Morning Oregonian. (Portland, Or.) 1861-1937, January 01, 1902, SECOND SECTION, Image 17

Historic Oregon Newspapers

Morning Oregonian., January 01, 1902, SECOND SECTION, Image 17

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Newspaper Page Texttepttim Ifttfttftf PAGES 17 TO 32 SECOND SECTION VOL. XLI. PORTLAND, OREGON, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 1, 1902. NO. 12,S10. r OF THE HABITABLE REGIONS OF THE WORLD, THE MOST PRODUCTIVE AND THE LEAST SETTLED. if if if if if VALLEg OF THE COLUMBIA "RIVEK J 4ST jmm cTTTl Columbia River, with Its navl- gable tributaries, aggregating 2132 I miles, all converging at Portland, I 1 contributes two Important fac- tors to the commercial welrare of the llty. It affords natural and cheap means jl communication between Port land and the rich interior, and It is the medium of access for deep-draft vessels from the sea to Portland's wharves. Equally important is the second factor as affecting gradients for the railroad sys tems which terminate at Portland. All haulB by rail for raw materials from the centers of production In the Pacific Northwest to the shipping center at Port land are down grade, and the railroad lines terminating here have the benefit of water-level hauls. No other seaport on the Pacific Coast reaches the rich producing sections of its interior tribu tary country without overcoming heavy gradients, involving great expense in railroad operation. No other commercial city on the Pacific Coast Is so admirably situated at the end of a great trade route the -work of Nature, and not of man. No other Pacific Coast city has the sea in front of it, the producing areas immedi ately behind it, and a natural highway to carry the products to Its doors. No other Pacific Coast city is at once a gate way of commerce and a center of pro duction and distribution. Nearly every cubic foot of water that takes Its rise in Eastern and Southern Washington, "Western Idaho, part of British Columbia and nearly all of Ore gon flows into the Columbia and past Portland in its course to the Pacific Ocean. Of all who have studied the Co lumbia River Basin and Its economic pos sibilities?, none have bestowed higher praise upon it than the United States en gineers who have been entrusted with the work of improving navigation. As long ago as 1SS2 Capt2ln Charles F. Pow ell reported to the Cnlef of Engineers: The Columbia is the great river of the Pa cific Coast. In volume and commercial value It Is second only to the Mississippi. Its banks are more stable. Us waters are clearer. Its Ice blockades are much less In duration than the Krcat -watcrwaj of the East. Unlike the Mississippi, the Columbia seeks the ocean in a line parallel to trade channels, and not at right angles to them. In 1900 Captain William W. Harts re ported: This rher, with Its tributaries, drains an enormous area, estimated to contain 245,000 fquare miles, 1S2.000 miles of which He east of the Cascade Mountains. This latter area is about equal to the combined areas of all the New England States. Including also New York, PennsjKanla, New Jersey and Mary land. The drainage of the Columbia River stands second In the United States la point of size and Importance. Elsewhere will be found a statement of the navigable waters forming the majn stream of the Columbia and its tributaries. It will be noticed that the greater part of the rivet in the. State of Washington the 12 miles between Marcus and the loot of Priest Rapids is, with the exception of the 68-mile reach from the Okanogan to Wenatchee, either navigable only under favorable conditions or navigable only at great risk. On the other hand, the 401 mile reach from the foot of Priest Rapids to the Pacific Ocean is navigable with the exception of the 13 miles between The Dalles and Celllo. The improvement of the river at this point would open 210 miles of water between The Dalles and Priest Rapids, and Improvement of the Snake between its mouth and Rlparla would make navigation easy to Lewlston, Idaho, 140 miles inland from the mouth of the Snake. It is with these two pro jects that the producers of the Inland Empire are now chiefly concerned. For with free navigation from the foot of Priest Rapids, on the Columbia, and Lew iston, on the Snake, the Inland Empire -would have ample outlet to the sea for its products. If The Dalles-Celilo project is undertaken without delay and pushed under the contract system, as was the Cascade Locks in the final stages of the work, it will be possible for steamboats to make the run from Lewlston to Port land before the 1903 fair is opened. Portland' Down-Grade Trade Rontc. The law of Nature which makes water run down hill applies with dominating force to the heavy transportation of a productive country. Trade routes follow the line of least resistance the down-hill track. With this principle in view, let the reader examine closely the map of the drainage area of the great Colum bia River and trace up-stream from Portland the lines of the watercourses. Nearest at hand is "the Willamette. Its drainage area Includes all the region be tween the Cascade and Coast Ranges northward from the Calipoola Mountains, and it scarcely needs to be told that the traffic of this wide country flows down stream to Portland. Then follow the Co lumbia nearly 300 miles east along the Oregon border, thence northwest, east and north through the food-producing fields of Washington; thence north into British America. Now follow up the Snake River, which is really a southern branch of the Columbia, to its sources near the Idaho-Wyoming border, upward of 1000 miles. Then trace the streams falling into the Columbia and the Snake and observe what a wide area they cover. Add to these vast basins the district of the Lower Columbia between Portland and the sea, ard the coast regions in Oregon and Washington, which are nearer to the Columbia River than to any other gen eral port. This is a brief outline of com mercial Oregon, of which Portland is the chief city. It Includes the whole of the State of Oregon, save a few districts to the south and southwest commercially allied to California; the whole of South western, Southeastern and a goodly por tion of Eastern Washington, a trade rela tionship to British Columbia, and to near ly the whole of Idaho. All the heavier and much of the lighter products of this vast region must seek an outlet through the gateway of Oregon by down-hill route to the sea, or follow some more difficult, and therefore more costly, course of transport. One cannot scan a map of the Pacific Northwest without noting the prodigious fact that all the water-level lines of transport, covering the greater productive districts of the Northwest, meet at the Junction of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers at Portland. Herein is the secret of Portland's original location, and the explanation of her commercial power and continuous growth. She has ambitious ri vals on Puget Sound, but Nature in her most formidable shape Is in alliance with Portland. Every pound of freight car ried directly between the Columbia River Basin and Puget Sound must be lifted tltllitiMiiitttliliillilllliaitMMMHtMMMMM)MMMMMttnttttlMtMOHM0MMMMIMH(lt0nM0HMtnMttOttt fl-K- " j " ret 11 ft PAII5 n Mil PR PROM THP MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER. Copyright, 1001. by BenJ. A G'ffSrd. The DMles. ; :: . ' X tjr . w :: I R R I T K H 11 v THE ;; J LJni I IJ j I si's - navigable waters COLUMBIA W SSShs :; IWfa? Hfe- R AGGREGATE :; mkX W a -A) A TOTLILEAGE Vvm CVs wL. (( ff lake( jL Y OF 2132. ;: MMr 111 -OKANOGAN LAKEI V g k ' I $ Sfc Hlk dS ' (jL0WER( S JU (m"- ' :: NYvNflUL SJMI X , 0 (ARROW n (Jlz oA if S 11 aGJP Wl XSLf ffCu V FLATHEAD ulil SEA"53!?E SPOKANeV r t " IJ l)l)llll J 'S fiPsVawENATCHEEy llkr' ) I In considering importance of the Col- I grBsW ATAHl irfTA & H - A " - ' umbia Rlver watershed ll may be staled t HARBORp A'J W0 I C1lwL I CJyl I -'X " that this river with its tributaries drains a '" wili-apaIs) q . fevVTi r? -C lQ Vl country which contains 245,000 square I flffllfP i&ii fe(ESTRA& ! X A n, 182,000 square miles oi which HlUuvl SlT S"' " l t jf?T&J ' f lie east of the Cascade Mountains. This I I J n lliiuiui VTIJ y' N Sw cu --s I latter area alone is about equal to the l X . tmutiL jX j X 7 r ) N- states inc,udins a,so New York ?enn- I X PQRTLAN9DB1 JTtfarvA l f V. I x ' sylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, I fillips Si V- v s n A-w ( v- v -n. X t AV "" NOT NAVIGAB&E ( - MA It i Vr- -iS X ' 1 I J IIC .ALIFORNIA N E V' D A UTAH i X ' : ' 4 il LWKfet'l?!555yi- lUBJ!UjVJLI..JVL?'Ji-'V ,'.. '""'" '"iU- -J ' "i 'L'UmJi' ' """ ' nHPfpnniinfiin i n i inn i u im-n "ii iipiimji mtw. iinmijn hujoj i.i.ihh..hwm i i miiii i -m T t COLUMBIA RIVER 26 MILES EAST OP PORTLAND, SHOWING PILLARS OF HERCULES AND CAPE HORN. Photo by e c. Blackwood. ;; over the Cascade Mountain range 2S49 feet above sea level. Between Portland and the Columbia interior it is a level rpad. To those Tvho understand the primary principle of transportation, even those who have thought upon the difference in force required to walk up hill and on a level, the significance of this fact needs no exposition. It is a fact not to be put aside nor to be overcome by devices. It is final and absolute. It establishes for ever the level route down the Columbia as an Imperial highway to the sea. It attaches the Columbia River Basin to commercial Oregon by a law which dis regards political lines. It brings the com mercial products of tho great Interior basin region whose vast area and wealth have won for It the high but not unfit ting nnmo of "Inland Empire" to a deep water port whcVe they meet the commer cial productions of the Willamette Basin. tlons, of kinds capable of expansion to commercial proportions, would fill a vol ume. The present, when the country Is not yet fairly beyond its pioneer era, when not one acre in five of available In the day of relatively small things this land Is under the plow, before any gen conjunction created near the mouth of the TTIllamette an important commercial town. No man of judgment doubts that the great future will build here one of the world's greater marts. It would take more pages than there are columns available for this general sur vey to detail the present and potential wealth of this vast country. It Is a re gion so richly endowed In unnumbered eral use of Irrigation, and when only crude products are sought to be devel oped, Is a very large one, even In a com mercial sense; and the future, when In-creased-populatKm, wider and cheaper sys tems of transport and higher agricultural art have done their work, no man Is bold enough or wise. enough to foretell. If it were the purpose of this sketch to go into particulars, a record of present commer- ways that a mere catalogue of Its produc- ( clal production might be set forth sur prising to many who fancy themselves already familiar with Oregon's commer cial field. They who may be Interested in thesei respects will find on other pages of this Issue matter of commercial as well an domestic significance. The tables which exhibit annual output are worth the study of all who wish to know the Immediate conditions of the country or to speculate upon Its potentialities and the future of its commercial life. The Producer Dlrcctlr Interested. In some respects the development of the Inland Empire by an all-water trade route on the Columbia is analagous to the opening of "Western New York by the Erie CanaL The rich food-producing lands of Eastern Oregon and Washington and Idaho are partly cut oft from the Pacific Ocean by the obstructions be tween The Dalles and Celllo, just as Vestem New Tork was almost wholly cut off from ths Atlantic seaboard. When the Erie Canal was projected the rail road was not thought of, and the only pos sibility of traffic, except by freight wagon, was a canal. New York built the canal to take the place of the lumbersome wag ons, and then followed the six-track rail way to parallel and supplement the canal and the Hudson estuary. In Oregon light draft steamboats and portages were built to take the place of the freight wagon of pioneer times. Then came the railroad to supplement the light steamboat and the portage New it Is proposed to teupplement the railroad by a revival of water navi gation. Trade routes follow the lines of least resistance gravity, If It be obtainable: If not, the minimum lift oer grades. The line of least resistance from the food producing fields of Eastern Oregon, East ern Washington and Idaho to the Pacific Ocean is the Columbia River, "the one natural pass," as Senator Dolph once ex pressed It. In the 600 miles of mountain range rurnlng through Oregon and Wash ington.. The effect of the opening of the Columbia would be larger population in the interior country; increased production, so that the ships coming to the ports of the Northwest shall be assured of return cargoes; Increased consumpt'on of tho commodities of other countries, "o that ships may come to our ports loaded In stead of In ballast, as they now frequently do. The completion of the Erie Canal revolutionized the trade of the United Slates, .trior to lbJo many, it not a ma jority, of the ec6els discharging at the Atlantic seaboard returned in ballast. The canal made an open door between the East and the West, and thereafter every vessel discharging at New York was cer tain of a return cargo. The situation in the Pacific Northwest today is the re erse of the situation In New York three quarters of a century ago. New York then had the population to buy Its Imports, but the field that produced the cargoes for export was practically Inaccessible.' The Pacific Northwest Is able today to fur nish the cargoes for export, but has not the population that would be large con sumers of Imports. The Erie Canal united the farm and the shipping port for New York. The Columbia River open would do the same for the Northwest and give the producer and the consumer the double advantage of rail and water communica tion. No one Is more Interested than the con sumer In tho selection of the natural trade route for this region, the opening of the Columbia to navigation. The Erie Canal furnishes an object-lesson on this point. Before the canal was dug wheat was quoted at $1 50 a bushel In New York and 50 cents a bushel at Buffalo. The dif ference In price was the cost of transpor tation. When the canal was dug the freight cost from Western New York to tidewater at New York City fell from ?1 a bushel to 40 cents, and the farmer got the other 60 cents. So It will be with the farmer of. the Inland Empire when the Columbia is an open river. The principal beneficiary will be the producer of the Palouse country, the Big Bend, and of Lewlston, Walla Walla, The Dalles, Pen dleton and Yakima. The opening of the Columbia will regulate rates, not affect cities. The railroads that lift their train3 over the Cascades to Puget Sound will get just as much wheat as there Is a market for at Puget Sound, and which they are willing to haul to tidewater at the rate fixed by the gravity system in Columbia Gap. If the steamboat finds the wheat rate from Lewlston to Portland 14 cents a bushel, and lowers It to 7 cents. the other 7 cents will go Into the .pocket of the farmer. The question Is thcreforo one of lessening cost of transportation to the farmer, or, to present It in another Iew, one of Increasing the price which the farmer receives for his product. nilc;n1lc Reaches of the ColnniTiIn. The navigation of the Columbia River begins at Its very source. Upper Columbia Lake, which Is situated between the foot hills of the Rocky Mountains and tho Purcell Range, 10 or 15 miles north of the oOth parallel, and very close to the 116th degree of west longitude. Fjfty miles south of Upper Columbia Lake Is Fort Steele, from which point steamers run on the Kootenai River to Jennings, Mont. Communication between Golden, on the main line of the Canadian Pacific, and Fort Steele, Is by boat, tram and stage. The distance between Jennings and Golden Is 253 miles. From Donald, 17 miles west of Golden, the river lions along the foot hills of the Rocky Mountains in a general northwesterly direction to Boat Encamp ment, just above the 52d parallel. Here the Canoe River, coming from near tho source of British Columbia's great river, the Frastr, adds its waters to the Colum bia's mighty flow. Here alto the Colum bia makes an abrupt turn and flows al most due south to Revelstoke, on the Ca nadian Pacific. The Columbia, In its grand detour around the northern extremity of the Sel kirks, describes a huge inverted letter "V," with the apex pointing to the north west, and traverses about 200 miles of British territory. At Donald the river is 530 feet above sea level, and at Revel stoke the altitude is 1175 feet, a fall of 1053 feet in 200 miles, or over five feet to the mile. At Arrowhead, 26 miles below Rev elstoke, the river broadens into a series of lake known as the Arrow Lakes, which vary from half a mile to three miles in width. Here the river runs through a majestic canvon whose walls bear a strik ing resemblance to the cliffs of the Co lumbia below the Cascades. The river be tween Arrowhead, B. C, and Marcus, Wash , a distance of 1S7 miles, is nav igable, though steamers have run on the 26-milc stretch between Arrowhead and Revelstoke. The Columbia, In Its course from the boundary to the mouth of the Okanogan, Is a truly wonderful river. In this stretch, the 11 miles between Marcus and Rickey's Landing are not navigable, the 56 miles between Rickey's Landing and Spokane Rapids are navigable under favorable con ditions, and the 100 miles from Spokane Rapids to the Okanogan are navigable at great risk. The river crosses the intema ooundary line between Washington anc Idaho, and after flowing through a moun tainous country for 106 miles In a direc tion a little west of south. It enters the great plain supposed to have been occu pied by an inland sea for a long period subsequent to the lava flows which cat off the main drainage through the Cas cade Mountains. Immediately upon enter ing thl basin It trends directly to the west line, along the "northern border ot the great plain for a distance of ICG miles, when It strikes the foot of the hills of the Cascade Mountains, and is turned to the south along the western confines of that plain. This Is one of the two big bends of the river, and that portion of the great plain inclosed between Its two arms is widely known as the Big Bend country. It Is remarkable for the fer tility of Its soil. Through this country the river is new geologically. It is still rapidly carving Its way through the un-