The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1892-07-23


before the Oregon legislature we urged
the members from Wasco county to
work for the passage of the two bills
one for the railway at the Cascades
and the other at this point. The first
was successfully passed, has been
in operation for several months, and
has proved great benefit to..producers.
But we did not expect the portage
road at the Cascades to take the
place of the government work on the
canal; neither did we consider that
the one above this city would take
the place of the boat railway, for which
bill appropriating money passed the
upper branch of congress two years
ago. These we're simply temporary
expedlents until the more lasting and
substantial improvements could be
made by congress. They reduce
freights, but not to the minimum as
where cargoes are not broken in tran
sit. To be free from speculation and
answer the purpose as regulators of
freight rates, these roads should be
under control of the state and not of
private corporations.
There can be but two plans of per-
manently removing the impediments in
the great river Of the west, and these
are by canal and locks around the
rapids, or by boat railway. The first
has been adopted at the Cascades, and
will be completed under the contract
system in two or three years. In re-
gard to what is termed the Dalles of
the Columbia, board of competent
government engineers, under control of
the war department, have adopted the
latter, andj this after careful exam
ination of the cost and feasibil-
ity of constructing locks. That
they were honest in their con-.
clusions. and that, by long years of
scientific study and practical expert
ence, their judgment was entitled to
more consideration than the opinion of
men who have not had the least train.
ing in this branch of scientific mechan-
ism, goes without saying and will not
be questioned by any fair-minded man.
If the people rely on government to
inaugurate public improvements in
rivers and harbors, as has been the
policy of the United States for the
past thirty years, the conclusion of
men regarding the plans of such i'm
provements, who have been educated
for that purpose at our best technical
institutions of learning, should be
adopted. This is simply the rule
which should govern citizens in all
their relations to the general govern
ment, and which would not be unfair
if applied, as far as possible, in any
business transaction.
The opposition to the boat railway
does not come from any. por-
tion of our neighboring Commonwealth;
but from private corporation, the in
dividual interests of whose members
are not in harmony with an open Col
umbia river to the sea. Mr.. Cannon
Is a citizen of Spokane; MIR. Mohr,
we believe, is a resident of the same
thriving city, and other members of
the board of directors of the Colum bia
Railway d Navigation company are
in Seattle and other cities
on the sound. We personally know
some of these gentlemen and consider
them to be men of integrity and
honesty, and whom we highly respect.
They are gentlemen of acute business
and we do not blame them If
they see an opportunity of holding the
point between Columbus,
WASH, and the mouth OF the Klicki-
tat for pecuniary benefit, to do SO; but
they should not pose as friends to an
open river, when, if craft loaded with
he produce of the inland empire,
loated--without breaking cargo-from
Kettle Falls to Astoria, it would not
i'd one dollar to their present wealth.
While we do not blame them for ex-
,rcising their business acumen in any
peculation to their individual inter-
st, the people of the vast region trib
ltary to this great natural highway of
ommeroe, should not consider their
opposition to the government plan
natter of pure philanthropy and for
he public veal
The letter of Mr.. Hill, published in
issue, contained nearly the
anne arguments as the circular of Mr..
'aul Mohr, which, contrary to the
ules of congress, was placed on the
esks of members during the discus ;
ion of the senate amendment. This d;
barge of boat railways being an ex-
erIment was met and refuted by i,
enators Dolph and Mitchell at that !
me, and the Washington senators
llly endorsed the sentiments of the
'regon delegation. During that dis
lssion Mr.. Dolph quoted an article in
ne Nineteenth Century, which stated
n this subject of ship-railways as fol-
,ws: 7
So far as the question of novelty is con- |
.rned, everyone, of course, will take 1t for
,anted that if search were made among the
lpyri at the British Museum, evidence would
. found that the Egyptians were in the habit o
transporting vessels overland across the I
thmus of Suez, and it is indeed more than