Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-09-19
Up the Columbia.
WILLARD EXCURSION.
PORTLAND. Or. Sent. 13.
PORTLAND, Dr., Sept.
Gil Il IL GI@L

Special to the Globe.
Yesterdays excursion up the Columbia
river was most delightful one and en-
joyed to the utmost by the tourists. To
attempt to describe the varied scenes and
give anything approaching to a realistic
picture of the beautiful and long extended
panorama would be undertaking that
which would most assuredly terminate in a
sorry failure, and SO l do not desire to
figure prominently 10 "a fzzle" and always
take the best of care not to court failure.
l will not essay to do that which Sala or
Richardson could not do with time and
pen and pencil both. 1t might be possible to
give some pictures OF the lovely and
striking outlines, but even these would
lack the rich, warm ooloring.
Mentioning failures bring to mind that
1 have
EUMILIATING CONFESSION
to make. Never in the course of
my journalistic life did ever
meet with such complete and
discomfting defeat as that at Gold creek
on the day of driving the last spike. At the
same time, I never felt so certain of sue
cess, for l had made every arrangement
that foresight could suggest to insure the
com pletest and most elaborate account
of the ceremony reaching the GLOBE Office
in time to appear the following morning.
| The calculations, however were based
upon the supposition that every facility
for telegraphing existed, and / was not
aware of the fact that a journey back to
! Helena would be necessary before reach
| ing Western Union off &c, which involved
| a carriage ride of mile and half beside
| a four hour rnn by rail. The oonse-
| quence was nothing but the speeches and
a meaere account of the ceremony could
get through in time.
But to return to
YESTERDAYS EXCURSION.
The first part of the trip took us through
scenes just such as we met with upon the
Mississippi on trip from st. Paul to Red
Wing, but as We assembled the river the
scenery became holder and grander; pail
sades Of perpendicular rock stretch
ing up away in unbroken walls
two hundred feet from the water
to high wooded Lodges from which other
walls lowered again heavenward and ter
"sugar loaves" clothed with pine and ash
birck and aspen with an underground of
rich plants showing ell the gilded
tents from asthetic yellows and green's and
browns to the voluptouus golden crimsons
and puppies. At places these perpendicu-
lar walls assumed a series of circular tow
er like forms reminding one of old castles
of eleventh century origin, the surfaces
blackened by time and honeycombed by
the centuries till the resemblance to the
irregular surface of masonary was p T est.
The dark stairs of time and the burrows of
age were here and there covered as with
vel of lichens and moses colored with
natures richest pigments. Sometimes
the rocks appeared to be of bisaltic forma.
ton and stood up in clusters of futed COL
umns with here and there a broken shaft
appearing like the ruins of some ancient
cathedral but the cliffs for the most part
appeared o be stupei dous masses of un-
broken igneus rock, mere was nothing
monotonou, nothing tame in
tno whole journey. Every
revolution of the boats propeller brought
ANEW SCENE
as magisal and as startling as the changes
upon every turn of a kaleidoscope. Here
is cluster of a score of con-elike noun
tains, their wide bases touching and their
steep sines rising more or less suddenly,
according to their heighth, forming re-
vines and valleys of indiscribible lovliness
from which float to the ear the constant
song of the ever flowing stream. There
the stupendous adamantine wall is broken
into by deep gorge, from whose abru pit
end sharp battlements the wierd trunk of
the cedar bears aloft its dark and sombre
canopy and from its cavernous reresses
comes the roar OF the cataract. Here
again little brooklet falls. as it were
from the very clouds and cl,ngs as if in
alright to the smooth perpendicular wall till
it disappears in misty spray in fern
covered chasm among the loose rocks at
the base. Yet another stream, like a sill
very thread, which wore for itself in the
soft rock a narrow channel through which
1t flows and leaps, and tumbles in sue
cession of falls and cascades, and catar-
acts. Sometimes the SUBMITS of the |
mountains were enshrouded in thick, va |
pory mist; at other times pure white |
clouds like pillows of snowy wool rested
on the sides of mountains or seemed to |
rise from among the dark fires which |
clothed the slopes. Now the mountains |
were in deep shadow, and anon the sun
would light up the scene of hill |
towering over hill, mountain peak over
mountain peak, with brilliant illumina-
ton which disclosed all the gorgeous
splendor of natures richest coloring, rem
dered the more Respondent by the swift
shadows gliding noiselessly over like the |
dark spirits of departed ages.
As before stated the beauty and grand
eur and ever changing loneliness of this
magnificent panorama is infinitely
BEYOND THE POWER OF WORDS TO DESCRIBE
and I will not attempt it. As for sketch
ing! did on one occasion prepare to
make a crude drawing of one scene, but 90
enhancing was it that before I could
arouse myself from wondrous admiration +