The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1880-06-17
EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENCE.

To be always on the wing is to be al
ways eneOuntering new experiences.
And yet, to one accustomed to continued
fitting from one part Of the country to
another, the very changes themselves
become severely monotonous. We
would give much to get back the old
zest for new sights that once made
travelling enjoyable. But we must not
forget that thousands Of our readers are
only able to behold the scenes we write
Of through our eyes or those Of Others
who may not see from our standpoint;
aud so we go on from week to week,
wearying ourself with travel, ard cudg-
cling our drowsy brain at least bebdom-
adally for the production Of some sort Of
peD-piciure Of our past weeks pano-
rama Of experiences.
On the morning Of the 9Th instant We
arose with the lark (which at this sea-
son Of the year makes his morning toilet
at four o'clock), aud, after hurried en-
deavors in a dozen directions until near
the hour Of six, rushed aboard the
steamer Emma Hayward, our destlna-
tion Puget Sound. The Columbia River
was up, up, UP. Sauvie's Island was
almost covered with a CLASSY sheet Of
placid wafer, the exceptions being GER
tain gentle elevations where forlorn
farm stood in a sea Of inundated
waste, the fences half submerged, aud
children standing on the doOrsteps like
seals upon rocks. We suppose, Of course,
the farmers know their business but it
takes lively Imagination to reconcile
the humane passer-by to the idea Of
leaving their families here in apparent
Imminent danger Of being swallowed 10y
the melting SHOWS Of the distant noun
tains.
Ten o'clock, aud Kalama-or what's
left Of it. The last years fire made sad
havoc here, but a few houses being left
to mark its former prospects and bear
witness to its long deferred expectations
Our old friend Comegys has built a new
store on piles, and the railroad or
steamer company has erected a good no.
tel, which is as well kept as before the
fire by Mr.. Patterson, the former land
lord. Dinner was served at eleven
o'clock, and then the travellers were
hurried aboard the waiting cars Of the
Northern Pacific Railroad, where the
hurry-at least Of condutors-seemed
over. There are little stations every
few miles along the route FOR long dis
tance, where there are a few scattering
dwellings, surrounded by forests, thick
cts and children-the last so plenty as 10
appear indigenous to the soil and eli
mate, and the first so massive and tail
and dark that one never tires at gazing
upon their grand proportions. The rail-
way runs also through many q black
ened clearing. where little brown houses
Of the cheapest pattern sit in solitary
state amid the charred and ragged
stumps that yet remain as relies Of
former forest grandeur, with nothing
but fiocks Of children to enliven the
scene, except, perhaps, an onion or po-
tato patch in the yard, and pot or two
Of window plants on the rude steps OF
the open dOorways.
As the day wears on, the stations are
less frequent and the towns larger The
heavy forests give way at intervals TO
grassy, gravelly prairies mountains
peer at you from beyond the trees, and
old Rainier lifts his hoary and ponderous
proportions high in the air, all nude,
save only that a gauzy girdle floats
about his mighty middle, aud a filmy
veil, as jaunty as a coquette's tiara, hall
couceals his adamantine forehead.
Lake View, the "Y track" and then
New Tacoma and the Sound. For a
little " bile the hustle and confusion fill
the mind with far other than poetic
thoughts. You listen in vain for the
/ jangle Of discordant voices that will one
day resound on the wharf from the
throats Of opposing hotel runners. But,
/ if you miss the discord, you also miss
the convenience Of being informed
where and how to dispose Of yourself
| But, after a li.tle hesitation, we eucouu-
tered porter, with whose assistance we
found our way to the parlor Of the Rail-
road House, when an obliging clerk
soon assigned Us to q comfortable room
overlooking the Sound and the grand
old mountain, Rainier; but we looked
in vain from our position for the town.
The hotel is built upon piles, as also are
a number Of offices, the railway station,
a mammoth mill and a mess-house.
After a while we ventured out In
search Of sights, and our very first en-
counter was with Mrs. Money, formerly
pablisher OF the Kalama Beacon, but
now Of the Resources Of Washingtor
Territory, q most able production, OF
which the energetic proprietor may well
be proud. Mrs. NJ. was at work at a
job press when we entered, engaged in
printing package Of cards for oui
friend p. B. Johnson, Esq, Of the Walla
Walla Union, who, with his estimable
wife, was "doing'' the Sound by attend.
ing an Odd Fellows celebration and O
meeting Of the Territorial Republican
Central Committee. When Mrs Money
was at leisure, we accepted her escort t,
the New Town, more than half a mile
away from the Railroad House, an,
along q roadway under the brow Of {
oluh, that very much resembles that be
tween Oregon City aud Canemah, only