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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1884)
2 THE WEST SHORE. THE GREAT NORTHWEST. I. Uy glancing lit n map of Nortli America the render will olmervo that thero are iiuiihtouh HyHumiH of mountain ranges, extending longitudinally ilirouh it, nnd parallel with cither the Atlantic or Pacific const A little reflec tion in unt assure every pli il h tli ivil mind that neither I'lwiHM nor accident could have produced these phono, ini'iia - no grand in h) ministry, ho mathematical in projior lion. The fitness nml adaptation everywhere vmihlo naturally suggest the thought that nothing short of In finite Wisdom could have been the Master Workman. The bare contemplation of the picture, which no mortal can imitate or counterfeit, thrills the houI with awe and woiilroiiH Hiililimity. Even the Chinaman, toiling uKn th grade of the Northern Pacific, may experience, in n diluted form, these houI-huInIiuiik emotioiiH; liut ho can no more read the record of the Infinite, sculptured in the rocks, than he can translate the cuneiform inscriptions found amid the rums of Itnbylon. To rescue man from savagoism the light of Hcienco has dawned iiK)ii him, even in the far away Occident, nml ho in now beginning to interpret those sublime hieroglyphics which Nature has inscribed upon every mountain, written in every vale, and imbedded in every river. Superstition may cavil; bigotry may bcoIT; persecution may threaten; the ghost of the rack, the dungeon and tho burning (take may shake their gory locks, but tho day has passed when science. rai a throttled for uttering truths that seem at variance with the teachings of n dark ago. 'I'l "intain ranges of North America nro tho monu ments and great exclamation oints of tho history of tho formation of our continent. Where the Atlantic now t.isses its restliKS billows there was once a continent M-rlwtps the "Atlantis" of Plato. Where North America, like a young giant, stretches in the sublimity of disturbed rc'sc, there was once a mighty ocean. On the ancient continent - the sunken Atlantis - there were systems of mountains; from them rivers flowed into this ancient ocean, carrying down sand, soil and other debris. X,,iure was then laying the foundation of our continent How sublime the conception! Hw gr.md the enterprise' How insignilicant the proudest achievements of man must "er apHMir in contrast! Kven the pyramids, and the jrrw.1 Ch.ncHO wall, and IW.ylon, ",,e glory of kingdoms, the l.cty of VM' excellency," dwindle into nothing tie , hMi e.,,pr,, ith the building of a continent! What art' now ranges of mountains were onco "banks" at the U,ttoni of the o,.., similar to the Mlu f xPW Toui , l,,nd. here w niflHh , fm, . tolled by, m 10lM, (ruiIilll0Ilt krn J jnountams) rm, Ms.ve tho U of the waters. Th , hc Unks wer. ,neta,norph, into a system of ihImulSi as the catarp.lW ,s chang.sl into . bnttcrtly. Tho nl h continuing, another metamorphosisthe yj. " just liko animate life, KttaM :,, ) w.W,U.fU.rwa.UUirnfMuit. What' LlSil of years were necessary for the gestation of our continent? Nature had an eternity of time in which to work, and there was no occasion for her to hurry. The first-born was thnt portion of North America lying east of the Rocky Mountains, while the'Pacific slopo was still being developed at the bottom of the ocean. How natural, then, that the upheaval of the Atlantic coast should bo in a line parallel with the Alle gheny range of mountains. Age on age elapsed, and groat Nature was still in labor. At last, while the earth shook with the convulsions of parturition, the Rocky Mountains were born out of the troubled waters, wheeling into lino nnd forming the eastern boundary of the heaving Pacific. As yet the Sierra Nevada and Cascade systems were but "banks," the abode of fishes. In process of time these ranges were born, and the Coast Range system rose to the dignity of " banks." These, at last, appeared above the waters, the youngest born from the vasty deep. Reasoning by analogy, may we not conclude that, away in tho Pacific Ocenn, there is another " bank," either forming or in process of formation? Off Salmon River (so near the shore that the Indians venture out in their canoes) can bo caught a kind of golden fish, even larger than the cod of Newfoundland. On the beach north of Nestucca Bay, Tillamook County, I have found dead cod fish. Surely the "bank" cannot be many miles away. Let tho enterprising fisherman explore for it, and, when found, I see no reason why it should not prove as great a bonanza as those on the eastern coast, which "perfidious All (ion " claims, and which has cost our Government mill ions of dollars. A single fact in corroboration of the theory that there is a bank near the eastern shore of the Pacifio seems worthy of attention. A few years since the late Jeremiah Lamson, Esq., father of Captain Lamson, Clerk of the United States District Court, here in Portland, settled just north of Sand Capo, Tillamook County, building his house in a gap of tho lofty' cliffs, but still high above the highest tide. One morning, on glancing seaward, he was aston ished to discover, several miles from land, the approach of what appeared to be a black wall of water, nearly per ifollicular, which, as it neared the beach, he judged to 1 fifty feet high. It broke with a tremendous roar, and came up into his house to the depth of a foot, but imme diately receded, leaving a line of foam and driftwood to mark tho boundary of its encroachment I am positive alK.ut tins matter, for I entered land adjoining Mr. Lam son s place and lived there nearly two years. The evi dences are still visible, all along the shore, in a line of driftwood, that a tidal wave must have recently broken far inland nnd high upon the cliffs. I intend this paper merely as introductory to a series in reference to the Northwest, in which I shall endeavor w bo omlmlhsh and Donnlnri n; 1 ft , r "v uwvym,u mill; IU V UIUUICB shall prove interesting to the general reader. Most scien Mo writer, are so dry and technical that their papers are eldom read outeide of the charmed circle of scientific "iqmrers. This style I shall strive to avoid. W. H. Chaney.