, 1883-09-22

quent utteTalcc to sentiments OF admiration
for the great qualities and congrstulation
npon the fortunate influences which have
secured the TeSult-sentiments which | see,
IS LOOK around me. swell every breast and
brighten every eye. Indeed | am very glad
TO feel that thus placed between what has
gone before and what is 10 come after, nv
short speech may be fairly treated as mere
parentheSiS, which, the grammsrians say,
may always be omitted without injury 10
the sense.
1t Is true, if | were 10 make the very brief
est allusion 10 the manifold interesting Incl
dents, Il ! were merely to touch upon even
the many great things which have marked
the progress OF this enterprise through all
lis vlcissItudes 10 Its final success, if were
10 exhibit only its most notable contests with
and triumphs over the difficulties and OBJ
stacles which nature-human, alas, as well
as material-had put IN its way, | should
| transcend all limits OF time and your pa
| tience before had got as far sssHeiena,
starting al either end But Of such enlarge
ment, even, the subject has no need. In all
the long route from ST. Paul 10 Portland
and Puget Sound, the work has spoken and
will speak the praises of lis conception, lis
projection, its completion, in more impres
slve tones, and with Il juster emphasis, than
| words could express. II can only rln 4
single fuTTow through the wide field Of OBJ
servation and Illustration open before Us, If
| | can barely mark the bright track OF pro
phecy faith and works which have wrought
| out the grand consummation, the demands
of the occasion, | cannot but feel, viii be
quite satisfied.
| have spoken of prophecy, faith and
works as al cOntributory 10 the success OF
this enterprise, and SO indeed, they have
been. Neither of them could have been
spared from tins, or from any welghty and
imposing task of human endeavOr. Fore
cast, confidence and labor will accomplish
whatever is within the compass OF man :
power Let US consider little the part they
have each played III the work complete,
which nOw in our presence, lis builder, the
Northern Pacific Railroad Company, has
crowned with its last hand.
Fortunately for Us. neither English nor
Spanish explorers OF the West coast had
discovered the mouth OF the Columbia river
before our independence was established.
| Fortunately, also, after that event, though
| both the English and the Spanlards CON
| tinued their explorations on that coast, IL
was New England trading captain,
Robert Gray, Of the ship Columbia, that
| first penetrated the mouth Of this rlyer, TO
which he gave It's name, and verified ana
! recorded il rs discovery which, under the
| rules then prevailing, carried TO his country
| the sovereignty of the region drained by the
| river and lis tributaries. The accurate and
circumspect entry made IN his log book by
| this intelligent New England shipmaster, was
| the title deed of the United States TO the rc-
gion embraced in the State of Oregon and
| the Territory of Washington against subse-
quenT claims of discovery made by Great
| Britain. and, in some sort. by Spain. IL
! was upon this title that We maintained a
| footing Of joint occupation with Great
| Britain, and, finally, by the treaty OF 1910,
of exclusive title up to the division line OF
the 10th parallel. By the Treaty OF Wash
| ington of 1871. under the arbitration OF the
| Emperor OF Germany, our construction OF
the division line in PugetS Sound and the
communicating channels, was established
| Until the acquisition OF California, rs the
result OF the Mexican war, this region was
our sole footing upon the Paclnc ocean, and
| this excited the interest and ambition OF The
nation for an overland communication with
this remote and unpeoplcd possession I'M
| mediately upon the Louisiana purchase ~
| 1903 the forecast and energy Of Jefferson
was shown IN the project OF the survey OF
| the vast wilderness intervening 10 discover
/ :, practicable route for migration ana iraillc-
| Congress voted the money for an expedi'
ton To trace the Missouri TO IFS source, TO
| cross the highlands, and 10 follow down the
water courses to the Pacific ocean. Lewis
and Clarke executed this task Starting
! from ST. Louis in May, 1901, they wlntered
| fifty miles above the present town OF Bis
marck. and came in sight of the ocean on
| The rth of November. 1903. Commencing
their return in March, 1906, they reached
| ST Louis III September of the same year.
! Thus under instructions drawn by the hand
OF jefferson himself, the route now occu-
! pied by the Northern Pacific railroad was
| 0pened To the attention of II people of the
| United States, and has from time TO time
engaged their interest, till the dream, The
prospect, the project and the effort nave
| ended in The work here and now. Hence
| forth the transit from the Mississippi 10 the
mouth of the Columbia, and the return, will
be made in nine days, for the round trip,
which occupied the first explorers two years
and half.
The prophecy and advocacy OF railroad
10 our Pacific coast possession, TO the Col
umbia river and 10 Puget Sound, followed
close upon the first introduction IN this
country Of this system of traffic and travel.
As early AS 1884, when the arrival or de
par;ure OF a railroad train had still some
thing of novelty even in Boston, a village
nhysician in western Massachusetts, DR..
Samuel Barlow, the father OF MIR. Barlow, OF
New York. well known on both sides OF the
Atlantic AS an eminent solicitor, pressed
upon the attention of his cOuntryn!en, in ar
ticles showing great forecast and sagacity,
the vast importance and the clear feasibility
of such an enterprise as that whose compile
ton We this day celebrate. lie writes, N
1897: NV feeble pen would fail me to eN-
patiate on the substantial time-endurlng
glory which would rebound 10 our nation,
should II engage in this stapendous under
taking" DR.. Parker. q distinguished mis-
sionary 10 the Oregon Indians, who had re-
neatedIy traversed the route in 1898 to
lS35 asserted that there was no more dit
ticulty in such railroad than in one be
tween Boston and Albany. and p-ophes'"d
that the time was not far dlstan when
tours would be made across the continent as
tbev were then made Is Niagara. Willis
GAYLORD Clark. in 1888, IN an eloquent ex-
position of the subject IN leading maga-
zine. asseverated that the reader Is now
living who will make railroad trip across
this vast continent" Penetrated with this
feeling. the missionary, Whitman, IN 1872.
started on a winter journey To Washington
across the Rocky Mountains. TO awaken the