The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1894-08-26
A GREAT FUTURE.
Capt. Louis Kempff's Views on Astoria
and His Predictions.

what do I think of Astoria? 1t 4
an easy question to answer"
The speaker was Captain Loui
Kempff, Of the United States monitor
Monterey. Down under the rear turre
of the big monitor the reporter ha'
found the captain busily engaged writ
Ing letters home, previous to his de
porture for the Sound, but as ever
His writing was laid aside as the AS.
torian's representative was invited to q
seat in his comfortable apartments.
"I think now" continued the captain
lis kindly face beaming with a sudden
interest in the subject, "as l have al
ways thought since my advent here
thirty years ago. that nature had laid
the foundation at the mouth Of this
grand river, for a great commercial
city. That it has not come long ago is
due to but one fact in my estimation;
nature has been abused, for certain 1t
Is that 1t was never intended that sea-
going vessels coming to the Columbia's S
mouth to carry away to foreign coun-
tries the rich yields Of the Inland Em-
pire, should be towed over 100 miles
up river that is made totally unsafe
and unreliable for navigation by fresh
cts that occur as regularly as the noun
tains are mantled with the winters
snow, and the summers sun causes 1t
to run in torrents down every ravinc,
till the willamette and Columbia are
great swollen streams, carrying on their
angry bosoms the wreckage of ruined
and devastated farms, towns and cities.
I say again: nature never intended that
the seaport of the great Columbia basin
should be located where all these dis
advantages are in the way of naviga-
tion.
1T seems to me after thinking the
matter all over carefully, as l have
done time, time and time again, since
first set eyes on the beautiful Column
bia, that Portland will sooner or later
awaken to the fact that the Sound ports
are taking away her shipping prestige
and all because, at the expense of the
government, she is trying to maintain
q seaport over a hundred miles from
the ocean.
To be sure, Tacoma and Seattle arel
not on the open seasoast, but it must
be bourne in mind that they have no
sandbars or ice or freshets to contend
with, and a ship owner would rather
pay the same towage or more, for that
matter, to have his vessel taken inl
through the straits Of Juan de Fuca,
than up the Columbia where one never
can figure just how far apart top and
bottom are.
All this time 1 realize that Portland is
an enterprising city. She has a great
start and will no doubt always be the
metropolis, but in my opinion, some
day a railroad to Astoria will be just
as as essential to her existence as food
is to mankind.
For Astoria to become a thriving |
commercial center, a railroad is not
altogether necessary, at least not at
the beginning. Induce some wide
awake manufacturers to come here
Build grain elevators, the grain win
eventually follow and so will the rail-
roads, but never the latter until some |
other inducement than a transfer Of the
grain shipping interests of Portland, is |
held out. You have here miles of wa
terfront, 'as much l dare say as San
Francisco or New York, and just now,
before your city becomes too much
entangled with railroad propositions, |
it would be a good thing to get your
water front in such shape that it will
forever remain under the control of
the city. Once in the hands of a cor
poration and it becomes monopoly.
In speaking of Astoria as he saw it |
in ga and '65, the two years he was
stationed here as lighthouse inspector,
Captain Kempff said:
''It was next to impossible to get
into Uppertown in the wintertime, ex.l
cept by boat. Telegraph news-weI,
we had no line then, and news from
the outside world was several daysl
old when it reached us. l remember
well how we used to hunt deer just over
the top Of the hill above the city, and
on several occasions bear were killed
almost inside the business limits of the
city. In those days there was but little
to amuse one unless it be an occasional
game of whist, or draw, or that sort
of thing, you know, but we always man
aged to have a pleasant time, even dur
ing the long, monotonous rainy days Of
the winter months. I have always had
warm feeling for Astoria, and l al
ways number among my most cherish
cd friends, my early day acquaintanees
in Astoria"
THE NEW TEACHERS.