The west shore., May 01, 1884, Page 128, Image 4

THE WEST SHORE.
128
the triii to Sitka and return. A description of a large
portion of thn journey will be found on another page
under tli Im'ihI of " Queen Charlotte Islands."
Having viewed tin scenery of the Sound and the
cmn,1ry Ml.o north, the traveler, if he has liniHhed hiH
wanderings in the Columbia region and desires to pro
.e. directly to San Francisco, can lxmrd the steamer for
that city at Victoria, or at some of the ports on the
S ,1; otherwise he can return to Portland and take the
Kteiimer at this place, or can make a most enjoyable trip
overland. l!v this last route he will tako the Oregon &
California rond, passing up the Willamette Valley, view
ing that green and fertile land whose praise the trappers
sung half a century ago. On either hand rise the Cascade
and Coast Itange mountains, covered to their very sum
mit with dense evergreen forests, with here nnd there
among the crowning peaks of the Cascades a snow-decked
cone towering tip. A journey down the west side to
Corvallis, ami a trip thence across the mountains to the
coast at Ympiina liny, would lie n pleasant one. A rail
road will soon connect Corvallis with Yaquina Bay, and
then the latter will become one of the regular points
visited hy tourists. From Corvallis connection can be
made with the main line by going across country to
Albany. The route then continues across the low divide
of the Calapooiit Mountains into the beautiful basin of
the I'mpipia Hiver, where it follows a series of winding,
fertile valleys, and through the Canyon Mountains to
Rogue Hiver Valley. A stay of a few days to view the
scenery of Rogue River and to visit the famous Crater
Like would 1m highly enjoyable. At Ashland, at the
base of Siskiyou Mountain, tho railroad has its terminus,
landing the construction of a huge tunnel through the
mountain. Taking stage ttt Ashland early in tho morn
ing, the traveler lias a delightful ride over the mountain
to the California side and across Klamath River to Yreka.
Ling before Yreka is reached the great white mass of
the L'iant Shasta will be seen towciinir uminr.t mum
n v., iuiiiv
than forty miles to the southward. The road then leads
on through Shasta Valley and across a low divide to
llcrryvale, a summer resort in Strawltcrry Valley, nt the
base .,f Mount Shasta. Hero can lie found guides by
those desiring to ascend to the summit Tho Central
Pacific is encountered this season forty miles north of it
former terminus at Redding, and there the traveler meets
the railroad system f California.
Such tourists as come to Oregon by tho way of San
l-'rancisco almost unanimously elect to return East by one
or the northern routes. The Northern Pacific route was
fully d.rdsHl in The West Shoue for May, 18811, with
h d. tmled cMMwitio of all the wonders of Nature to bo
seen along or contiguous to the line. It embraces the
amous Columbia River, Medical Lake, Palls of Spokane
River the Wautiful (Vr d'Alene Ike nnd Mountains,
Luke Pe.nl d Orvdlo, Clarke's Pork of the Columbia, th
Hitler l;.,t ,,..!.. .... i i i- , mc
it- tivv alley, the gigantic tres
is of O k Canyon, Missoula, Hell Gate River, the
Koeky Mountains. Mu an Tm.i,..l ir..i.... .
, . - luiiiin twuere one
wn take stage for l ort Benton and tho Great Pulls of the
Missouri), Gallatin Valley, Bozeman, the Belt Moun
tains, Bozeman Tunnel, Livingston From this point a
branch line runs south to the National Park of the Yel
lowstone, a region no genuine tourist would neglect, the
Yellowstone Valley and River, Billings, the Big Hnn,
Tunnel and Big Horn River (on whose headwaters oc
curred the celebrated Custer massacre), Miles City,
Glendive, Pyramid Park (the misnamed Bad Lands), the
great bridge and crossing of the Missouri River at
Mandan and Bismarck, Fargo on the Red River of the
North, and thence across Minnesota to St. Paul.
Another route is by the Northern Pacific to Garrison,
at the western bnse of the Rocky Mountains, and there
transfer to the Utah & Northern, a narrow gauge line
running south through Deer Lodge and Butte City to
Ogden and Salt Lake City. The last is the Oregon
Short Line, which involves staging for a short distance.
The Baker City Branch of the 0. R. fc N. Co.'s line runs
from Umatilla Junction, on the Columbia, through Pen
dleton and across the Blue Mountains, a region of singu
lar beauty, to the rugged canyon of Burnt River, near the
point of its discharge into Snake River. Here it will
unite with the Oregon Short Line, but as connection will
not be effected for several months, a short distance on
either side of the point of junction will have to be
traveled by stage. From here the route follows through
a little known but very attractive region, crossing Snake
River several times, to Shoshone Junction, where a
branch runs northward to the celebrated "Wood River
mines. Here also a stage will convey the tourist to the
wonderful Shoshone Falls on Snake River, in some
respects even superior to the great Niagara. The road
crosses the U. & N. at Pocatello, where the traveler can
change cars to go either north or south, or can continue
on to the Union Pacific at Granger, Wyoming.
THE GGBjTJR D'ALENB MINES.
rpHE latest reports of the Cceur d'Alene mines are quite
1 favorable. No attention has been paid by The
West Shoue to the wild, reckless statements made by
" IxiomerB," who, unmindful of the fact that claims were
buried benenth five feet of snow, industriously circulated
reports of fabulous yields of dust It appears now, how
ever, that a little work is being done with good results;
also that quite a number of quartz locations are being
made. These reports come from strictly reliable sources
and are worthy of credence. The fact still remains true,
however, that there is nothing to justify a stampede to
Ueur (1 Alone, and never was. Should the mines prove
as fabulously rich as enthusiasts and boomers claim them
to be, two or three months from now will be ample time
to visit them; nnd if they do not, enough people are there
already-too ninny, in fact
0l " nttentin his been called by Thomas Smith, of
Ubur, an old Oregon pioneer, to the fact that emigrants
passed through the Modoc country in 1847 and 185L
lhis was done to correct a contrary statement made in
the article headed "Fremont and the Modocs," vhA
appeared m the March number of The West Shore.