'44. .
THE WEST SHORE.
August, 1 88a
TO THE SPOKANE AND BEYOND.
A few moments before 9 a. m., on a
bright clear day, we left Portland. Step-
ping anonra the "Wide West ' we re
Went" re-echoed over the hills and far
away, and we were
e shortly headin(7 ""'e lurtner on wesaw - Kooster Kocr
.1 .l- lirMi t . .. nroudlv hftine its head into snace
"""" uic Tinuimeiie. in an nour tne r '
" West" Rlided into the Columbia amidst fnn&lng firs and loft Pines
and soon drew up to the miaint old wh'le near its base were the white cones
town of Vancouver with its yellow- .glneers tents-mere specs in com
m.t.,i u .i i parison. We had seen the " Hen and
nuiiu nun uiuc tuuicu-souiiers 1 ,
On the wharf we saw General Miles chickens" nestIed on the bosom of the
the renowned Indian whinner, affably
1 i --j
talking with two young fellows re
cently educated at the expense of their
IT I m.
untie, i ney wore more style and
gooa clonics than their commander.
One was sucking shellac from the rn!
of a switch cane and the other was
posing Tor the benefit of any ladies on
the boat who might be idiotic enough
to take him in their range. The
whihtlc blew; the mate with a voice as
harsh as fate a voice of guttural thun
der, ra.ned out on the quaking air;
Aw-w-1 clcaar-r sir-r-r" ! ! ! It was a
moving voice. It moved the boat off a
length or so, and again she cut her way
up me Columbia. Hcfore us loomed
Mount Hood; white, silent. irlinin,.
To the left arose the dome of St. Helens
flimly white, shadowy blue and gloomy.
"u '"K" inese mountains are, it is
easy to say, but hard to determine.
There have been so many tall lies told
on the one hand, that the low down
modest lies on the other haven't had
half chance. Farmers and immigra
lion people intent upon settling the
country, assert that they are nothing
but mounds, and that their two-mile-and-a-half
height is a mere optical de
lusion and a snare. Poet, and scenery
devotees declare they are higher than
mhition. A Portland hotel man on
the lH)at to whom we presented the
MUcMion, lcwildcrcd us by saying
" 1 e. younc man. thru -. l: ,. ,
" - v...v Higu nut luiuier President nf K. r n
c must have en," For several miles Pacific, whose dis 1 1 rf
avne.,Kouvrrihr nr.... ...... j.., . . u,Sflstrus failure in
,, . , -n.irrs 01 uepioreu by everv cr,i
"if UMUml.u .ne .lottd U'liU " I in ll... !,.. ... " man
'.viuscs, each ornamented wuh a lone
A 4p0ttsl d8 0n th5
left, or ashmgton Territory side, wc
pavlWaKhougaLana.,,! ;j
half-cooked corn meal. It is one of
those fervently iuggM,ive ,lf, whjch
th Stnnlfiim Chinook language
such a soothing charm of adaptability
a name wnich hts a place witn an tne
exactness of a Jersey basque. A drum
mer on the " v est with a sinister
ccucii a vsarm tatherlv we come trom
Captain John Wolfe, a man as staunch smile and a five-cent ciar lnformedus
as his pretty craft and as true as the laws that "Washogal" 81&nified " wash your
tit n c 1 1 1
of mathematics. The whistle of the p81, BCIore we naa recovereu
vv'i r..-u-.i ....u. u:n 1 f. breath he had gone to take a nap.
our
A
o r.
ittle further on we saw " Rooster Rock"
fair Potomac, and a pang of regret shot
into our soul to note this wide separa-
tion ot family altars, caused by the ruth
less inexorable fiat of nature. Almost
opposite arose the trraceful scintillating
r . "
outlines and bared breast of "Cape
Horn," sparkling in trickling streams
and enlivened by plume-like sprays,
uasnea ny Droken rainbows, dizzied
by their leap and ending in mists.
Nothing on the Hudson
The crumbling Palisades fade from re
colection upon seeine this and th at.
lenaant vagaries of nature that make
.1. . 1 1
me Columbia so unrivaled in her seen-
ery. Pushing on we come abreast the
beautiful falls of Multnomah with tUa.v
two grand leaps of nearly a thousand
i mho tne nasin below. Above and
below we catch glimpses of water
angered, wrathful and foam!
down like torn white-skinned serpents
then dropping from ledge to ledge, and
below almost at our feet, guiltely creep
into the Columbia. In point of fact
c w more beautiful falls in one-half
hour on the Columbia than .....
witness on the streets of Portland in a
month, during the very best orange
peel season. Standi
a8.f pushed from the very center of the
earth .s- CasUe Rock," a round con'
cal shaft nsmg with an awful suddeness,
and pleasmc with be.n.tifnt , '
" Castle Rock" !. ,1, J"""ry.
fV l r lhe ProPcrty f Jay
Cooke, frim.r Presi(lcnt of J
pi build aSDlra, rftj....j,r
insr am 1 .u. . . V wma
" ivocjc, from base
dome, and there Wu . c.. 6
and men aft K .u, . mice
to
and for miles above, the scenery is sub
lime,1 and in its loftiness and height in
comparable. Here the Columbia in
some age long ago, forced asunder the
mountains and swept grandly through
on its march to the sea. Rising from
the waters the mountains stretch up
ward at a sharp angle . nearly four
thousand feet. Indented here and there
worn and gorged for ages are deep fern
clad chasms with leaping creeks, mak
ing their sinuous pathways to the Col
umbia. We halt a moment at the
lower end of the old Cascades portage
then, proceeding towards Bonneville
we see the Cascades Rapids dashingon,
whirling, winding, writhing; eddying
in and circling out; halting, retreating,
then rushing on; attacking in columns
all that bars their way, dashed back,
then flanking around. Over boulder
and rock and ledge the waters swiftly
sweep like things of life, to live; of
hope, not fulfilled: of toil, not ended;
of ambition not satisfied. So it will be
until centuries unborn shall come and
frnt until iican R A nfVtnnv cliiH Iih.a
become old, and her great-great-greatest
grand children shall have passed in their
chips; so it will be until the almost
silent tread of the Mongolian race shall
dimly echo o'er our mouldering graves;
and so it will be, until the Lord
knows but He won't communicate
Congress shall have given us dollars
enough to complete the Cascades Locks.
Therein may be found the key to the
whole situation. Up to this point the
attention of the passengers, including
the humble incoming settlers, had been
so thoroughly given over to the erand-
eur around them, that we didn't feel
like breaking in on their pleasure by
an attempt at interviewing. But after
leaving the "West" and her genial pains
taking officers and boarding the wait
ing train at Bonneville we found a few
opportunities to exercise our national
qualities, in order to get at the true in
wardness of the rush of settlers from
other parts. Near the water cooler was
h tawny-haired father with a little tow
headed fellow across his lan. his wife
at his side. To the father we put the
ucsi'i)n :
" Where are you from?"
" I'm from Kansas h rpnlied. as a
shadow of sad recollection streaked
across his face. ' You txnect to settle
here?"
either side of hrve'atT
yver at this pomt,
we continued. " I'm goin' to
try it up 'bove (Wally Wally, I've a