The west shore., February 01, 1889, Page 60, Image 2

CO
THE WEST SHORE.
etto and a few miles up tbat stream, from which has
grown the great city of Portland. Until the complete
withdrawal of the great far company from this re
gion, the same causes which had operated to make its
headquarters the great center of this section retarded
its growth as a general commercial point, and this
condition of affairs was maintained so long that Port
land, occupying a far inferior position in every re
spect, attained such a growth and such a hold upon
the business of the country that all hope of supplant
ing it was vain. To this fact, and the further one
that the conflicting claimB of the fur company, the
Catholic missionaries and the military authorities
clouded the title of the best portion of the town site
for many years, is duo to the fact that the metropolis
of this region is located on the Willamette instead of
the Columbia. Happily, now, the question of title is
set at rest, and nothing remains to interfere with the
growth of the town, which still possesses advantages
to make it a commercial point second only to Port
land, in the lower valley of the Columbia and Willam
ette, Brief attention is called to these advantages
and to tho means being employed to utilize them.
Sea going vessels of deep draught can reach this
point cheaper and quicker than they can ascend the
Willamctto to Portland. Between the mouth of the
latter stream and the docks at Vancouver there is but
one bar, through which a channel can be maintained
at greatly loaa expenso than it now costs to keep one
open to Portland from the same point The opening
of this channel, now closed for lack of use, could be
mado for. less money than is annually eipended to
maintain tho other in navigable condition. During
soven months of tho year there is now a channel from
Bixteen to twenty feet deep, and at an expense of $t,.
000.00 one can bo mado that will permit an unob
structed pasBago of tho deepest draft vessels that en
ter tho Columbia. This clniunel will bo mado as soon
as developments now in progress havo reached Buch a
Btago as to render it desirable. Tho business men
aro taking stops to make this a port for general com
merce, and as soon as thoso plans have matured, the
channel will bo opened and kept free for tho passage
of vessels. Tho cost will bo nothing when compared
with tho benefits to bo derive.!, and if tho government
appropriations can not bo utilized for the purpose
then it will lw accomplished by private enterprise
Many an ocean craft has rested at tho docks of Van
couver in tho past, and it will not bo long before
others will follow. In fact, tho lighter draft vessels
used in tho lumber trado will soon bo a common
Bight, as tho extensive lumber enterprises now being
founded thero will cngago largely in supplying lum.
bcr for foreign markeU
Tho most important enterprise now on foot in
preparation for the new era spoken of is that of the
Vancouver, Klickitat & Yakima railroad. More than
a year ago this project received its inception, but the
usual delays encountered by such enterprises held it
back, so that until last fall no progress beyond a gen
eal reconnoisance of the route had been made. At
that time the citiz ma decided upon an aggressive pol.
icy, and subscribed $00,000.00 for the construction of
ten miles of track leading into the timber and agri
cultural lands lying to the northeast of the city!
Work was at once begun, and five miles are now com!
pleted and in operation, while the second five miles
have so far progressed that they will be finished with,
in a few weeks. The company has now on the road
one engine and sixteen cars, and more rolling stock
has been ordered. Using the first section as a basis
of credit, money will be raised for the immediate ex.
tension of the line to Lewis river, and render that
rich agricultural region tributary to Vancouver. This
will be accomplished by the end of the current year.
The next objective point is the extensive deposits of
excellent coal lying on the proposed line of the road
sixty miles from the city, the nearest accessible coal
to the Portland market. This will be reached in an
other year, and will of itself supply business enough
to support the road. The ultimate object is to cross
the mountains through the Klickitat pass andtrav
erse the extensive stock and agricultural region lying
east of the Cascades, making connection with the
Northern Pacific, or some other transcontinental
route, in the vicinity of the Columbia or Yakima riv
ers. By this line Vancouver would not only become
a shipping point for a large area of country, but it
would be a terminal point of a through route on a
par with Portland, Tacoma, Seattle and other north
western ports. It can not be doubted that the pro
jects of this company will be fully realizad within a
very few years, by which time Vancouver will have
increased largely in size and business importance un
der the influence of the causes already at work
For a time the chief business of the road will be
the transportation of logs from the magnificent tim
ber district through which it runs, to the mills at
Vancouver. Two hundred thousand feet of logs will
be brought in daily, which will be used by four saw
mills, three of which are now in operation, and the
fourth, and largest, will soon be ready for business.
The capacity of the road for the delivery of logs is
practically unlimited, and as it will take years of the
most extensive operations to exhaust the accessible
forests, it needs no prophet to predict that lumbering
operations at this point will increase greatly in mag
nitude in the next few years. A huge floating dock
will be one of the conveniences for handling the pro
duct of the saw mills. This will contain six track,