The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1892-04-29
asreEI, LETTER.
ASTORIA, April %, 1882.

ASTORIA, April %, 1882.
Editors Dtmccrot.
As Albany is interested in Astora's
& ood fortune, your many readers may be
desirous Of learning what is transpiring
b ere, and how the railroad enterprise is
being pushed. Now, the fact Il, the
railroad is being built, not around the
hotels and on the corners oil the streets,
but right along the line Pile dri ,ers are
driving piles, steamboats, arc bringing
laborers, and tools by the car loed, and
provisions by the ton; horses and mules
by the hundred. and bargers OF hay and
grain tn fill them up, Of which come OF
the poor brutes seem sadly in need of,
having just arriv ed by rail and boat from
the highlands OF the Rockies, the last
scene of their labors. Engineers are
mel is TO be tackled from both ends, 10 {
only by brute force, but by skilled labor
Electricity, dynamite and other combus-
tibles, bot. LIQUID and solid explosive,
or non explosive as desired and as the
exigencies of the case demands so you
see that even the most obstinate and un-
believing mosshack grimly acknowledges
that it LOOKS like something is going to
be done, or them "fellers wouldn't be a
cari'en all OF them traps down to As
toria Another evidence Of prosperity
is the onnipresent real estate dealers.
New Offices are springiug up IN every
quarter. Everybody talks lots, blocks
and acreage. The man about town, the
lawyer, doctor, minister, teacher, me-
chanic or fisherman, all seem touched
with . spirit OF speculation. Hotels,
boarding and lodging houses are crowd
ed. New buildings are being built cheap
" and hurriedly. Anybody wanting
work can get the chance. The steam
boa. war has reduced fares and freights
so low that few persons can resist the
temptation TO 90 or come to Astoria TO
see for themselves, either for business or
pleasure. The Union Pacific boats, il IL
said, have been withdrawn from III
Sound and are coming to the Columbia,
no doubt 10 carry on q war OF extermina-
ti3n TO other boats Even the little
boats on the lower river have been seized
with the contagion. and are cutting
rates too, and the new town OF Fraak-l
fort, across the river in Washington, is
profting by the opport inity to push her
claims for some attention from the pub
tic. and the visitors to Astoria should not
fail 10 visit place, which will in verT
near future be the principle seaport city
Of the state OF Washington on the lower
Columbia and doubtless the terminus OF
one, If not two. transcontineutal railroad
lines, the Northern Pacific and the
Great Northern. II Is only "a miles to
an easy junction with the Chehalis and
South Bend road, which will be in oper-
alton by September. Now | know the
public are not aware OF these facts, but
these companies know all about j, and
the Importance of the lower Columbia
as harbor. Their engineers have been
over all the routes and the \ Z owns
large bodies Of land near, valuable for
timber, coal, iron and other minerals,
besides its agricultural value which q
road aud population will develop aud
make immensely valuable. Ruinor has
it that the Union Pacific intends build.
ing down the river to Astoria. As yet
there is nothing definite in the report.
1t is probable, however, as the distance
is short.
ow Dunbar is out, pardoned by the
governor. Sandy Olds is out of the pen,
and the judge that sentenced them viii
soon be out OF office-to stay. The
Darius Norris case was overlooked as he
couldn't be present in person to call the
attention OF the grand jury to his unac-
conntable disappearance.
The centennial celebration OF the dis
covery Of the Columbia river by Capt
Robt Gray on May 11th, 1792, 800 years
after Christopher Columbus discovered
the eastern shore that marks the con-
fines of Uncle Sans dominions. is now
the all absorbing topic OF the istorian-
big and httle1old and young. NED.