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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 16, 1890)
WEST SHORE. 11 The Snake is one of theonaerful rivers of the west. Its source is in Wyoming and entering Idaho at an elevation of nearly 6,000 feet above sea level, it crosses the state from east to weBt and flows north forming nearly one-half its western boundary, and leaves the state at an elevation of only 680 feet. This stream runs nearly one thousand miles in its sinuous wind ings before uniting with the Columbia, and it forms some grand and beauti ful cataracts in its descent, the most noted of which are Shoshone falls, which have been heretofore illustrated and described in Wkst Shore. They are 210 feet in height and surpass the noted Niagara in beauty if not in volume. Just above are the Twin falls, which are ninety feet high and may be considered a part of this mighty cataract. Within this short dis tance are found 300 of the 5,300 feet of the river's fall in Idaho. The re maining 5,000 feet are distributed more or less gradually from the eastern boundary of the state to where it enters Washington, near Lewiston. When Major Powell, director of the geological survey, saw this mighty river, he remarked : " I can put this water on 2,000,000 acres of land for twenty-five cents per acre." He might have added that he could as easily furnish the power to drive the machinery of the world. The matter of using this vast water supply for irrigation purposes is being discussed, and promises to be a reality in the near future. It has, in fact, already been used to some extent, and ere Ion;, doubtless, will be the means of convert ing the vast Snake river bottoms into growing fields and productive orch ards. An extensive field is here offered for the ingenuity of man to make this section, heretofore worthless, one of the garden spots of the west. The National Park & South Eastern railroad is a new Montana cor poratian with (1,000,000 capital stock. The directors recently held a meet ing in Butte city, and elected Lee Mantle, president ; II. L. Frank, vice president ; W. McO. White, secretary ; and C. S. Warren, treasurer. What system of roads is backing the company appears to be a mystery. Liberal guessing has been indulged in, but has so far proved both harmless and useless. The route proposed for the road is as follows : Running southeast from Butte by way of Blacktail, Deer creek, Pipestone pass and Little Pipe stone creek to the Jefferson river valley in Jefferson county ; thence by way of Jefferson and Ruby valleys and Alder gulch, or some other practicable route, to the Madison river valley, near the town of Ennis ; thence south through the Madison river valley to the summit of the Rocky mountains, at or near Raynolds pass, on the southerly boundary of the state. The branches are to be as follows : From some point on the Madison valley line southeasterly through the Madison basin to the western boundary of the National park ; also from a point in the Jefferson valley northerly by way of Three Forks to Helena ; also from Toree Forks to Bozeman ; from some convenient point in the Jefferson valley to Dillon and from Butte north to Champion. N. C. Ray has been chosen chief engineer, and has been instructed to make final surveys and report them to a meeting of the directors to be held September 2nd. A Nooksack City correspondent of the Pott Inttttigtuetr says. Forces are being concentrated and dirt is flying on the Seattle, Lake Shore & East em railway grade, which is completed for sixteen miles south from the In ternational boundary, and of the ten miles between North Fork and Samish summit only about three miles remain to be graded. The San Francisco Bridge Company has begun work on the bridge at North Fork, at which place a revetment wall is also being constructed. A force Is also now em ployed in the rock cut. The end of the track is now four miles north of Wooley junction, at which point enough rails are In waiting to complete the line to North Fork, and the balance to reach the boundary will be on hand in the meantime. The bridge across the Stillaguamish river Is finished and the track laid for two miles beyond, At a point about four miles north of the town, work is progressing rapidly on an extensive trestle. This is to be completed in ten days, and in about six weeks the track may be pushed to completion, The grounds have been prepared and work will be started od the Nooksack station in a few days. This is to be one of the finest build ings on the line. By October 1, at moat, we hope to be able to make Die round trip to Seattle in a day and have several hours for business in that place. In a few tilings science has beaten nature in the success of its work ; or, rather, with the assistance of science, nature is much more successful In its workings than without it, and in nothing is this truer than fish hatch ing and propagation. This thought is suggested by the splendid run of sal mon in the Columbia river the present season. A few years since the gov ernment began the hatching of these fish and the ttocklng of waters in which the run was not .so great as formerly. One of the most important fish hatcheries is the one at Clackamas, Oregon. True to the theory, the run of salmon was increased from the period of the natural return of the fish. The results seem to fully justify the labor and means expended to ac complish them, The run has been large from, doubtless, no other cause, and thus much employment has been given and much food supplied to the public by this work. By it is also solved the question as to the manner of keeping up the production of that elegant food fish in proportion to the pop ulation and demands of the country. In but few things is the money of the government so well expended as in the propagation of food fish. This hits also been demonstrated in the shad fishing waters of the east, but no where Is the fact more apparent than in the salmon fishing of the west. Active work of constructing the Seattle & Montana railroad has been begun. Earle & Donahue have a portion of the contract and have 200 men at work. Engineer Watson states that the line haa been nearly all definite ly located, and that contracts will soon be let for trusB-span bridges over the Snohomish, Stillaguamish and Skagit rivers. The bids call for eighty-four-foot Howe truss, 150-foot span, 200-foot combination over all, a 200-foot wooden draw in two, and a 250-foot draw in another, and the bridges will be required to carry 3,000 pounds per foot, and will be built of fir. The Skagit bridge is to be turned over to the company November 1, the Stillaguamish bridge on December 1, and the Snohomish bridge December, 15. Manager T. J. Milner will also double the order for timber to be used on the harbor front, trestle and bridges, and contracts will be made for 4,000,000 feet Articles of incorporation of the Missoula & Northern Railroad Company were filed recently with the secretary of state by John M. Keith, Charles H. McLeod, Thomas C. Marshall, Richard A. Eddy and Thomas L. Gree nough, of Missoula, and E. L. Bonner, of Deer Lodge. The termini of the road are to be in Missoula county, and the general route is to be from a point on the line of the Northern Pacific railroad between the stations of Ravalli and Duncan, by the nearest and most practicable route to the foot of Flathead lake; thence around said lake, on the side most practicable, to the town of Demersville, with the right to extend the road, if the company so electa, northerly from Demersville by the best route to the British line at Tobacco plains. The capital stock is fixed at ('.',000,000, divided Into 20,000 shares of the par value of (100 each. Hekna lln aid. The schooner Olga, recently arrived from Alaska, brought a subject who may soms day serve as a hero in missionary literature as he has al ready In romance. This subject is a native Indian of Alaska, whom Cap tain Brown and crew rescued from the burning stake, having been accused of witchcraft by a shamin, tried and convicted, and was about to pay the heathen penalty for that imaginary crime. (Alaskan witchcraft waa illus trated In Wkbt Shore July 20). Both the captain and crew had to make great haste to prevent capture and having to pay a like penalty. Mr. Archibald Claverin Gunter, author ol " Mr. Barnes of New York " and " Mr. Potter ol Texas," has written juvenile book, " Small Boys in Big Boots." It is a story ol strictly American life. The hero haa no earl for a grandfather and no ancestors worth mentioning, consequently is com pelled to make his career for himself, which he does In a strictly business and American manner. This story contains a delightful little love tale, and la full of both humor and pathos. It Is beautifully illustrated and Is is sued by the Home Publishing Company. Arrangements have been concluded between the Spokane & Northern railroad and the Canadian Columbia river steamers for the extension of the route of the latter from Revelstoke to Little Dalles, and there to con nect with the Spokane A Northern at the terminus, and practically link the Canadian Pacific and Noithern Pacific systems. The Imperial mills, at Oregon City, Or., started up last week with a double crew ol bands, and are now running night and day, turning out 550 barrels of flour per day. These mills have been Idle since last winter, ow ing to their basin and flume having been washed out by the flood. The contract for building the Great Northern railroad extension from Asslnibolne, Montana, to the summit of the Rocky mountains has been awarded to shepard, Slems A Co., and two to three thousand men will be put to work on the line at once.