Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1871-02-04
Railroad Centres.

The following Is portion oil vel! con-
sidercj and ably written Communication to
the Salem (Orcgou) Mercury. We differ
, With the conclusions Of the writer only 10
one or two particulars; while concedins
all the commercial advantages Of Kalama
over Portland-gaiOed BY the former and
lost by the latter chiefly through the mar.
row short sighted policy Of the citizens of
Portlanj-wc cannot believe that town
situated so far from the sea board as Kala-
ma is, can successfully compete with a
railroad for the ocean trade. The present
cost of pilotnce and towagc across the Co.
lumbia bar aud fifty miles up the Colum.
bia river, is far greater than would be the
railroad transportation from any accessible
point on Puget Sound to the same point
on the Columbia river. This, however,
does not detract from the advantages Of
Kalama as the centre of local commerce
for the immense trade Of the whole Will:
lamettc Valley. 1t was possible for Port
land to retain this trade, but that advan-
tage has been sacrificed to personal jeal-
ousies and party rivalries. No business
man will invest in li.igated property and
no judicious capitalist likes to risk his
money in public enterprises subjected to
popular conflict. The only railroad enter.
prise in Oregon, which has added hun
bred per cent. to real estate values in
Portland, has been prosecuted under the
most bitter hostility from large portion
of the citizens of that place, which in it.
self was sufficient warning against the
further investment Of foreign capital for
the benefit of that town. If it is now left
"out in the cold" it is no more than
might reasonably be expected; and if
Olympia shares the same fate, it will be
the natural consequence of the dog in. fhe-
mangcr policy advocated by some Of its
influential citizens:
shall not devote time, or ink, in an attempt
to prove the self-evident proposition, that the
sea-going commerce of this country will be
conducted by the mouth Of the Columbia riv-
or. That being conceded, the only remaining
question to be solved is, where is the point
upon the banks Of that river below the OBJ
struction by ice in the winter, and mud fats
and bars at other seasons Of the year, and ac-
cessibe to the largest ships, and Of the great
est draught Of water that can cross the bar ut
the mouth of the river? That point is EVIL
IDENTIFY below the lower mouth of the William
cite river, and would seem to be at the recent
ly located town of Kalama, from the fact that
it has the great advantage of being the South
ern terminus of Railroad connecting the Co.
lumbia river and Puget Sound to start with.
A reference to the map will readily demon
stratc the fact that Kalama is at or near the
point where railroad passing through the
rich west side counties of the Willamette val
lev ought to s.meet the ships" Those coun-
ties will soon doubtless be traversed by rail-
road, and the capital employed in its construc-
ton will not be blind to the fact that the dis
lance to be overcome, and increased cost Of its
construction from Forest Grove, or Hillsboro
to Kalama instead of Portland, will be but
merely nominal, particularly as the new town
is below the point where ice Instructions,
ly do congregate.
Portland has served its day and generation,
and was we'll enough when pack horses and
wagons met the ships of light draught. Be-
sides the stability and certainty of an enlarged
commerce will not long he dependent upon
the costly efforts of dredging machines to ena-
BILE them to reach port, unless few miles of
railroad will obviate all such costly and har-
RAISING difficulties. Experience has demon
strated in all countries long settled, that as
the lands are denuded Of timber the water
,hs:Ia Hhosr ho hnc
more thoroughly cultivated, the scdimentary
deposits in the rivers are greatly increased. If
it were at all necessary l would give you sew
eral notable instances of the kind, where once
fourshiDg ports now cease to exist, by reason
Of those deposits between them and the ocean
The original location of Portland was decided
by the accidental circumstance that the brig
Chenanus, which Capt. Couch brought into
the river in 1874, could not sail to the Villa
mette Falls, as the little Maryland had done at
period of high water few years previously.
However disagreeable it may be to the people
of Portland to discover at this late day that
their town was accidentally located where.it
is, by reason Of the Chenamus stopping there,
they should not persist in tie fallacy that the
adventitious circumstance in the wilderness
at a remote period, is superior to the matured
judgment Of a succeeding generation stimulat-
ed by the desire of gain, and guided in their
judgment by the Development OF quarter of
century.
suppose that no sane man will doubt the
proposition that the North Pacific Railroad
Co., who. are the proprietors of Kalama, will
control all the trade and transportation With
may find its way east of the Cascade noun
tains to the lower Columbia. If they do con-
troll that trade, where will they take it tav--
Portland, or directly to their own town3
But hear the assertion that Portland stands
ready to contribute half a million Of dollars,
as bonus to the North Pacific Company To-
bring their railroad to Portland, Let us ex-
anime the merits of this liberal proposition for
a moment It's pretty we'll underst4cak e.
the N. P. r. r. will proceed from the Cascade
down on the north side of the Columbia river
directly to Kalama. The Company to earn HE
half million bonus and accommodate PortiAsd
must construct at least thirty miles Of sdAi-
tional road, at a cost of forty thousand dollars
a mile then the Columbia must be bridged at
two points and the Willamette at one. Esti-
mating the cost Of the two bridges on the CO.
lnmhia at two millOus each and the hr;due IN