Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1873-02-13
Helena, Montana, Thursday, February 13, 1873.

covered with pines, and far as the eye car
reach the valley is one vast pine forest. The
river itself is less than mile in width, has
an even current of about three miles an hour,
and depth sufficient to float the largest ships.
Six miles above the Willamette our boat
hauled up along side the beautiful village OF
Vancouver, in Washington Territory. This
place is named after the intrepid navigator,
who first visited it towards the close of the
last century. For many years it was the
principal trading point of the Hudson Bay
Company. In 1910 it was first occupied by
United States troops, and since that time one
or more detachments have been constantly
stationed there. Government has erected
barracks and warehouses for their accommo-
dation, and the parade grounds are laid out
with great taste. The location commands a
fine view of Mount Hood and the Cascade
range Our Chief Magistrate, at one time,
was stationed there as Commissary, and many
are the stories told which show that he was
not always the same reticent, undemonstra-
tive man that success and elevation have
made him. He once loved fun like the rest
of us, and if all we hear is to be believed, he
knew as well as most young men how to pro-
duce it. ''We might an we would " tell some
incidents that we received at second hand,
which, while nowise disparaging to the char
acter of our honored President, would con-
trast with his latter day experience.
Twenty miles above Vancouver we ap-
proach the Cascades, and obtain our first
view of the stupendous scenery wrought by
the passage of the Columbia through them.
We had often heard this portion of the river
described by tourist and others, and expected
to be overpowered by its immensely. In its
colossal structure it exceeded our anticipa-
tions, but the effect of it all, owing perhaps
to want of appreciation, was failure. There
was an air of savage grandeur in the rocks
and butresses. which to us was absolutely
repulsive. We dreaded to enter the gorge,
whose fantastic outline of crag and preci-
pice was unrelieved by single object of
positive beauty. There is such thing as
having too much of the scenic element ex-
hibited at single glance, and this is the fault
with the Columbia. 1t is succession of
pinnacles, crags and cliffs, alike in size, form
and general appearance, for the distance of
forty-ivc miles. The single quality of height,
with the exception of the rapids, is the only
wonder in the entire passage from Cape Horn
to the Dalles. You look up the bald, brown
two thousand feet. or more, but
after you have seen half dozen of them,
you wish, if there is to be no change, that
you were at the end of the gorge. The scene
does not lack for contrast-there are the pine
forests clambering along the SUBMITS, and
the dwarf cedars and trailing plants creeping
up the precipices-there, too, are the pictur-
esque falls of Multanomah, the cascades in
he river, yet, in all of them the scenery lacks
color, variety, cheerfulness, and impresses
you more with its sullenness than its grandeur.
We have often heard of the Columbia and
Hudson compared-a comparison without
my points of resemblance, and not fit to be
made. At q single glance the grandeur of
he scenery of the Columbia exceeds any
hing on the Hudson, but in beauty, variety,
extent, and in all those qualities that render
scenery attractive, the Columbia has not an
clement that is not excelled by the Hudson.
The grandeur and massiveness of the scenery
If the Columbia is monotonous, and once
,een it lacks the inspiration which invites q
second visit; those same qualities, with many
,thers, in the scenery of the Hudson, make it
niger in the memory, thing of unfading
beauty, as enjoyable upon long familiarity as
when first beheld. In its widest state one
,ould not pass up the Hudson and feel that |
ISOLATION which is inseparable from such
! trip on the Columbia. 4..4+a, ]
At the distance of sixty miles from Port
and our boat drew into the railroad dock, at
he foot of the cascades of the river, which |
re overcome by railroad of five miles that !
,cnds along the river margin and through
he pine forest to the dock above. Midway /
between these docks we came upon little
ettlement at the foot of hill, upon the sum-
nit of which stood block house, erected
ears ago for protection against the Indians.
he steamer Idaho was putting like thing
+ life, alongside the dock, when our train
topped. We FASTENED on board and IN .
ew minutes were steaming up that expansive
nd beautiful reach in the river, between the
;ascades and the Dalles. There is no mater.
Il change in the massive, iron-bound scenery
i the shores, over this part Of the route.