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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 1911)
THE - OREGON r SUNDAY JOURNAt, PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 5, 1911. nr.r i l o Ai L 'T a n ?EAptLfi..r jysE! jadL iit je iVMT SOME CURRENT EVENTS AND CONDITIONS CONVINCINGLY PICTURED BY CARTOONISTS WHICH HAND WINS?, ." ,55. - fi , ' SV1 I " " iwii 1 aofthmmkan' nil" :bv ' C j yCT I T fxof tub CHICAGO TRizxsNE I (' jr ' ? 1 THIS A I A (USt 7 r r A IBffifti wiHfiwl I WHOAlY R fZxMS I VAILED T(THKSlAST ""V (.( V W&M U&LICT ! 0 MORE ROTS" AND "SPOTS" Fj02rTas CHICAGO XSCQRD &A HIGHWAY THAT WOULD BRING PORTLAND NEARER TO HOOD RIVER AND THE DALLES Proposed Hond Through Mount Hood Forest District, for Construction of Which Congress Is Asked to Appropriate $150,000, Would Bring Portland in (loser Touch With Kastern Oregon, It Is Claimed Would lie of Great Value to Forest SerricB Officials in Safeguarding the Timber Tlirough Width It Would Pass and Would be a Scenic Iloute of Surpassing lloauty. By Marshall N. Dana. move forces of fire fighters rapidly THK VOLCANOES of the Cascades from Portland anO set them quickly just are r pcrlcs In gleaming white, where they are needed. Our workers Their heat Is Ice. Their wrath could make an eay way through the is cold. l-he. blackness of their forest. We could ( ,.erate wagons where depth is over-flung with a mantle now a man on foot makes difficult pro of everlasting snow. An occasional gross. We could build this road for slide and the rocks and crags Jut out required distance of 15 or 20 miles liko the bones Of giants disturbed In tor l5U,ooo IT congress will Klve us their last resting place. The volcanoes of the Cascades are the mountain we all know Hood, St. that much, and we could always keep It in repair ourselves." this was the forester's viewpoint. He Helens, Adams, lker. Rainier, Wash- n1 thought In the terms of trees Ington, Jefferson. Three Sisters, Three- fingered Jack, Diamond 'Peak.. Ollall Butte, and away to the south, Shasta. We paused at the highest part of While he had been speaking a great fact had impressed Itself upon us. What Road Would Mean. The building of this section of road Low pass. It wss the snow line which through the Mount Hood nat!6nal for summer was then attacking and drlv- cst would make accessible to Portland lng farther and farther up the side of scenery in many ways more grand than Mount Hood, portland-was away to the that of Yellowstone park or Yosemlte west. Over the foothills were spread valley. The building of the road would the forests and only in the , closer connect Portland, the market place of reaches of the eye could the giant firs Oregon, with the great eastern Ore be distinguished by their height. St. gon wheat belt, with the tremendous po Helens, like a jgresit. rounded cone, was tential production of central! Oregon just across the" gleaming ribbon of the and would bring Hood River and The Columbia. Adams lifted its bulk to the Dalles closer to the metropolis. north and the irresistible glaciers that flow from Its side were almost dls cernlble. Mount Rainier was almost tains, hid by St. Helens and its peak seemed only a few miles away. The day was splendidly clear. The panorama of white mountain, green for-" est and warm valley stretche4 endlessly away. Most of the little towns that we knew to be scattered here and there . through the vision of grandeur we be held, were swallowed up by the for-"- esfs. The mountains were sentinels splendidly guarding the silence. , "This," said our guide of the forest .service, suddenly, "Is where we want a road, We want it tor transfortution in to all this forest country so that we can make the Mount Hdwtl national for est a model for all the, rest. 'We want lt; for aid In fighting fires which un controlled, sweep ever and destroy the best timber and threaten the source of Portland's splendid water supply. We nnLlt,t9Jiable.js,.t.jaopUJbecr man system of l'orest maintenance,, re moving the . debris, thinning out the trees, letting the g reat trees havf the beBt possible opportunity to grow greater, and thus exemplify the w is dom, conservation, effectiveness - and' value of Uncle Sam's forest reserve sys' fm. This road would enable : us to Low pass at 3300 feet elevation. Is the lowest part of the Cascade moun- It is an indentation In their height; a break In the barrier. The making of a road through the pass would be comparatively cany. The road from Portland to Government Camp passes through Salmon postofflce. At Salmon postofflce a trail begins which leads part of the way over the pro posed n,ew hlRliway. This trail we fol lowed. We clambered over the jutting rocks and made a circuitous, toilsome way around fallen trees. Suddenly we pulled up short. Before ..'' was a gleaming lake backed by the "mountain, girdled by the forest, smooth, clear and beautiful. 'This is Lost lake," said our guide. "Sometimes, I've thought In my queer way that Mount Hood and the forest and the lake have been more in spiring things to me than any of my friends." While our guide had mused half to himself the more practical members of our party were looking over the chances for highway construction. Evidently the road the government Is asked to build through the forest reserve Is not very long, but" In some places the cost will approximate pr even exceed H 0,000 a mile. In view, of the fact that there are but 15 miles of construction needed to make the connecting link between east ern R$ftfW$'itt1ern Oregon nwd to furnish 'at the SH'Hje time the forest service road for the Improvement of the reserve, the cost seemed little enongh. and likewise the proposed congressional appropria tion. In point of fact it has seemed that it would be very easy to got congress to make this appropriation covering a dual purpose, and as a consequence E. Henry Wemme and W. C. Bristol, two of the most ardent advocates of the road, were tremendously disappointed when they received the other day a communi cation from Senator Bourne saying that about all he could get for a beginning was J10.O00. Mr. Bristol called It a "drop in the bucket." Mr. Wemme fair ly wept and at the same time scattered exclamation points throughout hjs con versation. Congress to Be Besieged. Senator's Bourne's modest silRgentlon has not discouraged the road advocates. The forest service has gotten hack of the appropriation In a mst favorable way. The road has been sorely needed for the work a long time. Some of the road promoters suggested that Senator Bourne might have been a trifle too modest in his requests for an appropria tion; so, before the congressional session ends, letters and telegrams sml reso lutions ntid majis and pictures and argu ments and every other means calculated to touch the congressional heart and pocketbook will be forwarded to Wash ington. The people of Hood .River and The Dalles are just as interested in the mak ing of the road as are those from Port land and the west Mount Hood vicinity. While in Hood River a few days ago I made the acquaintance of Editor Wal ton of the News, and his recital of the effort that had been and Was about to be made for the building of the road was sufficient to convince any doubter that the residents "above the narrows'' are awake and on the job. equal to vig orous intervention with Oregon senators and the rest of the congressmen. While in Portland last Senator George E. Chamberlain expressed the warmest favor for the plan of making u road through the reserve, both for the forest service and for the people, lie went bark to Washington pledged to make the best effort in his power to et the appropriation. What lie has .succeeded In accomplishing has not yet been reported. It hardly seems possible that when the advantages of Instituting this semi national park at the small outlay pro posed are understood the appropriation will not he forthcoming. As Supervisor T. 11. Shtirrard or the Oregon national forest has pointed out, the road would he tributary to an area populated by more than 350,000 people. Supervisor Sherrard write in refer ence to the road as follows: "The proposed road would commence at a point on an existing road In town ship " south, range 7 east, and extend up the Clear fork of Sandy river, cross ing the summit of the Cascades at the lowest pass in the range, elevation 31100 feet. It would continue down the west fork of Hood river to u connection with an existing road in township 1 north, ran;e 8. east, from the town of Hood River to Lost lake. The diagram accompanying shows the location ex actly. "The road would serve two purposes, first it would connect Portland with the Hood River valley and the country east of the Cascades, which points are not even now connected by a wagon road; second, it would make a particularly til e scenic road crossing the Cascades as it does, hut a few miles from the " " ' " base of Atount Hood, and overlooking, tho Columbia river gorge. "It would also open the market 9t ' Portland to Hood River valley and would afford an outlet to eastern Oregon vl The Dalles. Primarily, It would be ot the greatest use to the Forest service, , opening up a section of the country that is now inaccessible. It would serve a, & spiendld patrol and as a fire break, and would connect the north portion of the forest with the main artery of tra. -vel from Portland. The trails In thl portion of the forest are few and poor,;' and a main line of communication is badly needed. It would also make ac- ' ccsslble a large body of heavy timber on the headquarters of the west fork j of Hood River. It would be possible also to build a connecting fire patrol . trail along the summit and around th north slope of Mount Hood to Cloud Cap Inn, which is already teached by , wagon road, trail and telephone Una from Hood River valley. I know no one In Portland Who la not under the spell of Mount Hood. It la the tremendous mountain of personality, In grandeur Mount Hood standi at tha gateway of promise beckoning the tra veler from the east to a" home In th. ' Rose City, or pointing again the way";-' to the great home region of central Ore '" gon. ' Kor many reasons, then. Portland peo-v pie and all who come this way ihould V have the opportunity of closer touch with the mountain of personality. ' " ' NOTABLE, MAGAZINE FEATURES COMING--' XS" If My AeroplanecAd . ventures, by J. AVm- " strong Drexel. . f A series of Six lllus ginning, Sunday, February 19. 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