The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1875-12-10
From Portland up the Columbia.

NN@~----~@~~s
By request of a gentleman from Wasco
county, we re-publish the following ac-
count of trip from this city to The
Dalles, which appeared in No. 10, Vol. l,
of this journal:
On the morning of the 22d of July,
1871, we avaiIed Ourself of the proven
bial hospitality of the o. S. n. Co., and
at five O'Clock went on board the steamer
"Oneonta," and were soon steaming
toward The Dalles. A stiff breeze was
Olowlng up the river, aud the early
morning air, though exhilarating, was
quite chilly and disagreeable.
Our company was pleasant and social;
but among them all was not one cham
pion of equal rights but our humble
self. Opportunity for proselyting was
freely given, and We succeeded, as we
always do, i'm convincing our brethren
that we, at least, have just as much
right to q voice in the making of the
laws as they.
But we left Portland to get away from
newspaperdom for season, and to en-
JOY the scenery of the Columbia. This
river scenery far surpasses in magnifii-
cenee anything our eyes ever before be-
held. 1t was our first trip up the Co
lumbia, and we felt childish eagerness
to see, admire, and interrogate.
Vancouver is the handsOmest site on
the river, and the day will surely come
when it will be a very important town.
or the .. S. N. Co.'s works, one rail-
road bridge had been injured somewhat
by the recent high water, but the other
improvements along the portage are
wall Ennt nd To bo IN, \ -.
Of preservation. The Company's boats
are in perfect order, and the officers are
kind and obliging. They are Justly
proud of the river scenery, and as we
gazed at the ever-changing beauties Of
the mountain slopes, we felt a strong
desire to mount Cayuse Pegasus and
endeavor to invoke the chanting num-
oers of the singing Nine. But respect
for Joaquin Miller's new-found reputa-
tion stayed the whip and spur, and kept
us in the old and beaten path of dry and
plOdding prose.
The Bridal Veil, on the left bank of
the river, with its precipitous fall of
nine hundred feet, is indeed a rare reva-
latiOn of the beautiful. Using a glass,
we could see vivid rainbows all the way
down the fall, which, long before it
strikes the vale below, scatters into q
roaming and misty spray, suggestive of
It's appropriate appellatiOn.
Castle Rock, on the right bank of the
river, is another noted sight. It is said
that Jay Cooke has purchased this rock
and that it is now called Cookies Castle,
but we don't suppose the owner will
ever care to occupy it as a homestead.
1t is massive, wild and wierd and beauti-
ful; but as Willamette Valley tourist
said, IA mighty poor place for raising
vegetables"
Leaving the steamer "Oneonta" and
the accom- mOdating cars, we board
another steamer above the Cascades, and
are soon in Eastern Oregon. Fir trees
now give place to pine, but for a long
distance the timber is so far away that
the unaided eye cannot note the change,
Farms and farm-houses sleep lazily
along the foot of the mountains at in
tervals, giving forth a picture of rural
comfort that is specially inviting to a
long pent up POrtlander. Everywhere,
upon either hand, the undulating noun
tains roll themselves back in the dis
tanee, while often bold -broWed hills rise
perpendicularly from the waters edge
to an amazing altitude Occasionally
some enterprIsing pine tree flourishes
IN these forbidding rocks, proud result
OF perseverance under adverse circum-
stances. And, last, but by no means
least, the mighty Upper Columbia, in
It's never-ceasing course, strikes our
pleased fancy as a living joy,' and it's
grandeur will abide with us as a never
failing memory.
-Four o'clock P. NJ. and we arrive at
The Dalles. This pleasing town bears
much evidence of present prosperity,
but also has many marks of the past
mining age, when houses were thrown
up in day and abandoned at a mo-
ment's fancy. Many of those shells of
buildings ale yet standing, untenanted,
unkempt, and cherries relics of by
gone era. We shonld be glad to see
those empty houses demolished or re-
paired, and hope the city fathers will
also get the sidewalks mended.
AS the guest of Mr. r. Pentland and
his amiable wife, we are Hospitality en-
tertained in a charming marvel of
cottage house, among a nest of trees,
high up above the busy town. The air
is delightfully."- dry and pure, the breeze
refreshing, and the scenery grand. In
the quiet and country-like solitude of
the guests chamber, we sit and write,
our thoughts going out with yearning
solicitude to the loved ones at home,
whom we hope soon to meet, refreshed
and strengthened by the brief respite
from our usual toll