The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1879-12-26
CLOSING Or THE coIUhlBIA.


gave teIegrans reuefve.: at the Q. 5.
n. Cos Office, IN Portland, from
points up The Columbia, of which
tie following are 4 synopsis:
.sCelilo, thermometer 2o5dee.; inches
snow. SCOTS, thermometer Is deg. 3
inches of snow. Hood River, thermometer
lS deg inches snew Umatilla thermem
eter 20 deg wind blowing gale. Walnla
thermometer Is deg. = inches snow !; ice
forming between the bank and wharf boat
Cascades, having north wind therneneter,
f25 deg.
6 In view Of the cel tain closing of the
Columbia, the company has oriieredall their
boats above. Cello into winter quarters.
No freight viii be received here for points
above the DaIIes, and no tickets sold for
points higher than that place. Boats will
continue to make daily trips from Portland
to the Dalles as long as the river rcmains
open.
Should tile weather continue cold,
of which there is now fair proba-
bility, theslower Columbia is liable
to close, also. Well, what of it
Just this. Eastern Oregon has no
outletto market except via the upper
Columbia, and tbatis now closed for
tile winter, and that fair portion Of
oul State is effectually " bottled : SC
far as communication with the out
side world is concerned. With the
closing Of the lower Columbia, which
has frequently occurred, and is liable
TO occur every winter, the. entire
State of Oregon is in the same con
dition, and the loss and damage to
the commerce of the State, by such q
misfortune. cannot be computed IN
dollars aud cents. Such a casualty
seriously affects every business man.
and every commercial interest of the
State.
The thoughtful, far seeing busi,
ness man would naturally inquire, is
there no remedy for this great evil
The building of the North Pacific
or any number of railroads to Port,
land, viii not remedy the evil, Al
Portland is the greatest suffcrer by
the closing Of the lever Columbia. and
has been frequently bottled" from
two to four weeks, at a time, if oui
memory serves US correctly. In this
extremity, we must look for another
outlet 30 the sea, free from sand bars.
and. ice blockadcs. Lieut.. Chase,s
survey, of 1868, demonstrated that
within sixty miles of. Corvallis, oppo-
site the very center of the great
Willamette valley, and, in direct
line of practicable passs in the
Cascade mountains, connecting East
ern Oregon with the Willamette val
sleys. Nature had wisely opened a
practicable outlet to the sea, and pro-
vided one ofthe best harbors between
San Francisco and Puget Sound.
The recent examination Of this har-
Dor, Yaqnina Bay, under the direc-
ton of the breakwater engineers, has
fully corroborated Lieut.. Chase's sur
vey. In faet, lie harbor and entrance
is even better than Chase made it.
In view of these FACTS, shall the
hest interests of the entire State suf-
fer for another, and better and
more practicable ocean outlet, simply
because the Portland Board Of Trade,
controlled by few Shy-locks who
have no higher aim than the pound
Of flesh" oppose it !?
This is the whole matter, in a nut
shell, and the people Of Oregon are,
atlast, beginning to realize the fact;
and also the further fact, that some
thing should be done for our relief at
thepresent session of Congress. A
small outlay, in comparison to the
grand results to be achieved, in re-
,,,o,,,a 80 ,.,,.,,, 81, "a -,
!. i, ). ) :,
9s0.ss - =. ~. -, !. 80 /. A'oss' - a.
-. ss,:.s. =, S : ar ~ 800 -,
,h;s hn,,s;. ,,a,,la s ~. :, a. -
,,, anor,,,,,s $. evne.r,ssssof s,,;,o,aoa tow
age. ligiterage. &c. now So burden