WEST SHORE.
97
Soring the past two years many of the towns on the small bays along
the coast have been placed in direct communication with Portland by small
steamers operated by companies organised for that purpose. In every
instance this trade has proved to be highly remunerative to the companies,
and in the aggregate the traffic has formed no inconsiderable portion of the
city's wholesale business. The greatest drawback Is that not enough of
these places are thus reached. Lines should be established to every one of
them, and the trade which legitimately belongs to Portland would thus be
secured. Coos bay, on the coast of our own state, has thus far been neg
lected in this particular, and it is probably the second in importance of all
the points on the coast. It is surrounded by a remarkably rich country,
and the bar at the entrance to the bay does not make it hazardous for ves
sels of light draft to trade there. A recent issue of the Coquilte Herald con
tained the following relative to this matter:
" Portland must awake to the situation, and if she desires to have the
reputation of being live, business city, as is claimed, her business man
agers should see to it that channels of trade are opened to this section of
the state, and be more inclined to regard this portion of Oregon as part and
parcel of her commercial territory. Seven steamers pulled out of Coos bay
in one day week before last, all richly laden, for San Francisco not one for
Portland. So, too, in three days of last week eight schoonors left this river
for the same southern market, freighted with products of the wealth of our
valley, which Portland has not as yet asked for. The absence of proper
communication with Portland makes It necessary for our citizens going there,
or her citizens coming here, to go via San Franciico. How preposterous the
idea, yet how true from necessity, that to go from this city to Portland at
this season of the year, we must first go 400 miles south to San Francisco.
Of course the outlook is brightening for this section, and very soon our
advantages will be equal to the need, but Portland has no hand in it and
will receive little benefit from it If she continues to 1 sleep on her rights,'
when the channels of trade are once established, it will cost more to divert
that trade than to have gained it at first."
The only effort thus far made by Portland to provide traffic arrange
ments for that part of the state is the placing of the small schooner, Qeorgt
H. Chance, on the line as an experiment by the Deep Sea Fishing Company,
of this city. The schooner was built for the purpose of prosecuting the
work of the company, but proved to be too small to accomplish what was
required of her, and being placed on the run between Coos bay and Port
land has paid her owners handsomely. She is not fitted for passenger ser
vice, and her freight capacity is very limited, so that while she has not been
able to accommodate the business offered she has demonstrated beyond a
doubt that the trade Is there and only requires the means of its procure
ment to be added to the already large coast trade of the city. This is a
meet Important matter, and it is to be hoped some means will be supplied
at once to remedy the difficulty.
Judge James G. Swan, of Port Townsend, takes issue with Professor
Elliott on the subject of the habits of seals, and when such a man as Judge
Swan takes a sttnd on any question relative to the fisheries of the North
Pacific it will be well for any opponent to stand well to his defenses, for he
has spent a quarter of a century in a study and Investigation of the subject,
covering wider range of inquiry and a greater area of country than any
man living. Judge Swan affirms that seals are often born in the water and
can swim from the moment of birth, thus flatly disputing Professor Elliott's
pet theory that a young seal can not swim and will " sink like a stone " if
it accidentally fall into the water. It has always seemed absurd that an
animal living in the water, and as much at home there as a fish, should
require to be taught to swim, Instead of swimming by instinct, and the
ordinary individual, guided by common sense, will naturally incline towards
the theory of Judge Swan, that seals swim instinctively from the moment
of birth. This may, at the first glance, appear a matter of scientific interest
only; but it has a great bearing upon the Behring sea controversy. The
chief reason for maintaining a closed season there has been that the seals
breed upon the islands, and the mother seals forage in the adjacent waters
for food for their helpless progeny left upon the rocks, and that if the
mothers be killed in the water by sealers the young seals will starve. If,
on the contrary, Judge Swan's contention that seals are also born in open
sea and can swim from the time of birth, and, if necessary, earn a living
themselves, be true, then the force of this argument falls to the ground.
The controversy Is becoming an interesting one, and presents an Instance
where a great diplomatic question may hinge upon a comparatively Insig
nificant fact in natural history.
Portland parties recently made an Investigation of the deposits at the
east side of this city, and to their own satisfaction found that there existed
an inexhaustible supply of a superior quality of potter's clay. They se
cured samples which have been forwarded to Ohio to be tested. If the
quality proves good, as indications suggest, no time will be lost in the erec
tion of pottery works here on an extensive scale. It is hoped that no dis
appointment awaits those interested in the project, as a pottwy would be of
great benefit to Oregon City in the improvements she contemplates making
in her sewerage system, besides the other benefits that always accrue from
the operation of enterprises where labor is employed and trade from abroad
is attracted. Terra cotta fines, tiling and other pottery ware cost this city
no small amount annually. The board of trade should lend assistance to
and encourage the enterprise. Ortgon City Enterpriu.
January, 1801, will go on record as one of the warmest and driest Jan
uar'.ee ever known in this region. In 1873 the average temperature for the
month was 1.4 higher and in 1877 the rainfall was .87 of an Inch less, but
these are the only exceptions. On the twenty-fifth the temperature was
below the freezing point for twelve hours only, the lowest point touched
being 25. The highest for the month was 56, and the average 43 2. The
total precipitation was 3.62 inches, being a little more than one-halt the Jan
nary average for the past eighteen years. There were eight cloudless days,
nine partly cloudy and fourteen cloudy. Bain fell on sixteen days. This
data is from the report of the United States signal officer at Portland, Oregon.
The most important strike ever made in the Pend d'Orellle mining
region occurred in the Chloride group, at Lake View, on Lake Pend d'Orellle,
twenty-four miles from Hops. The miners were running a tunnel 300 feet
into the mountain when they encountered a vein of twenty-six feet thick
ness, and even at that great width they had not completely penetrated the
vein. It promises to be the richest strike ever made in the Idaho pan
handle. The vein Is quartz, bearing eighty ounces of free silver and $7.00 in
gold to the ton. A 100-stamp mill will be erected on the lake shore to care
for the products, Snoion Spolciman.
A company has been organized at Walla Walla, Washington, for the
purpose of engaging in mining in the Greenhorn district, in Eastern Ore
gon. A wagon road will be constructed to Greenhorn City, which will
make the mines much more accessible than at present and place the camp
within one day's ride of Baker City. Experts who have examined that
section state that the mines will yield large returns from working, and this
company is so firmly convinced of the richness of its claims that it will In
vest a large amount to place them on a paying basis.
One of the public spirited citizens of Union, Oregon, offers to subscribe
(25,000 to the capital stock of a woolen mill to be erected at that place by
any company or Individual. Union has an abundant water power, is In the
midst of a wool producing country and possesses splendid railroad facilities,
so that nothing seems to be lacking for the success of such an enterprise
save the necessary push and energy to bring It to a successful Issue. The
people of the town are now moving in the matter, and the prospects an fair
for an institution of that nature being established.
The Puget Sound and Alaska Trading and Fishing Company has been
organized at Tacoma for the purpose of engaging in the cod fishing business.
Fish will be caught on the Alaskan banks and brought to Puget sound to be
prepared for market. Skilled men from the Lofodden fisheries off the coast
of Norway will be employed.
The Independence & Monmouth railway oompany, which Is operating
a motor line between Monmouth and Independence, has filed supplemen
tary articles of incorporation with the secretary of state Increasing its capi
tal stock to $100,000, and providing for the extension of the road to Falls
City and Salem.
The transfer of the Portland evening Ttltgram to Captain George II.
Moffett, and its reorganization upon a thorough newspaper bails, gives
Portland another daily paper that will do Its share towards upbuilding the
city and add to Its reputation as ths leading news center of the northwest.
A now hotel, to cost $100,000, is to be erected at Butte, Montana, on the
site now occupied by the St. Nicholas. It will cover 100x120 feet on the
ground.
During ths past six months over 160 Umber claims have been taken up
in Washington by young ladies.
A board of trade has been organized at Lafayette, Oregon, with a mem
bership of twenty-seven.