The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1882-09-15
0FFIeIAl PAPER FOR DENTON COUNTY.
ANOTHER OF TIE oREGoNIAN's sUHAEE-
SAULFS.

ANOTHER VI Ik4E OStGC1iA<>I' =
SAULTS.
The daily Oregonia'1 Of the llth
sings an entirely different song to
what it did about two years ago, III
regard to the transfer of the public
levee OF Portland. 1t seems that
about two or more years ago some
of the sharks of Portland formulated
a scheme which was not Objectionable
to the Oregoniaaa, to sell the leVee to
one of the well known corporations
of Portland. That corporation being
one to which the voice of the Ore
go,aiam is lifted with praise, no mat
ter what it does or attempts to do.
Before the scheme spoken of came to
! fuality, Mr.. Dundee Eead, who
was then president and one of the
principal managers Of another cor
poration in building the Narrow
Gague Railroad, concluded to enter
the contest, for the purpose OF &C
quiring the public levee for The bene-
fit of his company. lie had only
Just began to opperate upon that
suggestion when the Oyegom5aa and
parties in the council Of Portland
and the other scheemers who had
been planning to sell the levoe TO
the fayorite corporation, all Of sud
den changed their base of Opera
tions and began with all the vigor
possible to oppose the disposal OF the
levee, claiming among other things
as reason, therefor, that said lcTee
had been granted to the city for GER
tain specific public purposes, and
that it must therefore forever remain
in tact for that purpose in order to
carry out the will Of The grantor.
They fought the question long and
hard in every way iminaginable and
after a long time they succeeded in
preventing its being disposed Of
Since which time, however, Mr.. Reed
who then was desirous Of gaining
control of the property, has sold out
his narrow gague road and probably
no longer wants the levce. Now
comes the Orego1aioaa again to the
front and advocates the disposal OF
the leyee again because it says the
city needs a new hall to meet the re-
euirements of its large and fastly in-
creasing population, and it is thought
that $4,000 can be had for il. It
is no longer necessary to keep the
!. levee for the purposes intended by
>its grantor as water front for the
use of the public as coltcndcd by
the Oregonian and the rest OF that
gang of jobbers of two years ago. The
use OF it for the accommodation OF
the many people for wharfage pur-
poses who might Gee proper to use
che water Of the Willamette river
and its tributaries Tor the purpose Of
conveying the surplus to market Of
the vast region of country which
those waters drain. It is now sUg-
gested by the Orego'aian that the
constant increasing warehouse tacili-
ties will likely supply sufficient CON-
petition SO as to prevent any extor-
ton in the Of wharfage charges
which the use of public ievee might
prevent. The increase in warehouses
in the last two years must certainly
have been great indeed in order to
allay all of the fears then expressed
by that "only organ" OF the oppres-
ions likely to result to tho shippers
ar1 peoples sinterests if that levee
was diverted frem It's original pur-
pose. What merit CT dcmcrit there
was Two years ago in the actions or
motives of either CT the corporations
Who wanted to gam control of the
public levee we do not pretend 10
know neither do we care. Yet size
reasons so stro2giy urged By the
Oregonian Why the leves ehculd be
kept for public uae :HYo years ago
when Mr.. Reed wanted il has s.ct
been changed il that Short space of
time.