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About Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1901)
WMmmmmmmmmmmmmBimBmKmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmk t swcy5,,r VOL. XL.-NO. 12,497. tm v v?j? LL, S s J-U.C rea KSREE m "V fQFM --SiyTFWIwp 17' 'T:l -He f ORTLAND -was an unimportant village 50 years ago J. Qulnn Thornton, who made a trip across the continent In 184G-7-8, thus records his impression of Port land In his "History of Oregon and Cali fornia," published In New Tork In 1819. Portland la a small ard beautiful village on the left bank of the "Wilhamette, eight miles from the mouth It contains about 100 Inhabitants, and has an air of neatness, thrift and Industry. Ships come up to the place, v The last sentence of the paragraph briefly explains the cause of Portland's advance from an obscure village to be the metropolis of the states, of Ore gon, Washington and Idaho, with their 250,000 square miles and nearly 1,100,000 population. Portland's progress has al ways accorded to that well-known prin ciple of city building so often and so ably defended by Major Alfred F. Bears, of Portland: "The commercial port of a region will be as close to the producers as It is possible to reach with t the class of transportation demanded by the requirements of the countryl" Here, at the head of ship navigation on the Wllliamette and Columbia Rivers, the terminus of the great transconti nental lines, is the point where "the producers are reached with the class of transportation demanded by the coun try." Ship navigation gave Portland Its prestige; railroad building has main tained it. In 1846 Portland was known as the place "twelve miles below Oregon City," and merchants in business here so ad vertised their locations that customers might not go astray. Oregon City, with 600 or 700 people was the metropolis of Oregon. Plymouth, on the "left bank of the Columbia, at the junction of the lower branch of the "Willamette with that stream," had a fine natural wharf, and, Mr. Thornton thought, "when the country becomes well inhab ited there will probably be a large town at the place." . , In 1S60 Portland's population was 2S74. In 1870 It was 8293. In that year Port land was outranked In the great "West by Oakland, Sacramento, Stockton, Salt Lake, Leavenworth, Kansas, and a number of towns In Iowa, all of which it has since passed Virginia City, Nev., with 7048, was not far behind, and Denver with 4759 was more than half as big as Portland. Washington had no towns of any size, and Idaho and Mon- : Vrt-"t"-'i t l'r.J :e,ovrc f TQ 1 . v l ' VTff fc ry .- t . "Par PFS II" naSSsS z Z rrrfrt ir SMZo-l Ti v ?; wmmm ' '" wmpwMju pnpMvviuor rwwmtmimm H- 27 C PORTLAItfD, -OREGON, TUESDAY, JANUARY 1, 1901. - tana were as little known to the East as Oregon was when General Joseph Lane and Congressman L F. Grover pleaded with Congress for its admission to statehood in the "Winter of 1858-59. In 1880 Portland's population rose to 17,577, and in 1890, under the stimulus of the trade expansion that followed rail road construction in the '80s, to 46 3S5 In the decade just ended Portland made the most substantial advance in population and business In Its history. According to the census taken last June Its population is 90,426, a gain of 94 95 per cent In tpn years Seattle also made rapid strides, but Its expectation of 1890 of passing Portland was not borne out by the figures Its enumera tion was 80,671, a gain of 88 32 per cent. Tacoma, the third city In the North west, was returned at 37,714, a gain of 4 84 per cent. Spokane has 36,848 peo ple, a gain of 84 96 per cent. The In crease in population in the Northwest has emphasized Portland's prestige: not lowered it. Whereas the states tribu tary to Portland and which acknowl edge it as their metropolis and commer cial and financial emporium had 282,494 people in 1880, and 747,542 in 1S90, today they have 1,033,411 It has taken the greater part of the century to pass the 1,000,000 mark. Another decade, if there be no sudden check to development as there was In the '90s and at previous perioci otlght to see this population close 2,000,000 No jpBfihasbeon the advnpce In Job bing trade and foreign commerce Pcrt land'sjobblngtradeamounts to $110,000,000 a year. It employs mercantile capital aggregating $22,500,000, not counting that of the branch houses and trusts which have their home offices In California and the East. Seattle's mercantile cap ital Is $9,997,000, Spokane's $7,177,750, and Tacoma's $7,405,250 Portland's capital nearly equals that of Seattle. Spokane and Tacoma combined Twenty years ago Portland's foreign commerce was $4,390,831. For the 12 months ended June 30, 1900, it was 10,005.174 In 1899 it amounted to $10,470,279 and in 1898 to $15,227,878. In the year ended June 30, 1900, the custom-house collected duties amounting to $605,076 Portland is not only the principal wheat shipping port of the Pacific Northwest, but one of the great shipping ports of the United States Throughout 1900, Portland ranked well up with the leaders New York, San Francisco, Galveston, Boston and New Orleans and always ahead of Baltimore, Philadelphia and Puget Sound In January, 1900, it shipped more wheat than any other port In the country. In the year ended July 1, 1900, 65 per cent of the wheat that was shipped from Pacific Northwest ports was loaded at Portland. The National f &xs: r5Mlik.v.T &$r " m ,Vrt Ot m FPT -' 5 S banks carry deposits aggregating $7,600, 000, and the private and foreign banks full; as muchvmore, making a total of over $15,000,000 Twenty years ago trans continental railroad trains were Un known at Portland. Now 14 transcon tinental trains arrive and depart dally and the railroads which have their ter minals here have 33,227 miles of line. In postofflce business, also, Portland leads all other cities in the Northwest. Receipts from the sale of stamps, pos tal cards and stamped envelopes for the 'year ended June 30, 1900, were $209,723, compared with $167,011 for Seattle, $91,873 for Spokane, $63,923 for Tacoma, $63,143 for Bttte and $40,201 for Helena. The prospect of a large trade with the Pacific Islands and Asia brightens Portland's outlook. Portland will have its share of that trade, and it will be carried by lines of steamers plying di rect. A few things remain to be done to bring Portland into close touch with its field and accommodate its growing commerce. One of theBe is . a 40-foot channel at the. mouth of the Columbia and a 25-foot channel between Portland and the sea The Columbia channel has been approved by the chief of engineers. Is well understood by Congress and it is a matter of a short time when con tracts will be1 awarded and the work begun. The entire Columbia River Val ley is vigorously advocating plans to open the Upper Columbia so as to give Lewlstort and other points access by water to the Portland markets. Wlth the improvement of ths lower Tt, i' come a Government drydock. A board "ot naval officers has reported that "the mouth of the Columbia fs one of the four points on the Pacific Coast which afford a safe harbor Tor moderate draft shipping. It is the natural outlet of an immense productive country, and as a shipping point Is important because of. its excellent through railroad commu nications " Portland's Railroads. The diagram published below affords a valuable fund of information regard ing the importance of Portland as one of the loading railroad centers of the country. Portland today enjoys the best rail facilities of any city on tho Pacific Coast. The roads which termi ni1 here, together with the Important territory they cover, are as follows: (The numbers on this list correspond with the numbers of the trains of the diagram ) 1. Jefferson-Street Depot Southern Pacific Company's lines west of the Willamette River in Oregon This Is the old "narrow-gauge" system of roads which traverse some of the richest farming districts of the state. Tho ?-' HVVf " V . j v. .. , ?&w mf'l PORTLAND RAILROAD MILEAGE The following is a statement of the mileage of the railroads which terminate at Portland: Southern Pacific 9,362 Burlington , 7,972 Great Northern 5,187 Northern Pacific 5,006 Oregon Short Line 4,447 O.fUN.Co 1,131 Astoria & Columbia River... 122 To!3l.:..l:.......33,22? aj'iiwj road Is now standard gauge and is Op erated under a long-time lease by the Southern Pacific Company. 2 PORTLAND-CORVALLIS BRANCH- OS" the SptJTHERN Pacific Main West Side line of this company. 3 Portland - Natron Branch of the Southern Pacific Covers rich part of the Willamette "Valley east of the main through line to San Francisco. 4 Southern Pacific Company's Main Line Reaches all points In Western Oregon, Sacramento, San Francisco and the East via Ogden and New Orleans 5 Union Pacific and Oregon Short Line Connects Portland with Boise, Idaho; Salt Lake City, Ogden, Denver, Omaha, Chicago, Kansas City and St Louis Direct three days' service be tween Portland and Chicago Solid ves tibuled through trains. Two fast trains a day each way. 6 Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company The grand scenic route of the Columbia River. This route covers all of Eastern Oregon, Eastern Wash ington and Northern Idaho Direct through connections for all points East. Fast service to St Paul, Salt Lake City, Denver, Omaha, Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago 7. Northern Pacific Railroad Com pany Direct service to Tacoma, Seattle, British Columbia points, Spokane, Hel ena, Butte, St. Paul and the East All through passenger trains over this road arrive at and depart from Portland Portland is tho actual Western termi nus of this line The "Northern Pacific trains simply pass through Tacoma on thejr journey to and fr?m Portland. 8 Great Northern Railway Com pany Direct through daily service be tween Portland, Great Falls, Helena, Butte, St. Paul and the East. 9 Burlington Route Solid limited "Portland-St. Louis Special" dally over this line between Portland, Kansas City and St. Louis via the Northern Pacific Company's lines to Billings 10 Astoria & Columbia River Rail road Company To Astoria and the Pa cific Ocean. PORTLAND A RAILROADTERMINUS No Other City on the Pacific Coat Makes So Great n. Showing. The records of the Northern Pacific Terminal Company show a greater number of cars handled at Portland in September, 1900, than In any previous month. The number of freight cars handled was 11,600, and of passenger cars 5311. These included both incoming and outgoing cars. In the month of September, 1899, tho number of freight cars handled by the terminal company wa3 9403, and tho number of passenger syfrfry ! fes- 3k ' ;x $L& &m rJtJb?r '. : IS cars 3877. Thus tho Increase for Sep tember, 1900, over the same month In 1899 was 2198 freight cars and 1534 pas senger cars, a gain of a little more than 22 per cent. The figures showing the number of cars handled by the terminal company do not Include the cars employed by the O R. & N. in bringing grain down the Columbia to Alblna. Those cars do not cross the river to the terminal grounds, and therefore do not get In the terminal company record. The O. R & N. Co delivered more carloads of grain in Alblna in September than in any previous month, though the exact number is not available The cars han dled at the Jefferson-street station of the Southern Pacific are outside of the terminal company's figures al?o The number of trains actually received and forwarded by the terminal com pany between September 10 and October 10 was as follows: Received Passenger trains 37Z Freight trains .....194 Forwarded Passenger trains 380 Freight trains 232 This does not include the O. R. & N. grain trains that run to Alblna, nor any of the trains at the Jefferson-street sta tion of the Southern Pacific. About 56 trains arrive and leave at Portland every day, 20 of which are freight trains and 26 passenger. These do not include trains An suburban serv ice. Fourteen transcontinental passen ger trains arrive and depart every day, including the trains running between Portland and San Francisco No other city on the Pacific Coast can mrfke a showing like this. There must, of course, bo business, or the trains would not run. Portland's advantage In this particular comes from the fact that It is the terminus for four transcontinen tal railroad systems Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, Northern Pacific and Great Northern. None of them can "bottle up" Portland; each is eager to do business here, and they are in active competition with each other for Port land's trade. These and the various feeders and subsidiary lines of the rail ways and steamboats bring the richness of the great Columbia and Willamette Valleys to Portland's door. f S !U yT&?:'4Jm isstf" IfifSw &3fAf rftf -frffn. rfti fPW t-- & WSftw,vS . 2&&t m 'STj cyiv tjT X l .y-a V"2!3; 7wr-' '0 FIRST SECTION Pages 1 to 12 ' . PRICE FIVE' CENTS. 4t ysg'- j ? W R r p"'1 , I . "aaevT EaNnacjM .nxfi i9tm k-c "&!& . .Jm m I 4 . I jr -v m ,