The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1889-10-19
STOCKHOLM, Oct. 9, 1889.


Editor TINES -MoUNTAINRER:
In recent letter from the pen of ere
porter" he remarks sit is said that Supt.
Reed is trying to force men to board in the
mess house. do not believe it." There
is no room for doubt. Talk with the work
men here for half an hour, and you will OBJ
tain ample proof that my assertions are not
without foundation. 1t is a well known
for Russian Fins, and so forth, because, as
has been written before, they being so un-
sophisticated are the more easily run in. 1t
is the current report here that he receives
SO much for every one, and in face of the
interest he takes IN the matter, we cannot
but belieye that there is more truth than
fiction in the statement. l can produce
proof that he told a certain Swede that he
would have to quit keeping bcarders, or he
would be dismissed from the works. He
also approached another, an American, but
not in such forcible manner. He said. 81
cannot make you beard at the mess house.
but it will be better for you if you do So"
Now, will leave you to draw your own
conclusion as to what was implied by the
latter half OF the remark.
The fellow referred to in ''Granite's" let
ter as having to send his child home, and
being forced to go into the mess house, has
been making quite a bluster, vowing he
would write to you about it. The story is
true, however, because he told his trouble
to me at the time, and l borrowed money
for him to go home on. The only trouble
is that "Granite" did not give the story in
all its details. Twice he had his family here
and twice he sent them to the homestead,
keeping the little girl here. The fiual in
terview came one day. Capt. Young took
him to the further end of the blacksmith
shop, where he plead to keep the child with
him. But the captain replied. he would
rather let him 90 than break the rules.
Break what rules 1 would like to know?
Did the U. S. government establish rule
that workmen employed on the locks must
board at certain house, run by one 5. U.
Hersey? Such a rule never had birth out
slde of the Cascade Locks, but was created
by men placed in power by accident, the
public charity, or from the fact of their hav-
ing pull, not for the brains or knowledge
they possessed
We took walk over the works, and
among other things we saw was a caisson
so called, stone was cut, hole was dug,
foundation of fine cut stone was laid, bar
rels of cement, at SIS per barrel was used,
and the whole was condemned. Thirty-twO
thousand dollars sunk IN the arrangement,
and now they are letting the earth cave IN
upon it. As the boss Of the stone yard re-
marked to a prominent citizen the other
day, '.they are ashamed of the id thing.
and are letting it cave in to hide their
work" imagine he hit the truth, about as
near that time as he ever did in his life be-
fore.
About three years ago after they had
completed the plans for the gates they were
confronted with the idea that when the
water rushed in it would cause the boat to
tip up on one end. They then endeavored
to contrive machine which they thought
would cause the water to run the entire
length of the lock thus raising the boat
level as the lock filled. Said machine is
now hack of the canal in the woods where
it can be seen any day. Ignorant of fact
known to any average school child of twelve
years of age, viz: water will seek its own
level.
There is law stating that eight hours
shall be co lsidered day on government