, 1882-10-13
Retrospective.

Julce Deadly, at the driving Of the
,,st s0ikc near Portland, the other
Jnv t made the following very pretty
speech: ,r ..:,,., ,e.,,..
- tbn Oregon Railway and Naviga-
Zion Company: We are met here to
witness the completion of this great
Oregon enterprise, which is to put
Nc in railway communication with the
oost and the north and the south
Which is to lift us out Of our long
continued isolation and place us in
tbe front rank of the people of the
world.
II is difficult for mo to convey to
Won the impression which this scene
makes on me. or to reflect the memo
ries or emotions which now cluster
around my heart.
Thirty-threc years ago l foated
down this lonely but lordly river in
m Indian canoe on my way to Ore
ron. was then a youth, to fortune
and to fame unknown, but not with
ont hope and courage for the future.
AT that time the iron horse had not
climbed the Alleghenies on his west
ward way, and you may imagine how
little thought or dreamed of helping
to drive the last spike in itS track on
the far-otf Columbia.
Indeed, il is not one hundred years
since the grand river on whose shores
we now stand was discovered since
CAPTAIN Gray stumbled in over the
bar and thereby fastened upon it for
ever the name of his lucky bark the
Columbia.
Only three quarters of century
AGO the government OF the United
States first put forth its comparative
" feeble hand to claim this unknown
shore. The spike which eventually
fastened it to the Union, and which
will never be withdrawn, was the ex-
pedition of Lewis and Clarke, which
seventy-seven years ago tloated down
the river in sight OF this spot where
we now stand, and bore the stars and
stripes from the Missouri to the Pa
cifc. Then those rock-piled hills first
echoed the welcome sounds of the
now universal English tongue
A quarter of Il century later that
gallant American soldier of French
birth, Col. Ben jamin Bonneville, ex-
plored the country, and soon after
Washington Irving caught the ear of
the public with the charming nara
tive of his romantic adventure. With
poetic justice the manager of this
enterprise have perpctuated his Nom
ory by naming the principal place on
the road in this vicinity Bonneville.
Following him forty years ago, came
the American trapper and pioneer.
Twenty years ago the Oregon Steam
Navigation Company sprang into
existence and the tide of traffic and
travel turned up the stream. From
Astoria to Lewiston the river was
plowed with the strong stern wheels
under the enterprising direction of
Ainsworth, Thompson and Ladd.
But all this has passed away and
the river gives place to the rail, and
the stern wheel to the locomotive.
Finally, we congratulate the man
ayers of this new enterprise. Their
names-Villard, Dolph, Prescott,
Thielsen and Muir will not only be
remembered in our cups but emblaz-
oned on our towns, boats, palace cars
and other monuments of art and util
ity. And we trust that they will be
wise and moderate in the management
OF the great power and responsibility
and aim to make the public good and
their own identical Let them foster
the country which fosters them, and
putting aside all other purposes, be
content to act only as the bonefcent
agents between the producer and
consumer, and 10 one will ever have
occasion to regret this day.