Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-11-11
lcorr. Springfield Republican ]

ICorr. Springfield Republican
PORTLAND. Or, Sept. IS. 1888.
There are two great rivals for the
internal water communication OF the
Northern Pacific states-the Column
sb;a river system and the Puget Sound
svstem. This rivalry is like that be-
tween the Hudson river and the
Chesapeake bay. The Columbia nv
er is a magnificent stream, but It's
shores are ill-adapted to agriculture.
Flowing into it from the south - the
Willamette. a noble tributary 10 whose
valley is the Oldest settlement OF ore
ron. It's chief city, Portland, and IFS
capital, Salem. Portland has the
advantage of being the first actual
terminus of the Northern Pacific
railroad and of being the actual com
suercial emporium OF the Northwest
But the Columbia, with all its gran
deur Of landscape, is open 70 cru.
cism from q commercial point OF
view. The bar at the mouth is wide
and difficult 10 cross in fog; vessels
going up 10 Portland, drawing "a
feet OF water, have to lighter zoo or
500 tons at Astoria in order TO get up.
The river il very subject to fogs. IL
has no large towas on its banks and
no very good sites for them: kala.
ma, where some disgruntled Portland
capitalists tried to set up q rival port,
is q graveyard of real estate, mere
end Of railroad, where a line hog
or two waneers over thousand-doliar
corner lots and the sites OF burned
houses. on the other hand. the Col
umbians say the bar is nothing; that
San Francisco and Sandy Hook have
their bars and that a bar on the
whole Is a nice place. The railroad
docks at Portland are on the east side
OF the Willamette and their freight
houses and elevators will be spacious,
as | have already described. The
Z bridge across the river is under con-
T struction. The passenger traffic from
: the east will alight here for o genera
ton to come. The freight traff1c
starts off briskly, one Of the first
shipments being II carloads OF can
ned salmon for eastern consump-
ton.
This brings me 20 the other chief
port of the Columbia system. Astoria,
where the salmon are caught and
canned. The mouth of the Column
/ bis was the scene Of pretty faux
Gas In exploration. Heceta. . Span.
ish navigator, noticed in 1775, the
broad mouth of the river, but did not
eater 1t. Capt. John Meares under
sthe Portuguese flag tried to find 1t some
years after and seems TO have observ-
ed the same opening Instead OF
sailing up and exploring It, he named
the northern headland Cape Dissp-
pointmeut and the opening Decep-
lion bsy and sailed away, the most
deceived Of all, reporting to bis SOW
ereign that no such river existed.
= CUt. Gray of Boston, ascertained
the truth Ia 1902 and named the river
after his ship, aud the capes Point
Adams and Cape Hancock. Just
within Point Adams on the south
shore lies Astoria. the trading post
established by John Jacob Astor,
captured by the British in the war OF
(. 1912. restored after the war. and for
some wears nearly abandoned until
revived by the salmon fishery. The
mouth of the river Is supposed TO be
guarded by Fort Stevens 1t Poi I
Adams and Fort Candy opposite.
astoria itself IL so crowded for room
sthat most of the town is built on piles
over the ocean. Its principal bust.
ness streets are all over the water.
The hillside Is fearfully steep. and 1t
is curious to see the painful efforts
, made to carve streets aud little door
Yards out of its stubborn activity,
lbristling with stumps and stiff with
lntractsble clay. Its normal popula.
tion IL about 5000, but this 10 doubled
during the canning season.
The canneries are strung along the
Columbia for many miles. They are
simply low sheds on piles, with am
pie room for tinshops, canning
houses and store-houses. The 6sh
are caught by men In small boats.
1.-TWO men to y boat, the outfit being
furnished by the canning firms; the
Gamers pay 90 cents apiece for the
dsh, or 81 II the fishermen supply
their own outfit. The best fsntug Is
J at night when the salmon, which 10 =
shy fish. cannot see the net; the open
(. season Is from April 10 to August I;
at all other times netting y contrary
10 Law on the river, but Il is allowed
scn the coast. The catch this year
was large, two fishermen sometimes
y taking from 100 to 200 tish day, the
method being by gill nets about Is
'%feet deep and from 100 to 400 faith
: oms IL length. The fish are dressed
and cleaned bv Chinese, and passed
under large machine knives which
cuts them into one-pound slices, just
the width Of the cans. Another ma.
chine fills the cans and soldiers on the
tops, but before this point Is reached
each can Il tested In weight AMI salt
added. After the cans are soldered
s.they re packed on trucks and run
into retorts and steamed for Al hour.
! Then . hole IL pricked In the end Of
: each can and they are steamed for
another hour. The holes are then
soldered up; the cans are then sunk
In water to zee II any one bubbles On
account OF leakage. Next they ore
submerged In shellac 10 give them q
varnish, the labels are affixed. the
cana packed 4S In case and sold
from &4.50 to IS case. The pro-
duction of the past season was CO..
COO cases. The shipment over the
Pacific railroad for the past year wa
over 1000 freight cars. but probably
:. one.half the production is exported
20 foreign countries, Astoria has nc
railroad, but Il Is the terminus OF the
Oregon and California railroad. II Il
il ever built north Of Portland. Il
has q land grant There Is general
discomfort that Mr. Willard has no,
visited Artoria aud makes no move
ment toward opening the Astoria
connection. The Columbia 10 sis
miles wide at Astoria, and the air L
so clear that trunks of trees are die
cernible at that distance. hut the eli
mate Is generally foggy.
have said that there are no large
towns on the Columbia. There ars
none from Astoria TO the Dalles, S0(
miles. but az the latter poist Whers