Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1884-07-25

, the old DiOck house, historical
landmark which the hand of time as
well as man has respected. 1t was
the scene of lively times during the
Indian war of 1855, and was under
command of Lieut.. Sheridan, the
now famous General From near
Bonneville, the station, fine view
may be obtained OF the rapids,
known as the Cascades, and of the
mountains on the north side of the
river, which rise in pyramidal forms,
broken at intervals by deep ravines,
abrupt precipices and other evil
dences OF some great cOnvulsion of
nature. The strata in some places
rises with such regular ascent from
the waters edge as to suggest the
idea of a giants causeway, and il
does not require much stretch of the
imagination to fancy the castleated
iamparts of some distant cliff as the
home of a Titanic race existing long
before the piSmies came to bore tie
mountain and dam the waters by hu
man invention.
The locks are still hope of tie
future. Much money has been spent
by The Government in prosecuting
the work and much more will have
to be expended before man can bid
defiance to Nature and open unre-
stricted navigation between the ur-
per and lower river.
There seems to be but little doubt
that the Cascades were produced by !
some great convulsion of nature.
The Indian legend and scientific data
agree on this point. The Indians
maintain that once Hood and
Adams stood close to the river at !
this point, with a natural arch of
stone bridging the chasm. The
mountains quarreled and threw out
stones, fire and ashes, and the bridge
fell. Before that time the river was
navigab!e for their canoes, from its
source to the Dalles and far beyond.
They believe that the SabiHr Tyre
was SO angry at the mountains for
their dissention that he hurled them
north and south to the positions
they now occupy. There may lie
some grains of truth in the legend,
for just above the Cascades, are sew
elal beautiful islands between which
submerged forest is said to exist,
with the tree-.runks still standing
beneath the waves. This, with the
choking up of the river for dis
lance of eight miles, and the obser-
vation of engineers the past twenty
years, which demonstrates that the
great mountains of basalt rests on q
bed of conglomerate, with subslrat-
UNI of sandstone pitching toward
the river. AS the water wears away
the substra!um, the rocky mass
moves toward the liver. The engi-
neer of the Northern Pacific Rail-
road asserts, that in repairs made to
the narrow gauge road, used for
portage transportation i'll years gone
by, it was found that after an inter-
val of several years the track had
twisted out of line from this action
of the mountain. In one place it
had moved ten feet, and more or less
displacement had occurred for dis.
lance Of three miles.
The journey from the Cascades to
The Dnlles is of interest mainly to
those who admire the heroic side of
Nature. There is, of course, an
ever-rccurring succession of wild
scenery, but none which illustrates
the calmer side of life. The river
has no valley. About 20 miles be-
low The Dalles, Hoods river comes
in from the south and White Salmon
from tie north. Each Of these has
an arabic valley, but of limited size.
AT Hood river we met MIR. Z. L.
Smith, who owns q store and farm
uear this point, although that gen.
tleman resides at The Delles, having
been appointed to position in the
Land Office at that place. This val
ley and White Salmon are noted as
fruit districts, especially for peaches,
and are becoming favorite resorts for
invalids and those seeking rest and
recreation.
Dalles City, SO miles from Port.
land has about 4. 600 population. 1t
is one of the oldest cities on the riv-
er. It's. growth has been slow but
permanent. The missionaries tried
in the earliest times to establish
mission here, but their success was
not marked. A town sprang up,
however, and as mining and farming
interests developed, it grew into con-
siderable importance. 1t is now
thriving little commonwealth, with
charming homes, several churches,
good schools, a fine academy and
many industrial works, including ex-
tensive shops of the Oregon Railway
& Navigation Company. The foun.