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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 30, 1913)
A FORTY TOOT CHANN L OVER TH E BAR OF THE COLUMBIA ;-:;':-:v.:.i- ;'':':"v: -X'". MM II IIMIIH 'II - " Ports of Columbia Committee Makes Marked Progress in Execution of Its Plans to Make Columbia River One of the Big Waterways of Trade, By Marshall N. Dana. THE mighty Columbia bursts asunder two mountain ranges in its race to the sea, but it has a bar at its mouth. In its current mingle the streams of two nations, but its forward sweep has not dislodged the commerce checking obstruction. The grain that might grow on the plains it drains could feed the millions, bat people to plant the crops will wait the opening Of the door to the world's markets. The food from the farms of the lands it waters might make high cost of living a vague memory, but not until the flood flows free into the deeps of the sea. . On the slopes of its watershed stand titanic forests for the building of factories, cities and ships, but of value' in futures only until the way of water transportation is clear. Powerful dredges must tear through the sand and silt; rock built Jetties must narrow the.Dreadth of the river's mouth and correspondingly deepen Its channel. Modern commerce carriers must hear the news of developing resources and aggressive improvement policy and prepare to usehe facilities of deep ened channel apd public water terminals. Factories must be built on the banks of the river to transform raw ma terials into finished products and thus enhance values. , The unused millions of water horsepower must be transformed into "elec trical current for the operation of industries. , Locks and dams must sacrifice the wiia beauty of the upper Columbia Cascades in the interest of navigation and electric power. -Where-4an4s-Jack nature$LProvtsion for sufficient water their fertility must be artificially aided by irrigation. Problems of production present themselves wherever, in all the region, utilization of resources and cultivation of land is proposed; the educational agencies of the states must systematically demonstrate solutions of these problems. Transportation by water Is not sufficient without transportation by rail and by wagon roadj ana the three must. pe... efficiently related. All of these thines have Drorer art in creatine a crreat harbor, in indue Ing a great agricultural and industrial development, In weaving a complete transportation system, m permanently estamisning a country. , i ney are the Inseparable units of progress r 1 a -..'m i. i i .i "TV x IK. Dredge to Begin Work Soon on Bar at Harbor's. Entrance, Bnflt ! to WboU Oonununlty. Men must be had who can grasp In all Its Immensity the corelated scheme that must be evolved, who can outline the work to he done" and fufnlsh the plan of procedure, and all without taint of selfishness except It be that generous selfishness which practically appreci ates that where the majority benefits most the Individual prospers more greatly. Perhaps all of the preceding seem but high sounding phrases. They represent the -ideal but an Ideal that must ulti mately be realised because the reason for the realisation exists. If a manufacturer goes Into business he builds his plant big enough to pro- duce In greatest volume and most eco nomically his particular commodity. He regulates volume of output by the de mand. The same measure must apply to the plan of the Columbia district because Its permanency depends on the industry and prosperity of Its people. And tha realiaatlon of the work to be dons Is becoming a part of the present. How else would there have sprung Into existence almost over night an organisa tion, lanrer than any other of Its kind ' knowji, dedicated to a single unit of betterment the removal of the bar at the mouth of the river! As suggested, development, docks. In dustry, wait on the deepening of the channel at the river's mouth. It will be of small avail to create a 80 foot chan nel from Portland to the sea unless there be a correspondingly deep passage over the bar. The channel will nowhere be better than Its shallowest portion. Of what advantage will It be to create at Portland or Astoria great water termi nals unless there be at the mouth of the - river such exit and extrance for modern steamships "as their great draft war rants? Amount of rtderal Aid tought, 'The Ports of Columbia committer has definitely programmed Its campaign. It asks congress to appropriate l,500,ono for a dredge ehtttfl to the wonderful "Leviathan" of th port of" T-tverpool: to appropriate 12.000,000 Instead of " ..40,000 first reoommended for the north jetty at the mouth of the Co- ' lumbla. and to plae the jetty work on a continuing contract basis. It was the representations made by a special com mittee of the' Ports of Columbia oom mittee that Induced the Port Commls- , sions of Portland and Astoria to set aside a total of ISOO.OOO In aid of the ' government's work at .the mouth of the river, so that work on the jetty might not "cease between the .time when the, present appropriation should bo ex hausted and the next appropriation be come available. The committee believes in the effect iveness of dredging.' Tht Chinook's work on the bar during 80 double shift work- ii : ing days fn the summer of 1 91 . fur nished a demonstration of Its value. ' Across tb ba.r dlaune t nearly mile, the dredger made a channel 700 feet wide with a minimum depth of 28 feet which the current has since made deeper Instead of shallower as was expected. BiM the most startling arguments in favoe of dredging are 'furnished by oUierJ great ports. On,T the Mersey bar at the Port of Liverpool dredging that deepened the channel from 11 to SO feet at dead low water brought to docks costing $190, 000,000 a business for the last fiscal year , that totaled the Immense sum of $1,667,000,000. The foreign commerce of all the ports of the United States during the fiscal year totaled $4,000,000,000, and New York's share was $2,000,000,000, . yet New York's channel was entirely made by dredging. Hamburg, on the river Elbe, had a, commerce for the fiscal year of $1,657. 000,000, only made possible by continu ous dredging. The , Columbia furnishes the only water grade route in the United States from the interior, to the Paclflo ocean. Its watershed includes British Colum bia, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Nevada. Wyoming, Oregon, Washington. Not long ago a grain broker of three Canadian provinces was here, saying that five cents a bushercould be saved on Canadian grain routed down the Co lumbia river for transshipment via the Panama canal. . A Missoula, Mont., bus iness man has estimated not only a broadened market, but a proportionate saving In transportation- of grain. Esti mates have been made that open trans portation would increase the value of the government timber holdings in the northwest $60,000,000 in five years, and private holdings $90,000,000 in the same period, A saving of 10 cents a box on apples routed via the canal from the nsrfhw.est, out of the Columbia, has been estimated.. Increase Depends on Deeper ChannsL , But all of these items of reversed traffic movement and Increased com merce depend on the deeping of the bar channel. The $875,000,000 Invested In the Pan ama canal will mean less In benefits to the Pactfte northwest If Its greatest port is not fully opened. But the need of the deepened channel, and the volume of the accelerated com merce It ts estimated at $160,000,000 a year with a 40 foot channel oVer the bar- cannot help be recognised. The 16,000 members of the Ports of Co lumbia committee will clamor for It. The industrial, agricultural and lumber ing Interests are dependent upon, it It Is a task big enough for the nation to perform and to benefit from. The time will come-when one may sail without waiting for tide or calm weather In the largest snip over the bar and .into .the Columbia. The green valleys or tne lower Co lumbia and the Willamette may be suo- oeeded by the browner, plateaus of the pie. w nr A.RSHFIELD, Or., Dec. 0. The lyl prospects for substantial and last ing improvement of the harbor of Coos Bay are better now than ever before. During the past year important step, have been taken to better the harbor, which is regarded as the most valuable natural resource of the Coos Bay country. The commissioners of the Port of Coos Bay floated a $300,000 bond Issue. Of this amount at least $200,000 Is to be expended on a project to maka a channel 200 feet wide and IS feet deep at mean lower low tide from the C. A. Smith mill, at the head of the bay, to the ocean. To carry out this plan the port entered Into contract with the Pilar Qahh4 n,1tfi Jl- T)A Z3U. Ing company and that firm Is now at work in the bay. The dredge Seattl was brought here by the company and is carrying out the project under the supervision of the- port engineer. The government engineers announce that the government dredge Oregon, which was formerly used here and which is now in Yaqulna bay, will be returned to Coos Bay ariy in February. If there are no government funds avail able for tlie operation of this dredge the port commission will likely furnish money to keep the dredge in operation and assist In the work inside the bay. The port commission has levied the annual port tax which will bring suffi cient money to pay the interest on the honds and leave about $9000 for current expenses. The improvement of the bar will be taken up by the government, congress several years ago having appropriated $350,000 for a bar dredge and money for its maintenance. There have been long delays in receiving the bar dredge at Coos Bay but it Is now promised that It will arrive shortly after the first of the year. The dredge built for Coos Bay Is the Colonel P. S. Mi tenia. While the dredge as a means of im proving the bar Is welcomed It has al ways been held locally that what is needed is the repair of the north Jetty at the entrance of the harbor. This Jetty is practically demolished. The people wanted the Jetty lhiproved and the dredge as a supplemental means of im provement. Now that the dredge is to come every effort of the Coos Bay in terests is being directed toward the Im provement of the Jetty which was In cluded In one of the projects recom mended by' the government engineers to congress. Committees will be sent from this locality to Washington to urge the rebuilding of the Jetty. Improvements have also been made on the Coqullle river, the other ocean outlet of Coos county. Work has been done by the Port of Coqullle which has jurisdic tion on tho upper river and for the purpose of Improving tht bar and the lower waters of the river the Port of Bandon has been organized. The port organlaztlon will be taken through tne courts to make certain of its validity and then the port commission expects le levy tax and float a bond issue to raise money for harbor work. Dur -ng the past year rocks have been blasted out of the lower river and dredging done and other Improvements made which better the condition of the harbor for the increasing traffic. ft :"-'tr' f v - lit, 'x'x ' i vL"-'. V t v i UTAM Top, left to right Looking towards the mouth of the Columbia river at Astoria; rocky gorge of the Columbia river, near The Dalles. Center, left to right Bar dredge Chinook; Dr. Alfred Kinney of As toria, chairman of the Porta of the Columbia committee. Bottom Map showing Immense area drained by the Columbia. RESUMPTION OF NAVIGATION ON UPPERCOLUMBIAASSURED Completion of Celilo Canaf Will Remove Natural Barrier and Render Stream Navigable Without Interruption From Its Mouth to Priest Rapids. ware carried by them during 1864, be tween Celilo and Lewis ton. And the far and rates were not small either. For lnetanoe a charge of $90 per ton for freight from Portland to "Lewis ton waa made and the; fare wae- 22. To Umatilla freights cost $45 per ton and the f arewas 10. But at this point navigation bega to deollne. In June of "61 the Okanogan was taken over Celilo falls to the mld- j die river and in June of 1870 two chere followed. I Casoade Locks Begun. I In 1873 the government began the I work of. improving the upper river by removing dangerous rocks (a work only recently resumed) and the oontructlon of the Cascade Locks was started. Although several of the olJer boats were rebuilt and renamed and three 3r four new ones were built, navigation of the upper Columbia practically ceased in 1888 when the O. R. & N. complete! its railroad line from Wallula to Port land. The steamers) that remained on the upper river either were aent to the mid dle and lower river or to the Snake to operate between Rlparta and Lewlston where there was no railroad at that I time. An attempt waa made to revive upper river traffio during the years 1881-93 when a company built a portage on the Washington shore between the foot of The Dalles rapids and ColumbuSi but one of Its steamers, the FreJ K. Bill- upper river. Uninterrupted traffic Will ply both up, and down from Portland, the great manufacturing and distribut ing, center. The reclamation of the Deschutes basin, the cnrBltgatlon of the upper Columbia and the Snake will be accomplished, the products of the vast country Will be broui(ht by boats and trains to the seaboard and the Imports of the region will be carried back by the same means. -Ji. greater clvlllsakton than the world has yrt seen may' be established, and a more prosperous peo- THE history of navigation on tha Columbia river above The Dalles is a story of endeavor, whion. starting ambitiously in the days when the Argonauts eearched the wet for gold, grew less with passing decades until about a year ago the last line of regular steamers finally tied up an J the Opper reach of the great stream was deserted, Its surface unbroken save by the riffles of its own current. Cte sharp prow of an occasional launch, or the broad bow of sluggish ferry boat. But there ar reasons for this condi tion, and among them four big ones a railroad on the north shore, a rail road on the south shore, long stretcher of fertile, but undeveloped country, and lastly the greatest barrier of thorn all. Celilo falls and t;ie rapids neiow them The last reason, soon will cease to exist. With the completion of the Celilo canal, now under construction, the obstruction which has always dammed the stream to navigation will have been removed. The river will be open and water crart will be free to operate from Its mouth to Priest Rapids, Beginning of JUver Traffio. From the date of its discovery In May of 1798. to 1860, navigation of the Columbia river was confined -to tho ktream below the CasoaJes and most of it was between Portland and the eea. Sailing vessels jeld undisputed sway until 1836 when tbe Beaver, the first steam vessel to ply the current, entere.1 tbe Columbia. From that date on traffic on the lower river grew.. The Invasion of the upper river be gan In 1851 when the Jason P. Flint, plied for one year between the Cascades and The Dalles. Business way not good and it returned to the , lower river in 1862. In 18E8 and '5T, respectively,'; the steamers Mary and Hassalo were built at tha Casoades and tne steamer IJaho at the upper Cascades in 1360. They traveled between The Dalles and the Cascades. ' Meanwhile the steamer Colonel Wright, built at Celilo In 1858. under took to ply the upper river. Freight from points above Celilo was brought to a landing near the falls and transported to The Dalle, thence to another beat which took them to the Cascades whert a portage was made on a wooden tram way to a third vessel which carried them through to their destination on the lower river. It was an expensive process. How-, ever, business was profitable and the Colonel Wright In 1880 made another bit of history when It entered the Snake river, traversed it as far as the Clear water then made a 87 mile Journey up the latter stream. This same year Lew lston, Idaho, at the' confluence Of the Snake and Clearwater, was founded. The stampede to the Salmon river mines In Idaho, in 1802 required greater transportation facilities. And as a re sult four new steamers appeared on the upper river run. They were the Okano gan, Tenino, Bpray and Cascadllla. Al did an Immense business. Freight was refused and each vessel carried hardly less than 200 passengers each trip. The Tenino, for Instance on a single trip from Celilo to Lewlston, carried passen gers to fares amounting to almost $11,000. In '88 the steamers Webfoot and Nes Perce, Chief and a small propeller boat Celilo were added to ths upper river fleet. The Nes Peroe Chief, elont that year brought down approximately $400,000 in gold dust from the Salmon river -country. The following year saw a couple more steamers plying the upper-river. Thy . wre the Yakima and Owyhee, built like the most of the others at Celilo. That a good business was done by the big fleet is evidenced by the fact that 38.000 passengers and 21,884 tons of freight ',- ,-.'s-..",:"--.'.v-'-. r.v. '''.--'v:!:' 'Aaa i;' ings, wa wrecked and the company went into the receiver's hands. The Cascade canaj was opened to navigation In 1896. giving continuous navigation from the sea to the foot of i-Flve Mile rsplds abors-The rllea. The construction of the Portage rail- I road around the Celilo obstructions by the state of Oregon followed. It was completed- wt08 nd: two, small steam- ers operated in connection with the portage until 1908 when the Open River Transportation company built two larger steamboats. . The company managed to secure enough freight to keep things going for a year or so, but the completion of the North Bank railroad along the Columbia, In 1908 bad Us effect and finally these boats ware oompelled to tie up anJ the upper Columbia since then has been virtually abandoned. - The Celilo canal la peering comple tion, and when It la opened, a eontlnil ous waterway will obtain from Priest Rapids to the sea. and tbe upper Co-' lumbla will finally ooroe Into Its own. Some Population Comparisons. ; In 1840 Portland had a population of 8878, Chicago 199,280, St Louis 180 773, and Ban Francisco 88,802. At that date San Francisco was twenty times as large as Portland. Today It Is sot quite twloe as large. The Oregon grape was designated as the state flower by the legislature of 1898. The Bank of Personal Service The Reason for Our Steady Growth Our directors are men prominent In the business, professional and public life of Portland. Our officers have had long financial and. banking experience. Our clerks are competent and courteous. ' . , This . explains the perfect banking service we ren der our depositors. ; t We are fully equipped to handle all branches Of Commercial business. f , , Our savings department pays Vfo -Interest. We Invite your patronage. ' ' MERCHANTS Under - Government Supervision. Founded 1886. , Washington and Fourth Streets. if'