THE MORNING OREGONIAN, THITESDAY, JANUARY 1, 1903.
Development, Progress and Spirit of Orec
kTHER pages of this paper give In
detail facts and figures "which Illus
trate the conditions of Industry, pro
duction and commerce In that portion of
the United States of which Portland is
the business capital. What It has done,
what It Is doing, much of what it plans
to dp, are there set forth. But with all
this painstaking fullness something re
mains to be said to give the reader an un
derstanding of the power of the country;
for it Is by Its spirit, Its potentialities, Its
tendencies, quite as much as by its con
ditions, that Oregon or any country
Is Justly to be measured. It Js the pur
pose of .this writing to consider these
larger and lees concrete aspects of the
Oregonlan life not, indeed, from an ab
stract standpoint, but in their relations
to the Immediate status and operations
of the country and to Its progress.
The present era of abounding prosper
ity In Oregon dates from the year 18fff,
When, through the combined effects of a
season of heavy crops and high prices
and of a universal revival of business, the
country pulled out of the slough of de
spond Into which it had been engulfed by
financial collapse of 1B93. The period
of stagnation. . had dealt severely . but
wholesomely with Oregon; and at Its end
the country was on a much better footing
than at its beginning. True, everything
In the form of property had been scaled
fiown; every citizen had felt the financial
blight of the times. But the country while
down to bedrock -was solvent In a busi
ness sense, and In all moral respects in
finitely sounder and stronger than before.
Its losses, apparently so terrible, were not
real; they were the mere casting off of an
unwholesome bloat produced by specula
tion, the break-up .of ill-considered and
purely speculative projects. "Whatever
was of real value In the country at Its
period of greatest activity remained after
the hurricane of liquidation had passed.
The country came out of the long period
of depression to find that It was In fact
stronger than before, In that the ideas
and habits of the people had been reduced
to the level of their circumstances, and
that they had learned the lessen of mu
tual dependence. Co-operation through
organization of Industry, that lesson so
difficult for a people of pioneer breeding
and tradition to acquire, dates with us
from the time when the results of Iso
lated and Independent effort proved Insuf
ficient to the needs of the country. Be
fore the period of depression the'intensely
individual spirit Inherited from the pioneer
time had largely ruled In our affairs. At
Its end the people were ready as they had
never been before to pull together. The
old resource had failed In a crisis; there
was willingness and even eagerness to
try new ways. The body social and Indus
trial, so to speak, had been born anew
and In a character better suited to cur
rent times and conditions.
'GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY.
Portland nt the Janctlea of
Great Valley Systems.
WHOEVER would understand the se
cret of Portland's business relation!
ships, practically unchanged by the devel
opments of half a century, would do well
to study the accompanying topographical
mop. giving special consideration tG the
lines which mark river courses and the
mountain ranges which cover so large a
part of the country. It was Inevitable In
the earlier days that a trading station
should come into existence at the point
where the two great valley systems of the
country meet. Vancouver, now In the
State of Washington, and on the north
side of the Columbia River, was the first
point to be hit upon for a settlement,
being selected by the Hudson's Bey Com
pany as convenient for its purveyors of
peltries operating east of the Cascade
Mountains, in the Willamette Valley and
the 'region of the lower Columbia River.
Ihe Vancouver station served the purposes
of the fur trade well enough, but it was too
far from the productive country of the
Tualatin and the "Willamette for the con
venience of the agricultural settlers who
, .came into the country a little later. Ore
gon City, at the falls of the Willamette;
came Into existence later. In response to
i the pioneer needs of the country, out It In
turn wac found inconvenient. It was
Ithln reasonable distance of the prod
uctive country, but It was too far above
point where snips could come. MH-
lAukle, seven miles down the river and
tthln Ave miles of Portland, was hit
pnas a point reachable fay the shallow
keels of that early day, and it had a
it period of prosperity, but It was on
wrong side ot the river, not being ap
chable from the Tualatin region
iout a long detour involving vthe pass-.
S6of the Columbia River. Xilnnton, six
miles below Portland, had its brief day
9f "Ufibltious expectancy, but its chances.
like those of Mllwaukle, faded away when
a settlement -was made at the point now
known as Portland, at once accessible to
ships, to traffic In boats from up the Col
umbia Blvor and by the wagons of the
pioneer farmers.
From the day when Portland first got Its
start until now there has never been any
question as to Its status as the center of
traffic and trade in the Northwest coun
try. Steamboat navigation succeeded
navigation by the canoe and the '"whale
boat," and It confirmed the standing of
Portland. The railroad came fr th
steamboat, and It In turn confirmed
" "c .u.iiiucrujiii power oi
jruriiana. 113 unes lonowed naturally the
routes of the earlier agencies of trans
portatlon, for these had chosen the water
courses and the passes through the moun
tains. It Is possible, of course, to build
and operate railroads across mountain
summits, but it Is never done excepting
under circumstances of extreme necessity,
and railroads so built and operated must
always work at a disadvantage compared
with roads with lower and level grades.
Examine carefully any map of, the
States of Oregon and Washington nnd you
cannot fall to be struck by the fact that
Portland Is approachable from every pro
ductive section by a practically level
route. From ell points In the Willamette
Valley It Is easy going all the way to
Portland; from the wide basin of the
Lower Columbia River the road to Port
land Is a water level; from almost any
point In the great interior bnsin of the
Columbia and Snake Rivers the road to
Portland Is an unbroken level. The gorge
through which the Columbia River finds
Jte way pist Portland's door to the sea Is
the one break In the great wall of the
Cascade Mountains between British Col
umbia and California. This, with respect
to the transportation of the interior basin.
is a lact or tremendous significance. Tho
law of nature which makes water run
down hill applies with dominating force
to the heavy transportation of a produc
tive country. Freight traffic will follow
the line of least resistance it will take
the down-hill track. With this principle in i
mind, turn to-the topographical map and.
tracing up-stream from Portland the lines
of water-course, discover for yourself the j
ramifications of commercial Oregon the
lemiory wnicn is marked out by condi-
tlons of nature which no art can change,
pc i.fhitf ow n fViA 4 m
- . 1C vuiuiiiuu i-cuici 01 1
Portland. j
Any and all efforts to direct the traffic '
of any part of this territory Into other '
courses and to other centers must run J
counter to the law of gravity, and while .
for a time they may appear to be success- j
iui, mey must in ine ena wnen competi- ;
tion presses fail. Again and again It has j
proved to be so during the commercial i
career of Portland. Even now, that part j
of the traffic of the Interior basin of the
Columbia River which passes outlo the ;
seaboard over- the crest of the Cascade .
Mountains, costs more than that which
follows the line ,of water level, down the , westr-and you will find that the earliest
Columbia River, through tho Cascade settlers came from the Willamette Val
Gorge and by the gateway of Portland, n ley. For many years this movement con-
An excessive freight -rate maintained by
arbitrary arrangement between the trans-
The above outline of the regions which form the Pacific Northwest exhibits the essential topographical features of the country. A little
. - uj
tfttTttft(rtittttirrniimaiiiiia.r
portatlon agencies operating In the
try alcne makes division of the traffic
possible. The opening of the , Columbia
River to nnbrokeii navigation through Its
whole coursemust in the very nature of
things establish conditions which will
make all such arbitrary and unnatural
arrangements Impossible. It Is unthink
able that the people of the great Interior
basin will go on forever paying a freight
rat by which Its products may be hauled
with profit over an unnatural and un
necessarily costly route. Even under the
arrangement now In force between the
, roalroads, the vast bulk of the traffic of
me interior Basin is carried to the sea
board by tho route of the Columbia River, I
nnA In tlm ft ma .1 .11 I
... ... uiuoi watnuiuy an come 1
that way. This is the judgment of com
mon sense likewise It Is the declared
opinion, of every practical transportation
man, from Henry VIHard to James J.
Hill.
MOVEMENTS IN POPULATION.
Relations of the Willamette Valley
to the Xe-rrer Regions.
THERE are some conditions In Oregon
which follow naturally from the his
tory and circumstances of the country
but which to general and outside obser
vation appear anomalous. Take, for ex
ample, the, Willamette Valley, whose de
velopment, while intrinsically large, has
been slow in comparison with that of tho
newer countries cf Eastern Oregon and
Washington and of Southern Idaho. Why
Is It, every thoughtful stranger is likely
to ask, that this relatively long-settled
and rich countryt with Its better equip
ment of churches and schools and social
conditions, should be In a material sense
not much further ahead than the country
north andwest of the Blue Mountains, the
Palouse countryi the Valley of the Yak
Ima and several other newor districts?
On the surface there appears to be no
adequate reason for It, and yet the ex-
nlannflnn Is clmnln Thn WllUmnttn ITnl
w -ufT-io f -poma
Northwest to be occupied by white men
and It had come to a very considerable
development - before any movement was
made toward occupation of other parts
0f the country. Many of the early comers
-were stockmen-dependent upon the range
. . . . . ... !
ana wnen ine pastures oi me wmameue :
were c0SCd Dy fences, as they were very?
generally by the early "fifties," .they '
"trekked" off to newer fields. The dlscov- J
ery of gold In the lato "forties" drew oft j
another large section of the ea.rly Wll- j
lamettc settlers. It was through this i
movement from the Willamette valley
that Eastern Oregon and Washington
got their first stast In the way of
population. Go. today Into TJmaUlla
County. Baker County. Crook County.
the Walla Walla country, the Kllckl-j
tat country, to Tillamook, to Klamath I
Lake anywhere east, south, north or S
tinned; the newer districts, being closely '
connected with the Valley by ties of fam-
TOPOGRAPHICAL VIEW OF OREGON, WASHINGTON AND IDAHO
me wuci wit ui iic nuimwcsi is
uisincis oi ine country meet ac
ily and acquaintance, made continual
drafts upon the parent stock. Again, tie
growth of Portland drew largely from the
population of the Valley. The tempera
ment of the pioneer people was of a sort
to develop In the second generat'on a tarte
for professional life, and the demonstm
Hon of this tendency "is found In tho fact
that a very large proportion of the" pro
fessional men of the city have been drawn
from the Willamette Valley. There never
has been a time when , many among tho
foremost men in the professional life of
the city have not been men of up-the-Valley
birth or tradition. The Willam
ette Valley has thus been In a sense the
fountain head of our Northwest popula-
. .
won, ana irom it as a common source
every part of the country has made drafts.
As the Valley came Into a considerable
development earlier than the other parts
of the country. Its aval able public lands
were soon exhausted, therefore those who
came looking for free homes found It
necessary to search further, and so
passed on to newer districts where Uncle
Sam still wssable to provide every comer
witn a farm. Railroads were built Into
many of tho newer districts almost as
soon as Into the Willamette Valley, giving
Immigrants the chuice of taking up free
und or of buying lands already Improved
In the Willamette Valley; and In many
districts, notably in the Umatilla and
Palouse, settlement was .facilitated by the
fact that the country was treeless, while
In the Valley It was necessary after buy
ing a farm to devote much labor to clear
ing and preparing it for the plow.
Of course, there has always been among
newcomers a minority preferring to buy
improved places and ready to pay for tho
advantages of an established civilization,
and from this class the population of the
Valley has steadily been recruited; but
ho movement has been slow when com
rarcd With tho rush Into districts Mke
that of the Palouso, where tho Immigrant
had only to establish hfs camp while ho
put In a crop on tho ready soil, defining
to the time between planting and harvest
tlje making- of such shelter for his family
as serveii In a new country. It is only
within the last few years that the condi
tions of the country as a whole have been
equalized; that the price of Willamette
Valley-lands has not been In striking and
unfavorable consist with vyJ ies in thn
newer districts. The period of hard times, (
. ...... ... -
100, wnicn lonowed tne collapse of 1833.
served to bring down the prices of Valley
lands from the artificial basis to which J
they had been advanced by the generally
Inflated Ideas of the boom times to some-
thing like real value; and the stress
through which the country passed tend- !
ea 10 me nreaK-up ot tne large and
largely unworked-holdings which had
been the fashion of the country from i
pioneer times. Today the Valley, In Its !
current growth, -compares., favorably with
those districts which for many years en -
grossed all the Incoming movement, while i-
the Valley appeared to be. almost stand-4
Ing still in its development, A point has
been reached In the general development i
of the country where the spee'lal attrac-
tlons of the Valley count for more than J
ever before, ahdwhere they are not nulll-
wiicic n i. rtii me waicr-icvei lines, n win De pDservea, covering iw
tne conjunction or tne wOiumoia ana
-
fled by the existence of new and available
districts In which good lands may be had
for the taking.
TRANSPORTATION PROGRESS.
Many Sections of the State
Waiting for Railroads.
Still
THE development and progress of Ore
gon owes much, of course, to the rail
road systems which operate In the coun
try and connect It with the world In gen
eral; but at the same time Oregon has
gained less relatively through Its rail
roads than almost any other American
state. In the first place the railroads were
long In coming, and when they did come
it was by routes long served by naviga
tion, and they tended In .their effects to
confirm and enlarge establlshedcondltlona
rather than to create new ones. No revo
lution was made anywhere in Oregon by
the Iron horse; it wrought no radical
change In the domestic conditions except
ing insofar as it substituted one form of
carriage for another. It did not, as In the
adjoining State of Washington, recast and
make anew the conditions of life and busi
ness. There were, of course, reasons for all
this, the main reason being the situation
of Portland, the chief city of Oregon, at
the junction of the two great valley sys;,
terns of the country the Columbia and
the Willamette. In a flat country, rail
roads may wander at the will of their
builders, as Is everywhere illustrated In
the levol states of the Mississippi Val
ley: but In- a mountainous country they
must, if they are to be built and operat
ed economically, hug the lines of the
water-courses. It happens curiously that
tho great lines of river-way run around
rather than throuch much of the State of
sure, runs through tjie Valley which takes
Its name, and Is paralleled by one of our
more Important linos of railroad, but the
great river courses of the Snake and Col
umbia east of the Cascade Mountains run
along the north anS east boundaries of
Oregon, nowhere cutting through the
heart of the country, which everywhere
lies high. The railroads follow these
river-ways routes served by navigation
long before the day of railroads and so
-
railed in tneir western march to open up
much In the way of new territory. In
the adjoining State of Washington, on the
other hand, the railroads. In order to
reach the centers of population, were
compelled to cut across country, and thus
to dpen up and give transportation to re-
glons previously little populated. In
Washington, the great Interior lies lower
than the Interior df Oregon, arid It was
crossed 20 years ago by the road which
connects- the Puget Sound country with
.the East. Central Washington, therefore,
yrhlle no richer .naturally than Central
Oretron. and destined In tha lone run to no
greater development. Is from 15 to 20 years
In advanco of the last-named countrv.
-which- Is only just now being opened up
by special railroad movements. If, like
the Valley of the Yakima, the Valley of
Willamette Kivers at rortiana.
- - . . .
. the Deschutes and tfe Valley of the John
Day"ltlver had lain an the path of the
transcontinental railroads, they would not
today be pioneer county still waiting for
the development whlc their Intrinsic
merits are bound to win, In time.
The same Is true of the country of
Southeastern Oregon. Here Is a district
larger than the State of Ohio and Intrin
sically scarcely less rich In Ihe native ele
ments which under population and In
dustry go to the making of wealth; but
with all Its potentialities and Us geo
graphical proximity to the chief markets
of the Coast It lies midway between
Portland and San Francisco there. Is not
a pound of railroad Iron In it. To fh;
day It knows no means of tranrrvrti4k
excepting the saddle pony, th m .jn Mrk
and the freight wagon. T n '- ur few
been that It lay far ncrf lln ol
the Central Pacific Railn 'ar west f
the Oregon Shirt Line an. r-r south t
the Northern Pacific and the f .-ecm Rail
way & Navigation roads. Elged in be
tween high mountains, it has .v.mp', wait
ed for a railroad. Population ba-i cam
to it, but only In limited numbers, nd t-
day It remains what It was forty -ve; -. j
ago a pioneer country. j
Instances might be multiplied to l.;
trate the truth that one-half of the , -
ductlve area of Oregon lle3 unocv.
pied and practically unproductive, waltiii I
upon that essential of commercial prog
ress, tranuportation. There Is tho Tilla
mook country, south of the Columbia
River, which has only such transportation
service as the sea affords, subject to the
hindrances and hazards of a shallow bar,
oftentimes In winter Impassable for ves
sels for weeks together. There Is tha
whole region of the ocean coast, from
the Columbia River to the California line,
practically undeveloped, and for tho lack
of regular transportation. There Is the
Klickitat country. Just now being opened
by Portland Initiative and capital. There
Is not to go far from home the Valley
of the Upper Le'wls River and the Valley
of the Nehalem, and the Bridgeport dis
trict in Clackamas County all pioneer
country to this day, waiting .upon tha
time when, with the coming of transpor
tation, the productive industry to which
they aro so admirably adapted will be es
tablished. These Instances ere recited to make
plain the statement that railroads have
as yet done relatively little for Oregon.
Many among Its best productive, fields
remain almost unoccupied and compara
tively speaking undeveloped. No Ameri
can state affords so many and such Invit
ing opportunities for railroad enterprise.
Portland, a city of merchants, has been
slow to enter upon enterprises foreign
to Its business habit and genius; but a
start has been made In railroad-building
which promises to accomplish that for
which we havo waited too long upon the
enterprise ot professional railroad opera
tors. The Columbia Southern, elsewhera
described in this paper. Is strictly a home
enterprise, conceived by Portland men
and to a considerable extent created by
Portland capital
which it Is pro
The electric lines by
proposed to bring Western
v
y
study of this, may f4will rajMt j
pnuuv'-
s ,
Clackamas County and TmfritS v ,D'
ton County into a tMrtct aomt.', " ,wl
Portland, are hot:. - n T.
several logging r.
starting at Colun
Helens, on the Co!
Ing toward the N
er home enterprl
la. City, i...ais
ibi&Sfver a.Sfl wo?
Ti aistrJ. oil."4-
'f all as illoetrat
v -And fts 4::;ty
at nt prbfa, to
But most lmpo:
Ing the spirit of
as well Is the .-lu-which
passing r :!
The Klickitat country
ern part of the S st
east of the Cascade
. i the $tit; .
Mountains, a few
mile3 north of the Columbia River but
directly shut oft from It b? a high range
of mountains. Although In point of geog
raphy east and above the obstPagilprg Jo
navigation at The Dalles, . the. ifficSffct'
Is connected with the lower bas3n of the
Columbia River by fi. series of narrow
canyons, affording a railroad route.
Through these canyons a Portland com
pany is building a railroad designed to
connect with a steamboat line making di
rect connection with Portland. This en
terprise, elswhere described" In detail, Is
wholly a Portland affair. Every dollar of
the large sum put Into It something like
$1.000.000 has been subscribed by Portland
people. Unquestionably It was "as a busi
ness project that the venture was made;
there had not been In It something more
than an investment. Through this enter
prise Portland is consciously reaching out
In a great work of interior development.
The spirit of the city is back of this
movement, and It will not rest content
with the accomplishment of this special
and Isolated project. Portland Is only just ,
beginning to understand the potentialities
of her great accumulation of capital: only
just coming to comprehend that her op
portunitle3 may have largermotlve and
a wider range tnan tne operations or me
cantlle trade.
INDUSTRIES Of THE SOIL
A
CsBsIdered la Their R'.Mcto
Progress of tl4 State.
tke
WHILE the Induir? :f Oregon la a
thing of man rams- whfie matjjrj
streams combine ti mak ihe 4lump ef
its productive life- ft ilrat cvsl main 3a-
pendence Is the sail, herjgc ippf-'as
woodsmen, m!tjr, Jfefeecgt&t, work
ers In factoms. the.
baker and the .;nileflUaE
farmer outp-ucbra
products of u
and tho b ef mtr cft
world of .jnercfs. t&
paper of Si4y .v vtd
merclal
affairs net Sorlt. -Sfc
quan-'
tlty of tSKfJVlt., :l
ttlons In so
far of uf Ik
wtJftcce; and the
reas
ant?
tttriraDP3K'ja8ls
mkmmt6 the
xM'-sM. of this
V umaelf-1 what
quired to sup- -
. community of '
Wiymwhi w'-flSms- of home popu-
-wfe. c ,-ularly an Inde-
MUt, ange of Its orlgi-
and If it were
wtafe . o Com ' the rest of tho
- M fjShne ufrfii&.not suffer for any
t'M aiw-'tiafe:-aBa; not, indeed, for
or tlrSr luxuries of life. There Is no
nek. r Vrcbatdf pv garden product suited
f i 'ero&rfttsfltitudes which carfnot be
t 8-own are; aia la most Instances to per
f - torfu Our,ereal3 go Into the, annually
Zipe, bte gcommefclat supply which
maV.es h World's dally bread. Our wools
miyiM hd1ilothlns for several times the
n- VVl.. n'fmt n-wrrt rnitriMvr" JT.,.. I -
i L re distributed through the agencies of
i commerce arouna tne world. Our" general J
KlBwlproducts help to supply the mar- )
ei3is iar .oast as xne Atlantic seaboard. ,
Owr .hops go wherever thclt ia'de
a&anded. Our dairy products .afec&bnd.
kto none.
'kites
Sut while our farm industry we. class
Mock breeding and ranging as farming
l a thing of great variety InjItseTf and of
Imost varied productions, -Its, specialties
'are pronounced. Wheat Is easfly our fore
"rooat. field crop, being specially suited to
the soils and general conditions of much
of our farming country. : Afler wheat
comes animal productions In the many
forrosf and it Is here that our greatest
advance Is likely to come. LArge parts
of Eastern Oregon are now given over to
stock ranging, and more and more It Is
coming to be understood that the best
results of farming in Western Oregon
jeeme through one form or another of anl
BMtl husbandry.. For, .while every species
ef 'arm reduction yields a bountiful re-
rtf ft
A
t
L Vnf.-:'i- -k