train or the next and repeat the opera
tion for hundreds and even thousands
of miles and return home from such
long trips in a -few days, which cost
half as mary months and twice as much
money at a loss of three-fourths of the
business power.
These figures are below the facts, as
applied to the era of no railroads, com
pared with the present growing advan
tages of them in the upper basin of the
Columbia especially in the winter.
FREIGHTS.
The charge is made that freight rates
are up to the old charges by teams, at
least in the recent advances on the N.
P. R. R. lines, and that the gain, if any,
is only in time and safety of carriage,
It would be well for any man, who
knows how, to compare the former
schedules with the present and show
the public the exact figures and the ex
act loss or gain under the three modes
the pack train, the mule train and the
railroad train.
Grave charges ought to be sustained
by figures and facts. It is lor the m
tcrest of every town, family and person
to know how the case stands, and it i
of the same interest to the railroad
companies who have come among u
with their vast capital, and also to the
mule trains and old pack trains, if they
are to bo recalled by the commun.t.ci
who begin to bewail their departure.
KKHBCTATIO OF ITOKM AD CX n'
- Tfio 'w ofclimate U said In t "
known. Yqu VH ,a M
experienced captain on one of the Co-
lunibia river steamers, "what the
weather will be any winter." Last
winter it was cold early and long. The
ice stopped navigation several weeks,
even months. Snow covered the
mountains and spread over the hill.
Herds and flocks died for the want of
food and water in the northern half of
Eastern Oregon and in all of Eastern
Washington. Hut there is a luw of
climate fixed and sure as the tide, and
it applies to our Northwest const, and
to the interior. The air currents and
cold or warm waves, and visible and
invisible conditions of the vapor are all
subject to the aerial law, as the river
and ocean currents are subject to the
law of attraction, rarefaction and revo
lution. It is true that the entire details
of the law arc unknown, yet we know
enough to forecast seed time and bar
vest, cold and heat, with certainty and
regularity which successive years at
test. More accurate and wider held
of observation, will enable physicists to
collate more facts to compare with
those already known and to educe new
factors, which are involved 111 the tiui
venal laws of our climate and ccc
ially those which apply to the ticr
Columbia liasin.
It is always true when a room is
hi.ni.!) thai cold currents press in and
condense vapors.
It is sure that cold mountain air cur
rents will flow into the wanned basin
of the upper Columbia ami meet the
ocean currents that flow in that direc
tion. Changes will ensue quickly. A
few hours will turn a warm day Into a
sharply cold night. aprs invisible
are apt, in spring, to be condensed sutl
dculy into cloud burst and plough
through the hill from "P I-'"0"'
with a rush of torrent. 1 ht clear
U mute sure in summer
nd autumn to shade on into a iwuigni
hare and cloud which vamshr with
the rising sun ami recst itself va
riant form in mild w.nicr also. 1 w
beauty of thi process, which throw
..Ami vfiil over the setting un, am
UlllS - . !
Hows only the passage of it red am.
l-.st retracted rays, spreading royal
w-r live western sky, 1 unsii
passed in splendor, a. it i. brilliant with
illustrations oi siM.nng pnniT.i-..
The railroad town of Sprague now
contains oo ho"" nd more are Mng
built M rapklty a the weather
supply of lumber will permit,
A IIIKDS'-EYK VIEW OF PORTUXHON
CHRISTMAS EVE.
The sun was fast descending toward
the blue waves ot the ravine. A
bower had just left pearl of rainbow
tint, upon the green boughs of giant
fir. The velvet carpet of green smiled
agam, as. if returning thank for the
blessing of rain. The sun ceped out
among the fleecy clouds, that passed
ike great flake of down, between
heaven and earth, and dropjied hi
brightest ray on the beautiful land.
cape Mow. Standing on a spot 500
feet above the surrounding plain, I
gazed Uxm a scene which would have
made a landscape painter wild with
Might. The time was Christina I've,
the latitude 46" north, yet the air wa
balmy as spring, and in my heart, with
feeling of twrfect application, I
hummed the old tune, M December's
as pleasant as May." Tor the benefit
of the dweller on the plain, to whom
the grandeur of mountain scenery I
unknown, who look upon a M green
Christina" as an omen of ill, ami who
isten, at such times, to the tinkle of the
sleigh bell, and shiver In the chilly
embrace of' old llorras," I will attempt
riefiy to outline the picture before me,
A range of hill attout Hon feet high,
describing the arc of 1 circle, hound
the view to the west ami I covered by
a heavy growth of fir and vine-maple.
At some place the descent I preclpl-
tou, and the cove formed by this range
of hills, slope from thence gradually
to the bank of the Willamette river.
In this cove, and along the west shore
of the river, stands the city of Portland,
with it beautiful street bordered by
mansion where many prorou
family revel In (usury ami wealth.
Many an older city with ten time it
population might well feel jeatotM of
the giant stride toward f reatne, now
Mug made by thi queen or the great
Northwest. Though she I allowed In
claim only Jti souls, the eye of lite
world are ujkhi her, ami her rmsd to
fiint I already paved. No city hi the
t'nlon i spending proportionately on
fifth a much money In beautifying ami
improving her treet ami other fcilf
tir for buimr a Portland. The
Willamette sweej in a broad curve
round to the east ami north to afford
this mUtre rom In pt e-portWm to her
prospective demand, ami bear upon It
rippling surfacMh'P ,r7 Mtion