The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1867-02-02

thS setne uAeath, auu gave out poor sup.
port to the sinking public confidence.
Now all this tempest whether it wero
in q teapot or q much larger vessel, afford.
ed considerable amusement in its way, but
perhaps q much greater amount Of good
sober material for thought. If it is true
that Calfornians have purchased a con
trolling interest in the Oregon Steam
Navigation Company's property, and if
they have al eye to their own interest
more than TO that of Portland or if they
have u mind to shape the future Of Ore.
gon, as they certainly can, there is ground
enough for alarm. There is nothing in
the location of Portland to point it out as
the commercial metropolis of Oregon
everything, in fact, to initiate against it,
and the Oregon Steam Navigation Com
pany is its life and soul. In Southern
IOregon there il no transportation except
that of farm wagons and pack animals and
never can be till q railroad reaches it; con.
scquently there is nc sympathy between
Portland aud Southern Oregon. Inc
Willsmettes Valley trade is carried on
by the Peoples Transportation Company
whose boats now run to Portland to meet
those of the Oregon Steam Navigation
Company, though there exists no other
reason why they should stop there more
than at any other point. In truth, it is
to the Columbia river alone that the Ore.
gon Steam Navigation Company look for
their business, which strangely enough,
they now carry twelve miles up the Viii
lamette- and back again, oyer sandbars,
and q whole days loss Of time. No re-
Hecting mind can doubt but this must ali
be changed by the natural force of bust
ness laws. The ocean steamers can get
insurance only to the mouth Of the vii
lamette therefore they should stop on the
Columbia; they lose the best portion OF
two days by going 30 far out OF the di-
rect line Of travel, and incur extra risk
and expense therefore they should stop
on the Columbia. Passengers 10 the up
par country snffer evtra xrensA and de-
tontion-.herefore they should stop on
the Columbia II is to the main river
that all the other rivers are tributary.
To some point on the main river all the
interior trade should come to be distrihu-
tied.
Suppose q railroad is built, 40 il will be
before long, from Sacramento TO some
point in Oregon; it is not going to stop
Twelve miles from the Columbia. and ship
frsights from that point by steamers, thus
delaying for a day the arrival of goods at
the main river. Nature and commercial
laws are against it; the Oregon Steam
Navigation Company have nothing to
gain by it, and the travelling public have
a great deal TO lose by it. Nothing is
palmer. then, than hat the contemplated
railroad must go on uninterrupted to the
Columbia river. Ocean steamers will
meet, and river steamers will meet at this
railroad terminus. One thing only is to
be seriously considered, and that is, the
best point. st. Helens believes she has it
and loking with impartial eyes, we, too,
incline to the same opinion. That opinion
is founded on several facts, the most impor-
tant of which is that here the river is
broad and deep with the best of harbors,
and the greatest natural facilities for erect
ing docks and wharves. It is perhaps, not
.equalled, certainly not excolled by any
point between here and the mouth; and
above here there is nothing to compare
with it. 1t is above this point that
steamers are troubled with sand bars.
rocks and ice. Here is the actual mouth
of the Willamette river, and opposite are
the mouths of two other small but naviga-
BILE rivers, with rich farming lands bor-
dering on them; hence, here naturally
an.AaSa N ~ o~kaaos~a 6uaIn - Fa~Na ~n
ducts. 1t is customary for Portlanders to
say that there is no agricultural land
about st. Helens, while the truth is that
there is FIVE times as much and better
land in the immediate vicinity of st Hell
ems than Of Portland; for there is Sauvie's
Island at her very doors, and all the bot
tom lands Of the Lower Willamette, Lewis
and Lake rivers, and Scappoose Bay, be-
sides the Columbia valley itself, and the
Tualatin Plains as near to this place as to
Portland.
From railroad surveys already made, it
appears that here too, is the most feasible
crossing for that railroad which is destined
to traverse the Sacramento, Willamette,
Columbia and Cowlitz river yallies, both
On dCCOAub VI lbo ndeuAdt COuiGC " llG
Sound, and of a secur Winter crossing of
the Columbia. Here there is a beautiful fir
bench, at just a pleasant elevation above
the river, all the way down to the valley
of the Cowlitz. Such arc the advantages
of st. Helens-briefy referred to in a
previous letter, yet will bear to be re-
hearsed. The townsite itself is a bench
of trap rock, of about fifteen to thirty feet
elevation above high water, and covered
Economically with small grassy prairies
and groups or groves Of fir trees, inter-
spersed with other deciduous trees of
much beauty. This rocky foundation ex-
tends back but little beyond the town,
and seems expressly intended for it. Be-
low along the river is asplendid growth
of fir and cedar, as well as on the hills
back Of the town. Small farms are scat
tered all through the timbered lands,
showing that when the forest disappears
farms will take its place. A splendid
water power i~s'close, at hand, and viii I'll
~ -. = = 81 +#a