Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-08-28
called the Sisters, while the ridge they
represent has rocky, ragged crest, that is
outlined against

called the Sisters, while the ridge they
represent has rocky, ragged crest, that Ii
outlined against
THE DUSKY BACKGROUND
OF the higher range beyond. Ouiy twelve
miles above Wallula is the junction Of
Snake river and the Columbia, the one
sweeping up from the south and the Other
from the north, and at the low shore OF
the peninsula is the present terminus OF
the North Pacific Railroad and the town OF
Ainsworth. The town is nothing to speak
of, neither is Wallula, twelve miles be-
low. All these river towns are make
shifts-mere places to land and get away
from as soon as wind and tide or steam
will permit. They have man-defying
and GQd-forsaken look, and architecture
has not reached them. Arboriculture is
untbought of, the graces cannot hive
there, and the only thing OF harmony
that could exist would be an Eolian
ure of the winds. for the winds
rave about these river towns, and I catch
my thought from the thrilling sounds that
come from the telegraph wires l saw
Ainswcrth in the night, and prospected
the sand dunes where It's few houses and
several railroad tracks are situated. 1t is
busy place, and so civilized that no
liquor is sold there, thanks to the prudence
of the railroad company. It's present is
limited to the exigeneies OF the hour, and
when
SNAKE RIVER
Is bridged, also the Columbia, and the
roads defect down the Columbia or toward
tie Sound, it may possess some local i'm
portance as railroad junction and a
steamboat landing, but no future with
bloom and fruitage can ever make
that sand-reach habitable, fer there
is not an acre of fertile soil
within many miles thereof The sound
OF whirring saws can be heard cutting up
by steam power logs of fir that have
been driven down the Yakima river for
many a mile and with infinite skill, for
which purpose men bred to the trade have
been imported, and only for this being sue
cessfully accomplished, the company would
have an uneasy time of it getting timber for
ties, bridges, lumber and all other uses,
for there is no forest within its reach until
the road shall climb out OF the desert and
reach the wooded slopes toward the Occur
d'Alene mountains Such is Ainsw orth,
and such the shores OF the upper rivers, for
when we pass the basaltic heads that con-
front US below Wallula we open upon a
long reach of low lying shores. At Aims
worth the steamer passed to the right and
turns up Snake river, for,
OWING TO RAPIDS,
There is not navigation for any great dis
lance up the Columbia, and if there were
there is little in that direction to freight
down again to meet the world necessity,
while for hundred miles up Snake river
there are landings where thousands of tons
of wheat will soon wait transportation to the
sea. Wallula is great shipping point, but
above, at Snake river, are warehouses and
landings where thousands OF farmers haul
down their. products, generally wheat
grown alsng the Blue mountains to the
SOUTH where the fertile belt reaches along
for one hundred miles through Columbia
county alone, while to the north are the
rich fields and increasing products OF the
wide and wonderful Palouse region.
Wallula has been important as the ter
minus of the Walla Walla railroad. Walla
Walla is 81 miles east of it and the rail-
road taps rich wheat growing belt, but
this belt reaches to Snake river aud finds
other landings for its trade in supplies as
well as exports, bit the towns as well as
the country are mp a distance from the
river in each direction and any
DESCRIPTION OF TIE RIVER
Must be as to its scenery, for nowhere in
all its courses, from its fountains to the
sea, does the Columbia or its tributaries
reveal the resources or the qualities of the
regions whose commerce it bears. Up
Snake river the scenic effects are not so
striking the picturesque abounds
but the startling features that vary
their several characteristics are not so pro-
nounced. We have seen enough of brown
shores, of crested hills, of grassy pastures,
of stratiied bluffs, and after having
scanned the scenes / have here described
there is nothing to enrapture the senses as
we pass for $40 miles from Ainsworth to
Lewiston, though there are many points
well worth seeing if not at present worth
mention. All this region is in progress of
development, and its resources are not well
understood The skirts OF the Occur d 'Alene
Mountains, and all the region known
as the Palouse and Spokane countries, con-
tanning millions of acres, are rapidly being
settled. Lewiston is on the Clearwater,
the farthest point, an old town that has log
houses in its business street, and that occu-
pies an important position as the depot of
supply for the wide region still beyond.
c..