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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 1, 1886)
262 THE WEST SHORE. MIDSUMMER ON ROSS ISLAND. Opposite the upper end of Portland the Willamette i divided by a long inland, which is a favorite resort for boatmen and picnio parties on warm summer (lays and long moonlight evenings. The steamboat channel and the current of the river are on the west side of the island, while on the east side is a broad, calm, sheltered strotch of water with scarcely any current whatever. This is a favorite place for boatmen, whore in the cool evenings after the close of business for the day, may be eon every form of pleasure craft on the river from the canoe to the four-oared racing shell, and from the small boat bearing two hoarts lenting in as close unison as the oars, to the barge with its jolly load of merry-makers. On the island are many fine spots for picnicing, where a good turf stretches out on high ground beneath the wide branches of mossy oaks. ONEONTA GORGE). On pages two hundred and seventy-four and soventy fivo is given a largo colored engraving of one of the loading features of the Columbia river scenery. Oneon ' ta gorge is known rathor by name than by sight to the great majority of those who ascend the Columbia eithor by rail or boat, sinoe it is passed so quickly that fow ob serve it In fact, to see it to advantage one must pay it a visit and pass between its rocky portals. Oneonta creek, one of the numerous crystal trout streams that flow down from the Cascades, cuts through the great rocky wall which hedges in the Columbia, making a nar row, massive, rugged and precipitous gorge, at the bot tom of which the stream flows noisily among masses of fallen rock. It is a scene calling for deepest admira tion, and one which elicits all the euthuHiasra of the angler, who with rod in hand may whip the stream for trout from the gorge to its fountain head at the base of ML Hood. m m- LAK.1 Of THE WOODS AND MOUNT PITT. The southernmost of Oregon's snow peaks is Mount ritt, the crowning feature of the Cascade range near its terminus at Uie Klamath lakes. It was christened in honor of England's great statesman of that name, and by iU title servos, in common with many other locali ties and objects, as a perpetual reminder of the early exploration and occupation of the upper Faciflo coast by the euterprising subjects of Great Britain. It is often, though leas commonly, called " Mount MoLoughlin," in honor of the sturdy Scotch doctor who managed the af fairs of the Hudson's Hay Company in this region for so many years, and who is such a prominent and honor able character in the early annals of Oregon. The lat ter name is the more appropriate, and should supersede the former. The engraving on page two hundred and aeventy-sis shows the mountain as seen from the shore of the Iake of the Woods, one of those crystal gems so numerous in the Cascades, the mountain's snowy sides sharply reflected by the mirrored surface of. the water. The lake lies at a distance from civilization, but he who seeks it will find beautiful scenery, refreshing mountain air and water, game in abundance, and bis nil ot sport with the beautiful trout with which it abounds. NEW CANALS IN RUSSIA. A new canal, improving the water communication between the Caspian and Baltio seas, was opened recent ly by the Minister of Ways of Communication, General Possiot The canal, which has cost fl.ouu.uuu to con struct, joins the rivers Wyhegra and Kovja, and forma a fresh link in the chain of waterways known as the Maryinsky system, connecting the Neva with the Volga. Its length is fifteen miles; width, seventy feet; depth, seven feei Some of the cuttings through whioh it runs had to be excavated to the depth of thirty feei Most of the work has been done by hand, upwards of twenty thousand laborers having been employed in the under taking, together with three dredging machines, nine sta tionary engines, and two locomotives. Barges on Russian rivers and canals range in length from one hundred to three hundred feei The cargoes which a large proportion of them carry, are, consequent ly, as large as many an ocean cargo; and instead of be ing mere lighters, carrying only portions of cargoes, they are, to all intents and purposes, the counterparts of sea going ships. Thanks to the wide-reaching ramifications of the River Volga, the largest in Europe, barges of five hundred or one thousand tons can start in the spring with the floods from some tiny stream in the Ural moun tains, and arrive in the autumn on the River Neva. On the other hand; it is possible for English steamers to make their way from the Neva through the canal sys tem to the Volga, and thence descend to the Caspian sea. The Neva-Volga canal system thus possesses an impor tance which no English canal could claim, although we think that water carriage in this country deserves to be rescued from its present neglected and decaying condi tion, into whioh it has lapsed through the instrumental ity of ambitious and over-grasping' railways. Scientific American. BRIDGE ACROSS INDIAN RIVER. Mountain Indians construct across riven and gorges substantial but crude bridges of logs and brush, similar in general appearano to the one illustrated on page two hundred and sixty-four. The bridge consists of trees which have been felled from either side of the stream so as to meet in the center. Having done this the limbs are pruned off, cross pieces are tied on with willow or haxol withes, and boards or brush laid across these for a foot path. Some of the crude sort with brush and dirt coverings, which the pioneers found spanning deep chasms, were far from inviting to a man with unsteady nerves.
