# The Columbia: America's Great Highway

Reviewed in the Oregon Historical Quarterly
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
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The Columbia
America's Great Highway
through the
Cascade Mountains
to the Sea
BY
SAMUEL CHRISTOPHER LANCASTER
With twenty-six color plates and other illustrations; twenty-one of them, by the new process of color photography, first photographed on glass direct from nature, and afterward reproduced by the four color process.
SAMUEL CHRISTOPHER LANCASTER
72 FIFTH STREET, CORNER OAK
PORTLAND. OREGON
1-9-1-5
SECOND EDITION
1-9-1-6
COPYRIGHT, 1915 AND 1916, BY SAMUEL C. LANCASTER
All rights of reproduction and translation are reserved
Press of Kilham Stationery and Printing Company Portland, Oregon
Plates by Hieks-Chatten Engraving Co. Portland, Oregon
Road Builder
Who loves this country and brought me to it. Who showed me the German Rhine and Continental Europe. Whose kindness made it possible for me to have a part in planning and constructing this great highway.
There is a time and place for every man to act his part in life's drama and to build according to his ideas.
God shaped these great mountains round about us, and lifted up those mighty domes into a region of perpetual snow.
He fashioned the Gorge of the Columbia, fixed the course of the broad river, and caused the crystal streams both small and great to leap down from the crags and sing their never ending songs of joy.
Then He planted a garden, men came and built a beautiful city close by this wonderland. To some He gave great wealth — to every man his talent — and when the time had come for men to break down mountain barriers, construct a great highway of commerce and utilize the beautiful, which is "as useful as the useful", He set them to the task and gave to each his place.
I am thankful to God for His goodness in permitting me to have a part in building this broad thoroughfare as a frame to the beautiful picture which He created.
Samuel Christopher Lancaster
Highway Engineer
COPYRIGHT WINTER PHOTO CO.
PREFACE
While engaged as Consulting Engineer in fixing the location and directing the construction of the Columbia River Highway from Portland east through the Cascade Range in Multnomah County, Oregon, I studied the landscape with much care and became acquainted with its formation and its geology.
I was profoundly impressed by its majestic beauty and marveled at the creative power of God, who made it all.
The everchanging lights and shadows from morning until night, made pictures rare and beautiful, which always charmed me, and I wondered if it were possible for some of them to be preserved by the new process of color photography. This proved to be entirely practical, and with the assistance of three friends, Mr. Frank I. Jones, Mr. Henry Berger, Jr., and Dr. N. L. Smith, we were able to accomplish this. I am greatly indebted to these gentlemen for their assistance in this work, which required many days and nights of tireless labor.
While going back and forth over the Columbia River Highway during its construction I carried my camera in a rain-proof bag in all kinds of weather, that I might be ready when God painted the pictures.
As I climbed about the steep slopes of the mountains, where in places it was necessary to use ropes for safety, I thought of the many hardships endured by the early explorers when they came into the Oregon country.
Having made a careful study of a number of their diaries, and acquainted myself with the early history of this region, I decided to write a simple story, beginning with the creation of the mountains and ending with the completion of America's Great Highway through the Cascade Mountains to the Sea.
There were three ways of entering the Oregon country from the East in pioneer days. I studied carefully to find out who had written the most interesting accounts, and have quoted from three of them verbatim. Their experiences were similar to many others whose hardships were no doubt as great. I chose Mrs. Whitman's story of the trip down the Columbia by Indian canoe to Fort Vancouver, and Mrs. Elizabeth Dickson Smith Geer's ​pathetic account of the experience of one among many who used the log rafts, the portage, and the Hudson's Bay batteau. Joel Palmer was chosen to tell of the trip made across the Cascade Range south of Mount Hood before the road was built. Information of great value was obtained from the Oregon Historical Society, and I am indebted to George H. Himes for his many courtesies. Frederick V. Holman, H. H. Riddell, J. C. Ainsworth, Marshall Dana, L. A. McArthur, Robert R. Rankin and Frank J. Smith also contributed to the historical value of this work.
I wish to thank George F. Holman for the work of illuminating the dedication. To Mrs. Josiah Myrick, the granddaughter of Dr. John McLoughlin, I am grateful for interest and assistance.
I have quoted freely from an article written by Miss Irene Lincoln Poppleton, "Oregon's First Monopoly," which furnished much valuable data. I have frequently used the language of Theodore Winthrup, taken from the last edition of "The Canoe and the Saddle," edited by John H. Williams. I acknowledge assistance from General Hiram M. Chittenden, Mrs. Eva Emery Dye and Fred H. Sayler; also from my beloved Pastor, Dr. W. B. Hinson, whose Christian teaching has helped me greatly in my work. The influence of Professor W. M. Wilder and his sweet home has left its imprint on this book. There I have always found harmony, and his wild flower garden overlooking the city, has been a haven in time of stress.
I acknowledge the valuable literary assistance of Mrs. Ella J. Clinton and thank all who have the use of photographs. To Fred A. Routledge, who designed the cover of this book, and to A. Burr for original sketches. I express my grateful appreciation.
To every man who had a part in the construction of the Columbia River Highway through the Cascade Mountains to the sea; from the humblest laborer, to the Governor of the great State of Oregon, I say with all my heart, "I thank you for the help you gave: we could not have succeeded without you."
MT. HOOD FROM THE TOP OF LARCH MOUNTAIN 11,225 Feet in Elevation
Formation of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada Ranges
HERE was a time when the waves of a nameless ocean kissed the Westetern slopes of the Rocky Mountains—when unborn continents lay still in the dark, cold womb of fathomless seas. Even then, far—far off shore, the voice of God was heard, and out of the boundless deep He lifted up a mighty mountain range. From North to South it rose like some leviathan stretched at full length, with head and tail touching the mainland, and the Cascade and Sierra Nevada Ranges were created, thus forming an inland sea, a thousand miles or more in length.
How fearful were the sounds! How dark the skies! The earth groaned and trembled as if in travail when this new land was born; the very foundations were broken up, and flames burst forth. The rocks were melted with fervent heat, and white hot magma streams ran down the mountain side into the sea. Steam rose in clouds—lightnings flashed—rain poured in torrents—thunders roared. The whole mass heaved, and rose, and fell, as a bosom moved with passion, until that day's work was done.
When the sun broke through the veil, it shone on a naked land, its only clothing ashes—hot ashes—blowing, drifting everywhere.
For centuries the most active volcanoes were at work. They built up mighty domes reaching into the skies, one mile, two miles, almost three miles high, until the icy-cold of the atmosphere, where they now reared their heads, exceeded the cold of ocean depths whence the uplift came.
Time first closed the smaller vents and fissures, then hushed the greater ones. When the fires from within were extinguished, perpetual snow crowned the loftier peaks.
These great snow fields moved slowly, sliding, pushing downward, producing many an avalanche, and glaciers which extended far into the lower valleys.
​In their imperceptible movements these mighty glaciers wore through the lava beds in many places, cutting gashes hundreds of feet in depth, grinding to powder the older limestone and other rocks beneath them. These fragments were mingled by the hand of God with ash and other particles of the igneous mass, which He took from the very bowels of the earth. The little rivulets joined with mountain torrents to bring the product of the glaciers down into the valleys, where He spread it out, producing a soil rich in everything that ministers to man.
Then the Prince of All Gardens planted the seeds of a thousand springtimes. Some flowers He made to grow high up in the clefts of the rocks, in fields of snow. The anemone and heather He planted a little lower down, just where the trees begin; and when He came to where the earth slopes gently out in upland meadows, jeweled with sparkling waterbrooks, He gave more freely of His abundance and carpeted the earth with flowers of every tint and hue. Alpine firs He planted here and there, grouping them, and adding others as He came down into the valleys, where He made the flowering shrubs and ferns to grow in the midst of dark, cool forests of great and stately trees, the shelter of His creatures.
There is a beauty in the bare angles of the rocks with look down from the heights, where His fingers broke them. Here He rent and tore them asunder, to make room for one of earth's great rivers.
The Columbia River Highway encircles the top of the rock which is seen on the right.
SUNSET ON MOUNT ST. HELENS—FROM "SILVER STAR" IN THE CASCADE RANGE
NORTH OF THE COLUMBIA
COPYRIGHT WEBSTER CO PORTLAND
LATOURELL FALLS—COLUMBIA RIVER HIGHWAY.
Formation of the Columbia River and the Gorge
With some there is a question as to whether the Gorge is the result of a gradual uplift and slow erosion, or of the sudden breaking away, of a great rock wall that was first cracked, or faulted, by a movement of the mountain range, due to some fearful convulsion of nature; after which a wall of water from this Inland Sea, almost a mile in height, tore away the sides, and widened the chasm into its present magnificent proportions.
The mind can only wonder at this mighty work of God, done in His own way. on a scale so great that man's best efforts appear but as the work of pigmies—the Panama Canal, a toy for children.
Standing at the margin of the river and looking up along the sky line, one sees the rim rock of the mountain, in many places, thousands of feet above. The crystal waterfalls, the great trees, the fresh green moss— the rocks themselves, speak of eternal youth, and it seems but yesterday that the hand of God fashioned it all.
Early Life in the Columbia Basin
E KNOW that the first garden that God planted eastward in Eden and the River which went out of it were beautiful beyond compare. We also know that the one planted here, and the River called by men Columbia, which goes out of it, were formed by the same hand. How long it was before He brought the living creatures after their kind and placed them in this new-made garden, we know not. Nor can we tell how long a time elapsed before He brought the several roving tribes of men into this earthly Paradise in quest of food.
A few miles west of Celilo Falls the trees begin. The landscape changes rapidly as one goes toward the sea, descending the river or ascending the Cascade Range.
Ever higher these mountains lift their heads, until fve great peaks are seen at once above the timber line, "their craters healed with snow" which never leaves them.
The Indian legends and our early history tell of plenty. Great herds of antelope and buffalo without number roamed the plains on the head waters of this kingly river. They browsed on the rich bunch grass which grew knee high over the thousands of square miles in that treeless region, which is the basin left by the ancient Inland Sea, to the east of the Cascade Range.
HOO-SIS-MOX-MOX.
COPRIGHT, WINTER PHOTO CO. PORTLAND
FALLS OF SHEPPERD'S DELL—COLUMBIA RIVER HIGHWAY.
George Shepperd gave eleven acres here tor a public park, because he loved it. He used to come with his wile and children to enjoy this spot and be refreshed when they were denied the privileges of church and Sunday school, because they had no road.
Fish abounded in all the streams. One family of those unnumbered throngs, that "trace their liquid paths along" this broad river, puts out to sea when still mere minnows—going on a four years' cruise. No chart or compass have they. yet when fully grown (some weighing fifty pounds or more) they come again in schools, enter the stream of their nativity, and there complete the cycle of life.
In former years the fish literally filled the rivers, and just below Celilo Falls they were so plentiful that bands of Indians from many tribes, made long journeys from the East to get this wholesome sea food, of which there was enough for all.
By that same law which governs wild beasts at the water-hole in the jungle, each came and took enough to satisfy his needs and went away. All difference, fear, hatred, or remembrance of former strife, was forgotten, while receiving this bountiful gift from God.
Today remnants of these Indian bands continue to come from different sections of the country, just as their fathers did. They stand on the jagged rocks in the rapids and spear the salmon coming up, or dip them out with nets. Many of the fish leap high out of the water below the falls in attempting the ascent of this great river.
Measureless milleniums, mystic centuries passed while God prepared this region for the coming of civilized man. Then Captain Gray, in his little bark, "Columbia-Rediviva," crossed the bar from the Pacific Ocean, and discovered the broad rixer, which he entered and named. A little more than one century has elapsed since those intrepid explorers, Lewis and Clark—wise men of the East—climbed over the mountains and spied out this land.
​Marcus Whitman blazed the way across the continent for the first wagon wheels to cross the Rocky Mountains and to come into the Oregon country, less than a century ago. How swift has been the change since a member of Congress said to Marcus Whitman, "There cannot be made a wagon road over the Mountains; Sir George Simpson says so," whereat the intrepid pioneer replied, "There is a wagon road, for I have made it."
Only seventy-three years have elapsed since Fremont made his first expedition. There are men and women now living in our Northwest who participated in the Indian wars of the '50's. and escaped massacre and death by narrow margins, enduring untold hardships, and overcoming obstacles apparently insurmountable.
Theodore Winthrop came from California to Portland, a city of fifteen hundred souls, in 1853. He saw the beauty of this country, loved the great mountains, and admired the Gorge of the Columbia, writing to his sister, he said, "There is a feeling of grandeur connected with the mountains and forests and the great continental river of this country that belongs to nothing in the land of gold. . The Columbia is most imposing in its lower course, a great. Inroad, massive stream. Its scenery has a breadth and a wild power every way worthy of it. It will bear cultivation admirably; also and sometime—a thousand years hence—the beauty of its highly finished shores will be exquisite. * * * It is only lately in the development of man's comprehension of nature, that Mountains have been recognized as our noblest friends, our most exalting and inspiring comrades, our grandest emblems of Divine Power and Divine Peace. * * * Our race has never yet come into contact with great mountains as companions of daily life, nor felt that daily development of the finer and more comprehensive senses which these signal factors of nature compel. This is an influence of the future."
Mr. James J. Hill, the empire builder, is continually calling to the people of the Northwest to "grow into the greatness of their natural surroundings." If the people of Oregon would do this in all respects, physically, morally, spiritually, look at the mountains, and behold! what Giants they could be!
COPYRIGHTED BY GEORGE F. HOLMAN. OF PORTLAND. OREGON
DR. JOHN McLOUGHLIN.
Taken from a daguerreotype of Dr. John McLoughlin, made in 1856, about a year before his death. The original daguerreotype belongs to Mrs. Josiah Myrick of Portland, Oregon, a granddaughter of Dr. McLoughlin.
The Fur Traders
HE Beaver and the Fur Traders played an important part in the early development of the Oregon country.
Following closely the exploration by Lewis and Clark, the Astor Expedition undertook an enterprise of great moment at Astoria. This was quickly ended however by competition and chicanery.
The North-West Company, which accomplished the downfall of the Astors, soon found a strong competitor in the Hudson's Bay Company—the nucleus and the conservators of British interests on the Pacific Coast.
Frequent clashes occurred between the men employed by the Canadian and the English Companies. The British Government practically commanded the warring factions to reach some satisfactory agreement, and as a result the Hudson's Bay Company absorbed the North-West Company.
Fortunately for American interests Dr. McLoughlin was placed in charge of the Hudson's Bay post, which he established at Fort Vancouver.
Dr. McLoughlin stands out as the pioneer of pioneers. He was large in body, mind, and soul. He understood the North American Indians and ruled them wisely and well. In the selection of Fort Vancouver as the base of his operations, he showed great insight, for it was the center of Indian life west of the Cascade Range, and in close touch with all Indians between the Cascade and the Rocky Mountains in the Columbia River Basin. Vancouver was at the head of navigation for ocean going vessels, which met the Montreal Express laden with furs. On the return trip the Montreal Express took into the interior articles for barter and exchange.
Dr. McLoughlin was the first Hudson's Bay factor to undertake the cultivation of the soil and the raising of poultry, cattle and hogs. Heretofore grain and other produce had been sent out from England to supply the different trading posts.
Early Missionaries
The early missionaries who entered the Oregon Country in answer to the Macedonian call of the Nez Perces, were received kindly by Dr. McLoughlin. They came first to Fort Vancouver, where they rested and were refreshed, before going to their chosen fields of labor. All of the missionaries were greatly impressed by what they saw, and many of them remained at the Fort during the winter months studying the Indians and their customs. The original letters, diaries, journals and publications of these early missionaries tell of the wonderful kindness and generosity of Dr. McLoughlin, who would accept no pay for fare or merchandise supplied them, and who on at least one occasion gave a substantial purse in aid of the work of the missionaries.
The first to come were the Reverends Jason and Daniel Lee in 1834. On preaching his first sermon at Fort Vancouver. Reverend Jason Lee made the following notation in his diary: "Sunday, 28th Sept.. 1834. A. M. Assayed to preach to a mixed congregation. * * * Am thankful that I have been permitted to plead the cause of God on this side the Rocky Mountains, where the banners of Christ were never before unfurled. Great God, grant that it may not be in vain, but may some fruit appear even from the feeble attempt to labour for Thee."
On October sixteenth of the following year Reverend Samuel Parker reached Fort Vancouver and was the guest of Dr. McLoughlin. He took up his residence at Fort Vancouver for the winter, and on November 24th. 1835. he visited the falls of the Willamette. He hired eight naked Clough-e-wall-hah Indians to carry the canoe around the falls; climbing to a point of vantage he looked upon the beautiful scene and soliloquized thus—"I can ​hardly persuade myself that this river had for many thousand years, poured its water continually down these falls without having facilitated the labor of man. * * * I took out my watch to see if it was not the hour for the ringing of the bells. It was two o'clock, and all was still, except the roar of the falling water. I called to recollection, that in the year 1809 I stood by the falls of Genesee river, and all was silence except the roar of the cataract. But it is not so now; for Rochester stands where I then stood."
The vision of Reverend Samuel Parker is now a reality. In the short span of eighty years we see the beautiful Willamette Valley in a high state of cultivation, towns and cities dot it here and there, while the harnessed waters drive the wheels of commerce and send the lightnings on their way to do man's bidding. Mr. Parker took his final departure on the steamship Beaver on June i8th, 1836. as she "was commencng her first voyage upon the Pacific, under the power of steam."
The next to come were Dr. Marcus Whitman and his bride, accompanied by Reverend H. M. Spalding and his young wife; they arrived at the Fort on September 12th of the same year. Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spalding remained at the Fort while their husbands returned to select the site of the new Whitman Mission, near Walla Walla, and to erect the necessary buildings.
Life at Fort Vancouver
While at Fort Vancouver Mrs. Whitman completed her journal of the trip across the Continent and sent it to Dr. Whitman's relatives in the State of New York, stating that he "had been pressed above measure with care, labors, and anxieties all the way."
She relates her interesting story in a style most charming, and we can do no better than to quote from her diary as she tells of the trip taken down the Columbia River in the olden days from Fort Walla Walla to Fort Vancouver. Under date of September seventh, 1836, she says: "We set sail from Walla Walla yesterday at 2 P. M. Our boat is an open one, manned with six oarsmen and a steersman."
"I enjoy it much: it is a very pleasant change in our manner of traveling. The Columbia is a beautiful river. ​Its waters are clear as crystal, and smooth as a sea of glass, exceeding in beauty the Ohio; but the scenery on each side of it is very different. There is no timber to be seen, but there are high perpendicular banks of rocks in some places, while rugged bluffs and plains of sand in others, are all that greets the eye. 'e sailed until near sunset, when we landed, pitched our tents, supped our tea, bread and butter, boiled ham and potatoes, committed ourselves to the care of a kind Providence, and retired to rest.
"8th.—Came last night quite to the Chute (above The Dalles), a fall in the river not navigable. There we slept, and this morning made the portage. All were obliged to land, unload, carry our baggage, and even the boat, for half a mile. I had frequently seen the picture of the Indians carrying a canoe, but now I saw the reality. 'e found plenty of Indians here to assist in making the portage. After loading several with our baggage and sending them on, the boat was capsized and placed upon the heads of about twenty of them, who marched off with it with perfect ease. Below the main fall of the water are rocks, deep, narrow channels, and many frightful precipices. We walked deliberately among the rocks, viewing the scene with astonishment, for this once beautiful river seemed to be cut up and destroyed by these huge masses of rock. Indeed, it is difficult to find where the main body of the water passes. In high water we are told that these rocks are all covered with water, the river rising to such an astonishing height.
"After paying the Indians for their assistance, which was a twist of tobacco about the length of a finger to each, we reloaded, went on board, sailed about two miles, and stopped for breakfast. This was done to get away from a throng of Indians. Many followed us, however, to assist in making another portage, three miles below this.
"Sept. 9th.—We came to The Dalles just before noon. Here our boat was stopped by two rocks of immense size and height, all the water of the river passes between them in a very narrow channel, and with great rapidity. Here we were obliged to land and make a portage of two and a half miles, carrying the ])oat also. The Dalles is the ​great resort of Indians of many tribes for taking fish. We did not see many, however, for they had just left. * * * I was relieved from walking by the offer of a horse from a young chief. This was a kindness, for the way was mostly through the sand, and the walk would have been fatiguing."
Continuing her story of the journey in the boat Mrs. Whitman says, "We made fine progress this morning until nine o'clock, when we were met with a head wind and obliged to make shore. We met the crew last night with the Western express. This express goes from and returns to Vancouver twice a year.
"10th.—High winds and not able to move at all today.
"11th.—We came to the Cascades for breakfast — another important falls in the river, where we are obliged to make a portage of a mile. The boat was towed along by the rocks with a rope over the falls. This is another great place for salmon fishing. A boat load was just ready for Vancouver when we arrived. I saw an infant here whose head was in the pressing machine. This was a pitiful sight. Its mother took great satisfaction in unbinding and showing its naked head to us. The child lay upon a board between which and its head was a squirrel skin. On its forehead lay a small square cushion, over which was a bandage drawn tight around, pressing its head against the board. In this position it is kept three or four months or longer, until the head becomes a fashionable shape. There is a variety of shapes among them, some being sharper than others. I saw a child about a year old whose head had been recently released from pressure, as I supposed from its looks. All the back part of it was a purple color, as if it had been sadly bruised. W> are told that this custom is wearing away very fast. There are only a few tribes of this river who practice it.
"Sept. 12th.—Breakfasted in the saw-mill, five miles from Vancouver. * * * You may be surprised to hear of a saw-mill here, when I said there was no timber on the Columbia. Since we passed the Cascade the scene is changed, and we are told there is timber all the way to the Coast.
​"Eve.—We are now at Vancouver, the New York of the Pacific Ocean. Our first sight, as we approached the fort, was two ships in the harbor, one of which, the Neriade. Captain Royal, had just arrived from London. The Columbia, Captain Dandy, came last May. and has since l)een to the Sandwich Islands, and returned. * * * What a delightful place this is; what a contrast to the rough, barren sand plains, through which we had so recently passed. Here we find fruit of every description, apples, peaches, grapes, pears, plums, and fig trees in abundance; also cucumbers, melons, beans, peas, beets, cabbage, tomatoes and every kind of vegetables too numerous to mention. Every part is very neat and tastefully arranged, with fine walks, lined on each side with strawberry vines. At the opposite end of the garden is a good summer house covered with grape vines. Here I must mention the origin of these grapes and apples. A gentleman, twelve years ago, while at a party in London, put the seeds of the grapes and apples which he ate into his vest pocket. Soon afterwards he took a voyage to this country and left them here. And now they are greatly, multiplied.
"After promenading as much as we wished, and returning, we were met by Mrs. Copendel, a lady from England, who arrived in the ship Columbia, last May. and Miss Maria, daughter of Dr. McLoughlin, quite an interesting young lady. After dinner we were introduced to Rev. Dr. Beaver and lady, a clergyman of the Church of England, who arrived last week in the ship Neriade. This is more than we expected when we left home—that we should be privileged with the acquaintance and societv of two English ladies. Indeed, we seem to be nearly allied to old England, for most of the gentlemen of the company are from there or Scotland.
COPYRIGHT, WEISTER CO., PORTLAND
BRIDAL VEIL FALLS — COLUMBIA RIVER HIGHWAY.
"Sept. 16.—Every day we have something new to see. We went to the stores and found them filled above and below with the cargo of the two ships, all in unbroken bales. They are chiefly Indian goods, and will be sent away this fall to the several different posts of the company in the ship Neriade. We have found here every article for comfort and durability that we need, but many articles for convenience and all fancy articles are not here.
"Visited the dairy, also, where we found butter and cheese in abundance. * * * They milked between fifty and sixty cows.
"On visiting the mill we did not find it in a high state of improvement. It goes by horse power and has a wire bolt. This seemed a hard way of getting bread, but better so than no bread, or to grind by hand. The company has one at Colville that goes by water, five days' ride from Walla Walla, from whence we expect to obtain our flour, potatoes and pork. They have 300 hogs.
"Dr. McLoughlin promises to loan us enough to make a beginning and all the return he asks is that we supply other settlers in the same way. He appears desirous to offer us every facility for living in his power. No person could have received a more hearty welcome, or be treated with greater kindness than we have been since our arrival.
"* * * Sept. 22nd.— Dr. McLoughlin has put his daughter in my care, and wishes me to hear her recitations. Thus I shall have enough to do for diversion while I stay. * * *
WAHKEENA FALLS, COLUMBIA RIVER HIGHWAY.
Wahkeena means "most beautiful" in the Indian tongue. Of all the water falls seen from the great Highway none is more beautiful. Mr. S. Benson purchased more than three humlrcd acres, embracing Wahkeena Falls and gave it to the public for a
THE FALLS OF Mri/r(il.ll AT THE CLOSE OF MIDSUMMER'S J)AV. The clear niountfiin torrent makes its last great leap from a vertical wall six hundred and seven feet above the Columbia River Hig'hway. If the Washington Monument stood in the pool above the Lower Falls, the top of the Monument would barely reach to the top of the Upper Falls. The fallini;- water is broken into fine spray, and on a summer afternoon in June, before "Night draws her sable curtain," the sun paints a rainbow for enchantment.
"Our horses were very troublesome to drive, as they had ate nothing for thirty-six hours; but we succeeded in getting them over the snow, and down to the grassy ridge, where we stopped for the night. My friend Gilmore shouldered a bag of flour, carried it half a mile down the mountain to a running branch, opened the sack, poured in water, and mixed up bread. In the mean time, I had built a fire. We wrapped the dough around sticks and baked it before the fire, heated water in our tin cups and made a good dish of tea, and passed a very comfortable night. It had ceased raining before sunset, and the morning was clear and pleasant; we forgot the past, and looked forward to a bright future.
"October 20.— At 8 o'clock we packed up, took the trail down the mountain to the gravelly bottom, and then down the creek to the wagon-camp, which we reached at 3 P. M.; and if we had not before forgotten our troubles, we certainly should have done so upon arriving at camp! Several families were entirely out of provisions, others were nearly so, and all were expecting to rely upon their poor famished cattle. True, this would have prevented starvation; but it would have been meagre diet, and there was no certainty of having cattle long, as there was but little grass. A happier set of beings I never saw, and the thanks bestowed upon us by these families would have compensated for no little toil and hardship. They were supplied with an amount of provisions sufficient to last them until they could reach the settlements. After waiting one day, Mr. Gilmore left the camp for the settlement, taking with him three families; others started about the same time, and in a few days all but three families had departed. These were Mr. Barham's, Mr. Rector's, and Mr. ​Caplinger's, all of whom had gone on to the settlement for horses. Ten men yet remained at camp, and, after selecting a suitable place for our wagon-yard, we erected a cabin for the use of those who were to remain through the winter, and to stow away such of our effects as we could not pack out. This being done, nothing remained but to await the return of those who had gone for pack horses. We improved the time in hunting and gathering berries, until the 25th, when four of us, loaded with heavy packs, started on foot for the valley of the Willamette.
"But before entering upon this trip, I will state by what means the timely assistance afforded us in the way of provisions was effected. The first party starting for the settlement from The Dalles, after we had determined to take the mountain route, carried the news to Oregon City that we were attempting a passage across the Cascade mountains, and that we should need provisions. The good people of that place immediately raised by donation about eleven hundred pounds of flour, over one hundred pounds of sugar, some tea, &c., hired horses, and the Messrs. Gilmore and Mr. Stewart volunteered to bring these articles to us. The only expense we were asked to defray was the hire of the horses. They belonged to an Indian chief, and of course he had to be paid. The hire was about forty dollars, which brought the flour to about four dollars per hundred, as there were about one thousand pounds when they arrived. Those who had the means paid at once, and those who were unable to pay gave their due bills. Many of the families constructed pack-saddles and put them on oxen, and, in one instance, a feather bed was rolled up and put on an ox; but the animal did not seem to like his load, and ran into the woods, scattering the feathers in every direction; he was finally secured, but not until the bed was ruined. In most cases, the oxen performed well.
"In the afternoon of the 25th of October, accompanied by Messrs. Creighton, Farwell. and Buckley, I again started to the valley. We had traveled but a short ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/83 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/84 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/85 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/86 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/87 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/88 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/89 ​Hood by moonlight. The great white pyramid seemed to touch the stars which sparkled like diamonds in the blue of the firmament, just preceding the dawn of a perfect day. The still waters mirrored the sky the stars and the mountain. It was divinely beautiful, and as he looked, his blood ran free and his heart beat as full as it did in the days of his youth, and he thanked God for permitting him to live so long in this good land.
The party descended into the wheat fields of Eastern Oregon and returned to Portland in the afternoon through the gorge of the Columbia, over the newly constructed Columbia River Highway, arriving at 7:30 p. m., covering a distance of two hundred and twenty-four miles in a traveling time of fifteen hours.
Twenty-eight hours and fifteen minutes were spent in making the round trip; halting for sleep and refreshment, and occasionally for a look at the great snow domes of Mounts Rainier, Hood, Adams, St. Helens and Jefferson, and for short visits with friends.
Fractional currency was very scarce, and how to do business and effect exchange without it was a problem. The time was fast coming when sea shells and the highly colored beads used by the Indians and the fur traders would have to give way to the coinage of metals. The first Governor of Oregon Territory, George Abernethy, had a store at Oregon City. He lacked fractional currency, and in order to meet the situation, he induced the Indians to gather flat, rectangular pieces of flint rock from the place where they made their arrow points. He glued a piece of tough paper around each stone, and wrote thereon his name, the year, and the amount which it would be good for at his store. When a customer carried a number of them he certainly had a "pocket full of rocks," and this is said to be the origin of that term.
In those early days the natural obstacles everywhere to be overcome were great, all means of transportation were crude and the burdens laid on the people by the transportation companies of that day were heavy.
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Transportation on the Columbia
The changes which have come within a life time, in methods of transportation along this great river are amazing. The high beaked Indian canoes, manned by naked savages; the rafts of logs on which the pioneers placed their "prairie schooners", to effect the passage of the gorge when their oxen could draw them no further over impossible Indian trails, are now but a remembrance of former days.
All of the physical obstructions to navigation have been removed as far inland as Lewiston, Idaho, a distance of five hundred miles. Today the traveling public hastens to and fro on swiftly moving trains on both sides of the great river. Passengers and merchandise are quickly conveyed across the continent, and only a few days are needed to negotiate distances which formerly required weeks or months of tireless labor.
The prices now charged by our common carriers for superior service, are but a fractional part of those of pioneer days. There is no longer a monopoly. The "Open River" and keen competition have changed the rule, and traffic is no longer taxed with all that it can bear.
The steamer "Lot Whitcomb" was launched on Christmas day, 1850. This was the beginning of an enterprise ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/94 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/95 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/96 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/97 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/98 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/99 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/100 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/101 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/102 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/103 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/104 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/105 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/106 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/107 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/108 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/109 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/110 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/111 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/112 ​Page:Columbia - America's Great Highway.djvu/113 ​on which they floated down the river to the Cascades. The road which the State built in the seventies crossed this rock slide far above the present road. The loose rock slopes were so steep that it was not possible to maintain the old road, and it soon fell into decay.
COPYRIGHT THE ANGELUS STUDIO, PORTLAND
Had it not been for the timely assistance of one of Portland's prominent citizens, all work would have stopped for many years. In the fall of 1912, Mr. S. Benson placed ten thousand dollars in the hands of Governor Oswald West, to be used in connection with prison labor, in building a new road around the base of Shell Rock Mountain.
At this time the State of Oregon had no Highway Commission, and the work was undertaken by the authorities of Hood River County, who used the State prisoners; the expense being met from the funds provided by Mr. Benson.
This revived interest and created sentiment all along the line, favorable to the Columbia River Highway. It stimulated Multnomah County to action and called attention to the need of engineering skill and supervision, the lack of which had caused the work done by prison labor in Hood River County to fail, for most of the money contributed by Mr. Benson was wasted.
On July 26, 1913, the new Commissioner, Rufus C. Holman, Chairman of the County Board of Multnomah County, offered the following resolution, which was adopted:
"Whereas, under the provisions of Chapter One Hundred and Three of the laws of Oregon, Nineteen Thirteen, certain procedures are specified, and certain provisions designated relating to roads and highways, it is therefore, ​
THREE-HINGED CONCRETE BRIDGE, MOFFETT CREEK, COLUMBIA RIVER HIGHWAY.
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APPENDIX "B"
The Whitman Massacre
NOVEMBER, 1847
GROUP OF FOUR SURVIVORS. Mrs. Nancy Osborn Jacobs
Mrs. Elizabeth Sager Helm Mrs. Helen M. Saunders Church Mrs. Gertrude Hall Denny
Mrs. Jennie Christenson, the daughter of Mrs. Church, stands on the left.
Mrs. Marie Stratton, the daughter of Mrs. Helm, stands on the right.
The terrible massacre which occurred November 29-30, 1847, at the Whitman Mission, six miles west of the present city of Walla Walla, Washington, can never be forgotten.
Dr. Whitman and his sweet wife, together with twelve others, were massacred, and the buildings were burned, by the Cayuse Indians. More than fifty women and children were taken prisoners, but were rescued by Peter Skeen Ogden, Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Vancouver, and were taken to Oregon City early in January, 1848. On the 28th day of June, 1915, sixty-seven years after that horrible event, Mrs. Church, now in her eighty-first year, met three other survivors, whom she had not seen since she was a girl of fourteen, when they parted company at Oregon City.
The five Indians who led in the murderous attack on the Whitman Mission were captured. They were tried by a jury of twelve men; were convicted and hung at Oregon City on the third day of June, 1850.—George H. Himes, of the Oregon Historical Society. ​When Lewis and Clark explored the Columbia River, they stopped at an Indian Lodge on the afternoon of October 17th, 1805.
COPYRIGHT, WEISTER, PORTLAND, OREGON
THE DIVIDE IN THE CASCADE RANGE OPPOSITE THE FOOT OF THE LOWER CASCADES OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER
The squaws were engaged in splitting and drying salmon. Clark says, "I was furnished with a mat to set on and one man set about preparing me something to eat; first he brought in a piece of Dried log of pine and with a wedge of elk's horn, and a mallet of Stone, curiously carved, he Split the log into Small pieces and laid it upon the fire on which he put round Stones. A woman handed him a basket of water and a large Salmon about half Dried; when the Stones were hot he put them into the basket of water with the fish, which was soon sufficiently boiled for us; it was then taken up, put on a plate of rushes neetly made, and set before me. They boiled a Salmon for each of the men with me."
The change that has come in the Oregon country in the short space of 110 years is truly marvelous. The opportunity which is offered to intelligent men at this time is even greater than it was in the early days.
Major General George W. Goethals, builder of the Panama Canal, passed over the Columbia River Highway between Portland and Cascade Locks on Wednesday, September 1st, 1915. He said, “The Columbia River Highway is a splendid jol of engineering, and absolutely without equal in America for scenic interest."
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* ↑ The older Indians tell us their fathers saw these mountains smoking, and some declare that fire and rocks were thrown into the very heaven. They knew St. Helens as "Lowela-clow," meaning "Big Smoke Daytime—Big Fire Night." Fremont and others also saw St. Helens smoking and report that ashes from this mountain fell in the streets of The Dalles to the depth of half an inch in 1842. Dr. Parrish saw it active on the 23d day of November, 1842. Kane saw it smoking and made a sketch of it March 26, 1847. Winthrop noticed the black spot in the snow on the southwest side of St. Helens (this being the location of the last crater). He said in 1853, "sometimes she showers her realms with a boon of hot ashes to notify them that her peace is repose not stupor; and sometimes lifts a beacon of tremulous flame by night from her summit." On one occasion (date unknown, supposedly 1842) ashes from St. Helens fell at Fort Vancouver for three days and it was so dark at mid-day that tallow dips were burned.
* ↑ "The Canoe and the Saddle," edited by John H. Williams.
* ↑ Leaving Montreal in May the Express came through the Great Lakes by steamer, then up the Canadian rivers to the headwaters of the Saskatchewan, crossing the Rocky Mountains before the snows of winter fell. This company of hardy men numbering sixty souls then descended the great Columbia River to Fort Vancouver.
* ↑ Celilo Falls.
* ↑ See Appendix C. Flatheads.
* ↑ One of the apple trees is still growing at Vancouver and bearing fruit.
* ↑ See Appendix E. Indian Beads and Mediums of Exchange. Gambling.
* ↑ See Appendix F. Coinage of gold into "Beaver Money."
* ↑ Oregon Native Son.
* ↑ Mr. George H. Himes, who stands beside the great locomotive, (the figure to the right) is a pioneer of '53. He came into the Oregon Country by ox team before the diminutive "Oregon Pony" locomotive was built. The relative size weight and capacity of two engines follow: Oregon Pony Size of cylinders .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6 inches diameter Size of drive wheels .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 34 inches diameter Weight of engine and tender .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9,700 pounds Will haul on a straight, level track at a speed of ten miles per hour .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 219 tons O. W. R. & N. Passenger Engine No. 3325 Size of cylinders .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 25 inches diameter Size of drive wheels .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 77 inches diameter Weight of engine and tender .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 414,240 pounds Will haul on a straight, level track at a speed of ten miles per hour .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 10,442 tons The modern locomotive weighs 42.7 times as much as the "Oregon Pony" and is 47.7 times as powerful.
* ↑ Clark was too busy observing what he saw (and he seems to have seen everything) to pay any attention to spelling, punctuation, or the use of capitals.