The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1871-11-03
RIVER IMPROVEMENT.
PORTLAND, Oct. 20, 1871.

PORTLAND, Oct. -Uf lof
EDITOR NEW NORTHWEST:
If your valuable paper is not too ex-
clusively devoted to the Woman Suf-
frage movement, desire to beg space to
call attention to a subject matter OF
very great importance to Portland, and
Oregon in general. And my sugges-
tions are voluntary offerings, and not in
the nature of fault finding.
desire to say few word about river
improvement in the Willamette.
1t is not so difficult to lay hold upon
currents of water and make them serv-
atory of our wishes as it has provento to be
of currents of the air, though the study
of the latter has conduced much to
navigation.
l will not say anything, either, about
the plan upon which the expenditures
being made on the Willamette river are
disbursed. 1t will be sufficient if the
results are satisfactory to those having
the matter in charge.
Swan Island bar, the mouth of the
Willamette and the bar opposite st.
Helens are impediments to navigation
from the ocean to Portland at this time,
and these impediments are each ascrib-
able to natural causes. Swan Island,
two miles below Portland, and the prin-
cipal, main or most-used channel is on
the east side of it. Either Swan Island
should be removed, or one of the two
channels closed. If the island is re-
moved it will throw the two channels
into one. Some may think the expe-
diency of removing Swan Island a
strange idea. But the island may be
on the best channel for the river. An
old root of tree lodging there may
have been the cause of the formation
of the island, and it may be that it i:
situated, really, in the best channel fol
the river. \ century and a half ago al
old stump of q tree may have anchore,
itself there, and from that time on drift
with sand and debris, lodged and col
lected upon and fastened it harder an,
it an island. As it now is, the island ;
divides the river that when the water
high, in winter time, the current
mainly on the Uest side of the islant
and when it is mediocre or low til
principal channel is upon the east side
1t is a question why the water doe
not itself cut the deeper channel upO
the west side of the island. The mos
probable supposition is that the rive
bed is too hard there. Rock or othe
hard substance may render it impOssi
BILE for the water itself to make tn
channel deeper upon the west side; and
for that matter, such reason may eXis
for not attempting to deepen the ives
channel by labor. And if it be the cas-
that the lCeSt channel cannot be wei
opened or dcepe1aed, nor the island wei
removed, then the 'gest channel ough
to be closed effectually, TO high wate
water current as well as to mediocre o
low water current, and all the current o
the river turned into the east channel
The current of the Willamette river i
sufficient to make a channel bed 70
every purpose of navigation for all yes
sells that can enter the mouth of tn,
Columbia. The Willamette is larg,
river. The Tualitan empties into it jus
above the Falls and the Clackamas jus
below. And if confined to one channe
it will certainly make body of wate
in its natural flow sufficiently large fol
good-sized ships. Confined to a singl,
bed it will make its natural channel
usually, of the proper depth. If the bee
of the river is of unusually hard sub,
stance, then labor will fulfill what the
usual force of current fails of in making
the channel of sufficient depth.
Again, the Willamette has thre,
mouths or outlets, instead of but one
Two of these should be closed, and tn,
Columbia Slough as well Yours,
AN ADVENTURE.