Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-06-16

reAueIS Ads ueeA Lcac4..et. ~ %. III
tina, probably eae.i las .... .rI /
the grand ,cenerv "a .a .c.~..t *
almost everv 'urn il lie Lrr:.- -y'..-r-
course which cL.ects Al t.c u..Is-
ture on western side %. t.e
Rocky Mountains between lie III
and the 5+-l PARALLELS ii Al'H:-
anG conveys 1t TO the broad Z q, L.
through The famous Columbia
Gaieway It is. however. / -un-
ject winch never pals. and 4 b~eI
ailusIon to some Of the salient lea
TIRES II the great route II travel.
diff ring So essentially from ne
characteristics Of Puget Sound, mav
not prove embarrassing to our read
ers.
The month Of June seems to be
specially adapted for this experience.
The days are long, he temperature
mild, the air clear and Invlgoratln9,
Nature has donned her holiday -aIb
and the river is full and having
a &" high time. The turbid whirl u
the water as it forces It's way through
the narrow passages at the Cascades
and The Dalies, adds another eie-
ment Of grandeur to the scene which
is wanting at the lower stages Of tie
river. The banks on either side,
after leaving Vancouver, for few
miles, are studded with farm houses,
and tie general aspect does not
differ much from that on the VII
lamette river, except that at TINS
time the low-lands are flooded and
many orchards, gardens and fields
are submerged, and the farm houses
rest, like Noah $ ark, on a boundless
expanse of waters. As we approach
the Cascades, the scene RAPIDLY
changes. Instead of the low banks,
covered with vegetation, the river
has forced its way through rocks OF
adameut. leaving PERCEPTIONS walls,
cut into various fantastic forms by
the action of the currents. At one
point we have Rooster Rock stand
ing as sentinel to guard the ap-
proach to the Wonderland, whose
precincts you are about to invade.
In the distance appears Cape Horn,
q bold promontory jutting into the
river from the Washington side, and
still further in perspective is Castle
Rock. which stands like the ruins of
some grim fortress of a bygone age.
Numerous cascade leap from the
submits of towering cliffs to fall in
deecy spray, hundreds if not thous-
ands of feet, into the river The
chief of these are Multnomah falls
and the Bridal Veil, pronounced by
tourists to rival i'll grandeur the
noted cateract of the Yellowstone or
the famous falls of Minnehaha. As
we near the portage on the Wash
ington side, the curious ish-wheels,
which scoop up the unsuspectinS
salmon by the thousand, appear in
sight. All along the Oregon shore
are seen thousands of Cinnamon
digging and blasting out the road
bed for the iron rails which will soUn
connect Eastern Oregon and Wash
ington with Portland. At many
points this grade seems to be too
low for safety or permanency, and
the present high stage of The water
has shown many weak points in the
section already constructed between
Bonneville and The Dalles. The
steamer stopped few moments at
the lower portage and then crossed
over to Bonneville, the new station
on the Oregon side, from which We
take cars for the remainder of the
trip to Walla Waaa. 1t is in the
cool hours of the evening that we
were whirled past the wild scenery
of the Cascades, a time when all the
beauty of the landscape can be en-
ioyed without the dazzling glare of
the sun. Having secured seat on
the" river side" of the car, an adj
vantage of no small moment, interest
is ever kept alive by the constantly
changing panorama The river does
not seem 10 be in places more than
fifty yards wide, and the immense
volume of water poured into the
Columbia by it's many tributaries,
passing through this narrow gorge,
several miles in length, produces a
boiling, seething whiriing turbulence
which words can never adequately
picture to the mind. After passing
this obstruction, We find the upper
river wider and it's flow comparative
~ calm. The cliffs give way to roll
ing hills, which n other countries
would be called mountains. The
strata exposed for many miles shows
a uniform incline, indicating the
direction of the force from which, III
remote ages, the upheaval came. 1t
seems to have been the work of fire.
earth and wafer, and to fully de-
monstrate the power OF those ele-
ments, when by some grand convul-
sion of nature their active principles
->ro hrouuht ,ptO Dlav Tho staady