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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1883)
THE WEST SHORE. J anua7. 1883. WHERE KOLLS THE OREGON." I erd, but it will be as soon as Oregon becomes a Pfb uii?"1 Idal. near thecros,. Pacifiq Railway, failed to discover Z, UnioB hundred and forty feet. Th0n, ' A ilvmr nirrftil (lows With nnrontrollrj mrandcrinrs '. Bim soothed, in ill mv wanuerinr." During a recent visit to the Atlantic (eaboanl the writer hail a very pleasant interview with om of the greatest travelers ami most noted politic economists of our day, the principal topic beity the destiny of the retrion west of the Mississippi. Among other thingi, 1 asked the savant what natural division of North America he considered the richest in those important elements which go to make up great commonwealths. "The land 'Where Rolls the Oregon,'" he quickly replied, and 'hen deliberately added, " I have for years marveled that reirions to the south of it, who rricources are not to I compared for a moment wilh those it possesses have to easily seemed the rexnderance of attention. Why, m, out t. realor so endowed that wonderful north est that children now born will there see devel oped an industrial woild like our own New Enr? land, a cul and iron empire not inferior to I ennsylvania, a score of wheat fields like Illinois half a dozen fiuitful Iiclawares, and a precious metal kingdom whose like the earth has never known: "WHY IT IS." It is really not so wonderful, as the learned gentleman seemed to think, that even such a country has remained undeveloped until these closing stars of the nineteenth centarv. TV kulh and southwest had two hundred years the start in practical exploration, a vast advantage in accessibility, as the lines of commerce have hith erto Sren drawn, and an incalculable precession on account of eaily settlement of ownership. The .oiumta, rtrst named the "Oregon," was only discovered by Capt. Cray in l792 and my noble K'nt'ainer. yet living. rrmem!rs well when Napoleon Hurururte, who ils-m did business on a Usu of hard cash, sold Bs all the region i, drams, wilh an additional area large enough to .vroTTreu rus k.rrvl empire, for $1 5,000,00a After boying it fo, sxsng (which transaction has ,wV" """H " region amorg other nations ol little account) from an emperor who was gerai y cwvssdrred able to deliver his goods, we Hrot nraiiy half a century in getting a clear title. P" rt of indignities to befveaped by savage and civilued ties. It tstly tl.rtyre years uncc the wl ole of this " lo n-W Mates. As late as iSjt . prv...,, !rT lhe l Rted Su,o tM( k Hvk ojrg tbe erect of ooe solitarv M CoJasnKa , .. 1W . ""Ji saw : ca.sysbew or of th, UW can aevet , . . . s;ks .nj srttkrtnent -Si r r-rt WWJ hare a . v , WcsWtl He.'J" - w OMtwat to Rita's R, We o th, AtUK aaJ ... sT V IV .v. .V- " " gtc. V r sew. r lie lived to see four great commonwealths carved from Oregon, each of which can yet be 1 . It 1 subdivided into six larger ana naiuraiiy ncner 5tse5 than thnt which M him to the senate: and the Orecon eonpressman of 1881 will be able to ride frura Portland to our natioual capital in a palace car in six days. AN' OUTLINE. The two meat streams which form the Colum bia are known as Clarke's Fork, on the north. and the Lewis' Fork, or Snake, on the south. These rivers and their tributaries permeate the vast, unique and valuable region lying between the KOcky mountains and the Pacific ocean, bounded on the south by the forty-first parallel and on the north by the fifty-third, the area posi tively embraced in this drainage being 400,000 square miles. All of Oregon, W ashington and luano and portions of .Montana, yomine. Utah and Nevada belrrg to this empire of this north west. This counliy with its present sprinkling of jS5,ooo inhabitants' is larger than Maine, New Hampshire, ermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York. New lersev. Del aware, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, where neatly 25,000,000 of people reside, As a great geologist and ceocranher once wrote " The Atlantic coast, with its crowded peculation. its retined civilization, its great cities, its seats of learning and stupendous industrial operations. lorms only a fringe on the eastern border of this vast domain. OXE GREAT RIVER. The Columbia ranks with the prmteu ri r ine world, from its dual birth among the most nagnincent scenes of earth in the heart nf vi. lowstane National Park, and that empire of western empires, Montana, down through its two thousand five hnndred miles of irresistible sweep to our western sea, it is an ivenueof wealth and wonders. For 300 miles from the Pacific inland it averages abont two miles .0 breadth, reaching over six miles near its mouth, hngnseers estimate that it carries off a volume of . little ,f any le tha ,he Mississi L Its liritM-ric ,l,;.. 1 . . ' r f-t iK.i V i " " lmafiined from the U ,Uvs . k" ,tS inaease !unW of the ll XsT F10 .,he great republic h ".Veo?TnTw r ls ixmiles Z n7C::"'aV. 1 : , . """'"foranversteam. b.'e waters rrsr), iv, "VU- 1 nese nav - Bri SL260 m'IeS ,n, region feeder from the JXw n JXZ lnakes Peal silver state of NevadaMlongTudT"'11' south of a beautiful l,l-l.t n J J 500 miles from wlvich (W ,e "'m 7 tary of the Columbia, Uj$g3 common reservoir. The Salmon rt1 Boise, Payette, Weiserand WoTrivSl in the order of their z .1 the north. The two firlt name I. the Delaware at Easton. The Snake ble for too miles ahnv. it. i. .: ..r "!?VIRJ- " . , j""tuou Willi C arlr'. Fork, and for 200 miles in the heart of S 1,000 miles from the sea, as well fo stretches in othpr 1 also affords a considerable stretch of rSfe An interesting bit nf extent of inland navigation made possibl? by the w.uual,n u, lna or tne steamer Shoshone. It was hn It in iRAA c... . - - . . ."w, uU onaxenver. at a point 90 miles from Boise City, Idaho, and for a number of years ran on the Snake to within 12? miles of Salt jik- almnci ,,j. .1.. .1 , of the Wasatch. The venture at that early dar Droved unnrofitahK anil V r ' , ' reefs and rapids in the Blue and Cascade mow,. uuus, uicsiauncn nine cralt was run safely don to the sea, a distance by river of 1,000 miles. CLARKE'S FORK. The eastern snnrr nf CAJ Prt-l. !. r. . viuma iiut u jjcjf Lodge nver, rising in western Montana within 1 few steps of springs which feed the Missouri. Here, for the mimnu nf urqctitnr nnA l- JA ' --- r-.r- u. 111 UK TO! held found at this (Deer Lodge) pass of the Rock; mountains, parties have dug a ditch only eighteen feet deeD at the ann nf th nacc ihrmmk i,;,i. , . I . jw .,.WUU ""Ml the waters of the Missouri have been turned into me waters ot the Columbia the waters. of the Gulf of Mexico into the Pacific nmn in nnm. tion sometimes called highway robbery, fheie are those bold enough to predict that thedaymiy come when engineering skill shall give witet transportation by way of these remarkable stream 6.000 milfe thmiitrh I Ua k.. f tU IUM. mMl - IIIV UMIl Ul I III. IUUI IW mountain, ranges of our continent, uniting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. At present iheir navigable waters are onlv Ala miles anart. For a thousand miles Clarke's fork iweepi h-.j IV HIV. UUI11IVIC3I, i.iusaii)( Ml IlliV wv RritiK Pn:n. l.i. :,. cn.i t..h . . V .Tl. iTi,IVJUJ MIIU1C UIUISIII 11a IIIWI UHH southward to its nnion with Lewis Fork or the C ... .... .1 snake. Joined 100 miles from its source by tne ttuLr . . 1 .L i...... "'"wwi stream as large as ine nncgiw"; Salamanca the current takes the name of Hell gate; soon swelled by the beautiful Bitter Root, it is roll! it,. VC ;n. t. . ,1.- ..,,, Unntinl 1 ii. i.AiaauuM, ileal lire nwitiw ... n. boundary, after absorbing that magnificent tot- rnt K. L'l.tl 1 I .1 l.,.i;r,il PmuI 1 , a miiicsu, aim vuc luuic iu,iu. d'Oreille, it for a time speeds on under the " I Cal title last tnvrn. and when fairlv aCrOH the D-:.:-i. 1- r- . n , e .t j:,,.ni lEwts poai: cii evif. H!T ofthe Columbia is uuiisa line 11 joins a vast ooou irom 111c uuum north it is generally called the Columbia, although many reserve that more diimified name until It has finally mingled its waters wilh Lewis Fork or the Snake. In that far northern region it absorbi thp k"nit,n r.M.n ..- Un.. ac lk. MissittiptN ahnvw s p.i ,j L-,Cim Wathinpton the uove au raui, ana in usiem nasning.nu Snnk.n. volume tbifl Le.k r.. o , . "K '-o,ota is ,Lr-:v: :r"rr ;."Tl. r-ML v ' 1 1 .-vnaci. i 1 1 1 Mil, 1 innniuu. i Mr niciiiu, ' vi, wmcn rises m. n . 7. . . be m.t, - ' 0 mong n ?Z.JZJ!!?? Uwsone ZZ Ivunu from whh 1. ,he yS??f& ribuof wrth.nsL-hi.v-vJlw ID eIIowstone. and GU Ca hfTlT:' h mlet of " son sweris south., i -rs.es as l0 ...S. ? hve humlred Again. rwmV:;":' richest tS bourxtary 7 "onhward to .Hen S ?!! JJfnoand Oregon it r&C wh ,heW.V" rf the LoB0ll. h,ul l:i-,Je,"Intonnthe .Twiatio. of the tlfc rd a Wenx-luw Val im mnA nlhrr rivrn. anV ODC f "hich would compare favorably in size with the . . r - 1 I Ac IrMdf piuuiiocni sircama 01 jsew-r-ngiaiiu. , noted, its extieroe northern tributary, Canoe nrer, rises in latitude 53. Feeders of the Cc4uW n that vicinity rise within a stone's throw of u Saskatchewan, whose waters finally reach Hiw Bay, 1,000 miles northeast, and the Athalfl hich after some 2,000 miles of northward win 'ngs enters the Arctic ocean as the Maaes nver. Tkn. is.:. r..i r -i.k nermeit0 mn iiirei VI wviu r . region so vast in extent and so singular in co mat ion tnat it alette, ef all M nttrs oj - . - . I t . I .1. . mMlfT etUt "w, mamas m imt grmt - : enttrimg tkt Atlantic Taiu and ArctittttM " tk iaf 1 w XH na M ml --. .a. ina . a ifAOV
