The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1883-10-24
IN OREGON WHEAT FIELDS.
From the Lower Columbia TO the
Blue Mountains.

the Dalles one may secure the oest
possible series of views of that most
wonderful of all rivers-the Colum-
bia. The party of journalists and
artists detached from the Northern
Pacific opening excursion were
specially favored in having a tolera-
bly clear day for their trip, the forest
fires that have obscured so much OF
Oregon's grand scenery having been
temporarily lulled. These forest fires
are making havoc with thousands OF
acres of the fine timber with which
the region abounds. No rain has
fallen in this part of the world for
nearly four months, and the face OF
nature is as dry and parched as a
tropical region in the drouthy sea-
son. Wherever we have gone in
Oregon and in this Territory we have
found the air laden with smoke and
mountain peaks veiled in dun-color-
ed clouds. BY night, the fires show
weirdly among the distant mountain
SUBMITS. bands of red and orange
skirting the lofty ranges or making
downward slopes, reminding one OF
the camp-fres of vast armies. 1t
has often happened to US that our
railway train has run along through
a burning forest, tall monarchs OF the
wood kindling and flaming on either
side, the underbrush swept with a
rush of fire, and the darkness OF
night dissipated by the fierce glow
of flames that leaped up into the air
from branch TO branch of lofty pines
and frs. But when we voyaged up
the Columbia the other day strong
headwind swept the river clear Of
smoke and crested the waves Of the
stream with the foam of miniature
pillows. The scenery of the Lower
Columbia is more grand and savage
than that of the Hudson and on a
far more magnificent scale than that
of any European river. Lofty
mountains crowd each other on
either side, and cliffs Of eccentric and
curious formation, mostly perpen-
dicular, like the borders of the
stream. The peaks nearest the river
range from a height of 600 TO 1900
feet. The cliffs are often 1000 feet
high, and these steep walls of rock,
for the most part, form the margin
of the river, along which the deep
and silent currents slide downward
toward the sea. The rock is basaltic,
and the general structure is colum-
mar. The tall cliffs, red, gray, and
black, rise in groups of shafts like
the pipes of an organ hundreds Of
feet high, crowned with the verdure
of evergreens, and with the bright
hues OF autumnal foliage. The bases
of the cliffs are water-worn, the ero-
sions OF the stream leaving small
caverns whose ragged sides are lined
with gigantic crystalized basalt.
Above the cliffs rise the mountains,
terrace above terrace, until the
clouds are reached and the sharp
peaks of the highest ranges disap-
pear in the drifting vapors. Here
and there waterfall leaps down
from the mountain Businesses and
plunges over a wall of rocks into the
Columbia. One of these is Oneonta
Fall, a ribbon of water, and rises
800 feet high near Bonneville, and is
seen on the right as we ascend the
river. Another is the Multuomah, a
very beautiful fall, which, after a
plunge of 300 feet, foams along 100
fee; or more, and then falls 800 feet
into the forest that here skirts the
river. And now and again the
mountains recede, forming an am-
phitheatre. in which we usually
find a little settlement or a ranch,
but for the most part the river is sol
itary, and the banks seem as lonely
as when the first explorer descended
the wondrous stream nearly centu-
ry ago.
The scenery at The Cascades is
very grand, to the mountain pano-
rama and the cliff-lined shores being
added the striking feature of water
fall and roaring rapids. Just below
the foot of the Cascades we left the
steamer that had brought US uE
from Portland and were carried
around the rapids on a narrow gauge
portage road, built on the Washing
ton Territory side of the river. The
track of the Oregon Railway anC
Navigation Company passes down
the Oregon or southern side of tn,
Columbia, skirting the bases of tn,
awful cliffs which we gaze upor
from the steamers deck. At tn,
Cascades, more than $50 miles from
its mouth, the Columbia is slightly
affected by the rising and falling o
the ocean tides. But as the tota
rise at Astoria is only eleven fee
the effect of the tide is not special,
noticeable anywhere above the vii
lamette. The water boils and hisset
among rocky masses at the Cascade
and as the train stops on the higl
bank above we look down into 1
seething caldron of waters, broker
here and there by uplifting crags
around which the foaming current
rush and swirl, and here and therr
by swift sheets that pass through
occasional channels. The picture i
one of strange and savage grandeur
A canal, of which students of Con
gressional river and harbor improve
ment legislation have heard much
is being constructed around the Cas-
cades. Ii is a vast work, requiring
S5,000,000 or more to complete
When finished, the canal will permi
the passage of river steamers to th
Dalles, 40 miles above. A simila
canal around the Dalles would opel
a line of unbroken river navigation
from the mouth of the Columbia 4
Lewiston, idaho, supplying South
eastern Washington and Northern
Idaho with direct water communi
cation with Portland and tide-watel
The work has been expensive, and
is charged that reckless management
has brought the project into disre
pute. The people of Eastern 0regot
and Washington, afraid of being lei
without means of commercial trans
portation, save those furnished b,
the railroad company, are naturall
solicitous that the canal should b
Tnieba1 and that no ov;ca,;o,, aro,,,,.