fM THE WEST SHORE.
pie. Nothing is more natural, since the year Mr. Gibson removed from the gar.
laws of commerce are natural laws, and rison to a better location near the river,
do not depend upon race or individual In 1854, several settlers took up dona
peculiarities. The position of The Dalles, tion claims, and other stores were es
midway between the two geographical tablished. The Dalles was rapidly be
divisions of the region west of the Rock- coming a good business point, the trade
ies, and at the lower end of the greatest with soldiers, Indians and immigrants
natural obstruction to navigation of the being good. Several residences were
only waterway connecting them, is that built that year, and quite a town sprang
of a natural commercial point, recog- up.
nized alike by the aborigine and his The first steamboat, the Flint, made
Caucasian successor. her appearance in 1851. Until then, all
The first commercial enterprise estab- goods, furs, etc., had been conveyed up
lisbod here was that of a fur trading and down the river in large, flat-bot-post,
built by the great Hudson's Bay tomed bateaux, introduced by the fur
Company (then the Northwest Compa- companies, and it was several years after
ny), in 1820. In 1838, the Methodist the appearance of steamers, before this
missionaries, who had settled near the means of transportation was entirely dis
site of Salem four years before, found- continued. With the discovery of gold
ed a branch mission here, the outlines in the Colville region, in 1855, and the
of the foundation of the original log large travel to and from the mines which
structure being still traceable near the followed, business in the new town in
sito of tho Wasco academy. . In 181G, creased rapidly. During the long Indi
Catholics, whose headquarters were at an war which followed, The Dalles was
Vancouver, also founded a mission here, the base of operations for both the reg
and this has always remained an impor- ulars and the volunteers, a force, at
tant point for that denomination. The times, of nearly two thousand men.
Methodist mission was sold to Dr. Whit- Here were gathered all the quartermas
man in 1817, and after the sad death of ter and commissary stores, which were
that energetic missionary and his wife a brought up the river by boat, and for
few months later, when they and twelve warded, when needed, to the troops in
others were killed by the Cayuse Indi- the field, by wagons and pack animals,
ans, it ceased to bo used for that pur- During this period, both business and
pose. In tho war which followed the population increased rapidly. Again in
massacre, The Dalles was used as a base 185&-9, when thousands of men passed
or military operations by the volunteers through this region to the mines of Fra
from the i W illametto. Ber river bu8inee8 received a great stim.
n lU, a military post was estab- ulus. It was not, however, until the
""boa here, garrisoned by three compa- mineral discoveries in Idaho, in 1861,
nies o troops aDd a sutler's storo was followed quickly by others in Eastern
ic-i ; Bel1' Dear tbe bar- 0re6n' Southern Idaho and Montana,
OiW The s U l Wi!Ham tha.tTheMle8 reaped tho full measure
t. n . Bfm,. ear cKinlay of its advantages as a commercial point
bam ZT , I Vmia mtm TeD8t of people, and mil-
bu inl ln! Bt7'are.m th0 Present lions of pounds of freight, passed up and
o!,l Ia Rim. ii b s lbeJ eTer? man aniJ P0"""! of which was un
sold lo Sum A Hnmason, and the same loaded from the steamer at The Dalles,