The West Shoee.
VOL. 9 No. 7.
I k Smnt. Futiltshsr,
( U2 from, 81,
Portland, Oregon, July, 1883.
Bnltftl t th
fr Annum, Mhtgl opl,
Loo, I 1 u,
Craigie Sharp, Jr.,
Is fully authorized to transact business for this
publication.
SPECIMEN NUMBER.
Any one receiving this copy of Tug West
Shore will please consider it an invitation to be
come a regular subscriber.
of civilization, and has united It with the great
industrial and commercial centeis of the woild,
It should be observed as a general holiday,
Great preparations are now being made for the
coming state fair. It will be in every respect the
best and most satisfactory ever held In Oregon,
and will no doubt attract thousands from all over
the coast. Our country Is full of strangers who
are here to "spy out the land." They want to
see what inducements we have to offer them to
bring their energy and capital here and aid in de
veloping our great resources. Hundreds of these
will visit the fair, and we can promise them they
will not be disappointed in the display.
Hitherto the Pacific coast has received but a
small proportion o(.the foreign immigration direct,
though many have finally reached us by gradual
progression westward from state to state. Now,
however, the conditions are changing. The ad
vantages of the coast are being recognized In
Europe, and with the completion of the Northern
Pacific better facilities for reaching the extreme
west will be afforded. Advices from both Sweden
and Norway are to the effect that large numbers
are preparing to emigrate to America and settle
upon vacant lands on this coast. The Scandina
vians are industrious, honest and peaceable, and no
class of immigrants can be more desirable. They
invariably bring money enough to start themselves
well in a new country, and seldom seek to alter
the moral, social or political customs of the people
who offer them homes in their midst.
The third of September is the day set for driv
ing the last spike that binds the rail uniting the
two ends or the Northern Pacific. President
Villard with a special train of officials and Invited
guests will he present at this completion of the
most important undertaking ever carried to a sue
cessful termination in America. That the road
will he finished at the appointed time there can
scarcely be a doubt, as the moderate rate of a
mile per day on each end will accomplish this
with several days to spare. About the fust of
August the line from the east will reach the mouih
of Little Blackfoot, the point of junction with
the Utah and Notthern, md then eastern Montana
will have nil connection with San Francisco, to
be followed a month later by a route to Portland
and Pugct sound. It is the expectation to run
President Villard's special train clear through to
Seattle, and In order to do this, great exertions
are being made to complete the road fiom Port
land to Kalama and the extension from New
Tacoma to Seattle. It will be a joyful da
throughout the northwest when this great enter
prise Is consummated, an enterprise that has trans
formed it froaa a frontier wilder nswe to the
COLUMMA RIVER BAR.
Much has been said mil written about the bar
at the entrance to Columbia river, its effect upon
the commerce of this region, the duty of con
gress to make ample appropriations for Its Im
provement, and the character of work that
should be done upon it, but we now propose to
consider it simply from a historical and artistic
point of view.
For several centuries after the discovery of
America, it was the general opinion that there
was a northern passage from the Atlantic. It
was at first supposed that Columbus had
simply stumbled upon a large Island, and that
this could be circumvented by going either to
the north or south, Gradually the Cslxiis and
other explorers, coasting along In both directions,
increased the knowledge of geographers, and It
was realized that America was a vast continent.
The belief In the existence of such passages be
came stronger after the discovery of the Pacific
ocean by Vasco Nunes de Ilalhoa in 1513.
Guided by an Indian to the summit of the mount
ains, he gazed westward uon those waters " be
yond America," of which so much had been
said but whose existence had, till then, Ircrn
simply a matter of conjecture. Magellan, the
Portuguese navigator, started in 1 5 19 on thai
famous voyage which added more' to the knowl
edge of geographers than even that ol Columbus
himself. Three years later his vessel, the A'V
torin, returned, with a log bonk containing a
record of the commander's death at the Philippine
Islands. It had passed through the Straits of
Magellan, called by the discoverer the Straits of
the Ten Thousand Virgins, had sailed nut uimn
the Pacific and completely circumnavigated the
glole. It was by him the ocean was named,
After struggling for sixly-thrre days off tae
Horn, where the tides rose and fell thirty feet,
beset by tempests and I willed by adverse currents,
he sailed out upon an unexplored ocean so quiet
and calm that he called it the " Pacific." Many
a p or shipwrecked mariner has since doubted
the propriety of the title. Now that a southern
passage had been found, opening up the long
sought route to the Indies, the Cathay of Marco
Polo and the Island of Ciango, the belief in a
similar one to the north was considerably
strengthened. The English on the Atlantic
coast and the Spaniards on the Pai:iic, starting
from the Mexican possessions conquered by
Cortes, sought in vain for the fabled Straits of
Anisn. For three centuries the search wss pros-
edited intermittently with long srawms nf lnc-
tivity, until It resulted in the knowledge that the
nearest approach to such a pswoge was the Co
lumbia river.
Disappointment, which he named Cape San
Koqur, and ohcrved Immedialcty soulh of it,
in latitude 46, an opening In tlie land which ha
believed to be either a harbor or the mouth ol a
river. He made noell'.nl to enter it, but from
his reKrt the place was variously noted on the
Spanish charts as Entrada (! Ilccela (llerela's
inlet), Entrada de Asccnrlon (Ascension Inlet),
and Kio d San Roque (San Kngtie river). The
point south of the entrance known a Point
Adams, he called Cne Frnnduso (Ixafy cape),
During the next few years Spanish, Portuguese,
English ami American vessels visited the Pacific,
but none of them sucrceded In finding the Klo
le San Koque, nf the existence nf which thry all
entertained serious doubts. In 1741 Capt. Kobt.
Gray, in the ship t'.vWAi.i from lliwton, visited
the Pacific for the second time, and observed a '
latge Indenture In the coast line, llellevlng It to
be the mouth of a river he walled nine days fur
a favorable opportunity to enter, hut was unable
to secure it. About the same lime Captain Van
couver, of the English navy, suw the same place,
but because of the breakers on the bar formed
the opinion that no river existed, A few days
later Gray returned, and on the eleventh of May,
179a, sua ceded In safely crossing I he Iwr, and
dropping anchor at the mould of the stream gave
to the mighty river the name "Columbia," In
honor of his vessel, which had been the first
to enter It. Later one of Vancouver's vessels
entered and sent a boat's crew up the stream as
fsr as Vancouver, The same year another
American vessel enleied and anchored In the
hay, which has since borne the name of llskei'i
liay, In honor of the captain, Though the
mouth of the Columbia bad now been discovered,
nothing was known of Its esltnt or the country
through which it passed. That it drained an
immense area was evident from the volume of
water It carried. To the memorable edlilon
nf Captains I wis and Clarke we are Indebted
for the knowledge of the vaslnesa of this great
watercourse and the exent of country tributary to
it, Their mop, made from their observations in
1S04 5 6 and Information gathered from the
natives with whom they came In contact, la
wonderfully accurate. From that time until I he
government eaplorallous, the first of which waa
conducted by Commodore Wilkes in 1S4I and
the nest by Fremont In 1C4J, gave us accural
mspi, all knowledge of the river and Its lrllm
laries was derived from the tiapwrs of the Hud
son's llsy Company ami the American companies,
who traversed the country in all directions, but
kept few notrs of their Journeys that could be
of much sen Ice to geographers. In till the
Pacific Fur Company, at whose hesd was John
Jacob A.ior, fiunled Astoria on the sou'h Unk
of the river ten miles sUe the her, and from
thai tine vessels Kgan making regular trips to
I he f.ver In the Imvicts of ihe I'salV, Northwest
snd Hudson's II iy enisriifs, Ihe successive pro
prietors nf Astoria, and with the sviil. nienl nf
On Ihe fourteenth of August. 1775. Span.
isa explorer, Bruno Hcceta, duumred CaptiOieguo a general cuwukics gradually sprang up.