The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1894-07-12
tSeaports Of
.'@ the Northwest
Continued from Tuegday.l

kCOHllntleu lTOIl 1ue5udyJ
Hamburg also has a vast business both
in coal and in ore, neither of which
Portland has Philadelphia has had the
great anthracite fields tributary to her
and also has had great tonnage from the
manufactures which these coal fields
fostared.
At Portland there Is a. great over
taxing OF commerce from the inflated
terminal scheme and expenditures which
were attempted in former years, and
which were executed with but little
practical results but at. great cost, ow7
ing to the difficulties noted. s,g An i'm
miense amount of needless land was un-
loaded on the terminal company and a
large capitalization incurred, very large
ly for this AS the decentralization
has driven Off the railway tonnage in
past years from the Columbia route, so
evercapitalization in terminals will as
slst in driving commerce away from
Portland. The mistakes Of the general
scheme will assist towards this effect.
Large shops built In an expensive city
location instead Of a cheap out-of7town
location; warehouses SO near, the water
front that transfer Of freight is awk-
ward and difficult; inconVenient coal
pockets; a dry dock at right angles to
the track system Of the yard, cutting
the yard almost in two; wharf 'front.'
age cut to pieces and the fragments
hemmed in between structures and cut
off from ready access from tracks; 'diffi-
Guilty of bringing yard tracks into,
structures a separation of east and
west side business, of north and south
bound business instead Of one convenient
point Of interchange; a bridge remote
nearly half a mile from the largest yard
having awkward curves and right-anglel
turns at each end and with no chance
for any system Of storagestracks of inn
portance near its, approaches; switch7t
ing charge and bridge toll of % cents
per ton, and local drayage Aof 40 to 80
cents per ton. All these and other items
result in terminal taxation which, II
capitalized would enable any railway
company to close It's Portland "termi-
nails" build a railway to the mouth OF
the Columbia, prepare terminals there
and be richer by the operation, Consid-
cred in view of greatly Increasing busi-
ness in the Northwest, the situation is
still more serious, owing to the difficulty
Of expanding Portland's terminals"
The local advantages of Astoria as a
seaport are readily seen. The first ad-i
vantage is the entrance. This has u
depth of 20 feet at lowest low water, or
of over SO feet at high water, with a
width of over half a mile. The entrance
is straight, and no dangerous Stands
or shoals lie outside. The 20 feet at
the entrance deepens5 outside in a
hundred feet of distance to a depth of
from 55 to 10 feet There is no entrance
in the world of first-class depth where
q vessel so safely and quickly passes
from the free ocean into safe sheltered
water. Within the harbor is found the
peninsular formation lin this case dou-
BILE, Smiths point and Tongue point
which, by doubling the water line back
upon itself, concentrates great front
age within small area, massing busi-l I
ness and securing cheap and quick ia ,
cilities to such a degree that no mere
riverside" location can compete with ,
it. Additional to this, there is the al
most equally valuable and somewhat
similar feature of great penetration of
land by small waterways, giving inYal-
able facilities for transfers from cars
or other conveyances to vessel or the
reverse. At all ports where such small
rivers are found, these waterways will,
be found crowded with business.
The business of the port, as. contrasted
with the railway yards, where deep
water win permit lat San Francisco It
would not so permiD will be found on
the peninsula between rivers convenient
of access from many directions, and not
on one of the; forelands near the ocean.
This keeps business near the larger ex-
tent of water frontage. New York, Bos-
ton and Charleston are so located.
The small difference between high and
low water is of very great value to As
toria, being only about seven feet
Floods, swift currents from them, and
malaria from their deposits on the
flooded areas, are practically. unknown.
In these days of cable and electric
roads capable of running on very steeph
gradients, high hill property formerly n
worthless, has become much coveted n
feature of any city In San Francisco q
and Portland this remarkable change 3,
las been felt. 1t not only makes all hill
property available for residence, but by Oh
steep gradients for streets, !, u
las done away with excessive costs of ST
street improvements. Wealthy resi- Si
tents will not build on low, marshy =.
;round. 1t can be confidently said that
10 city under ordinary circumstances M
will develop more than couple of
niles from high residence property, un- q
ess the absence Of deep water frontage =
ompels it. Yards and similar features >
f railway corporations may be located
lsewhere, as also the homes of the rail-
vay employees; but it is. general vbusi- hi
less, and residents of many classes, m
nd not railways that create and constt- cr c'
ute cities. The wealthy residents on in
he higher ground are those who have 81