The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1895-12-14
IMPRESSIONS OF. THE DALLEs.
What An Australian Journalist Thinks of
This City.
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10 S.e nllrSalI,aS as OF hon. 90 ,,s,

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To see ourselves as others see u.s.
So said the Scottish poet. Had ht
ever paid visit!to The Dalles he would
not have added the next line SIT would
frae mony a blunder free u.s. The
Dalles has not many blunders about
and though l could find some slight
errors, should simply point them out
in the same spirit as does the phrenolo-
gist to the patron who anxiously says,
tell me of my faults as well as of my
virtues. The faults of The Dalles are
few, its virtues many. With free
library, little moi light at night to
stay the breaking of the main street
into two distinct divisions, pleasanter
crossings, and a little more devotion
to the improvement of garden patches
in front of the residences of rich and
poor alike, The Dalles would, in my
opinion, be simply perfect.
1t will be long time before the
grandeur of the scenery, seen on the
trip from Portland to The Dalles by
the noble Columbia. fades from my
Australian mind. Not in New Zealand,
the land of grand and sublime scenery,
can anything in nature be found to
surpass, and but feebly approach it,
and tourist and health seeker miss
much who miss this locality in their
travels. The city itself looses nothing
in the effect it awakens in the mind
made expectant by the nobie,, soul
stirring passage through natures ex
alted mountains. -.
Small it may be, but astrong, thrifty,
child of commerce art
thou, The Dalles, rocked in a noble
cradle, rich soil, pure waters, and fresh
air thy birthright. The handwork of
man here is pleasing and substantial.
The commodious, lofty, we'll filed and
we'll kept shops carry with them an air
of prosperity, and the fastidious, sensi- |
tive eye is not wounded by the eye
sore "to let" on every other houseand
shop which greets a visitor perpetually
in and around San Francisco and Port |
land,
For commercial push the people of
this city strike me as being worthy of
much praise, and the respondent, ever
lasting depressing song of " bad times"
Is not heard here. AS much q stu
dent of human nature as an inQuisitive
penman, should say that the residents
of this city impress me, with ,one ex-
ception, as being genial, happy and
healthy, so much so that I am sure
few persons could reside here for any
length of time without experiencing a |
deep feeling of regret when compelled |
to leave. The one exception, I may
say, is a gentleman who Ironically de-
sired me to go and purchase an um.
brella, to save my skull, I presume. |
Now ! am made courageous by a knowl-
edge of the safety which distance from
that one exception gives me, would
remind him, though perhaps little
late, that my skull Is not 30 softaas to
require protection from a little soft |
water.
That The Dalles has bright future
before it. it is easy and safe to- predict;
and I venture to say that much inter-
est will be taken in the more solid |
record Of its resources which I have
sent abroad through the press. 1t may
have its drawbacks, but they are moth
Ing compared to it's advantages, and
the visitor judges it by its
scenic, commercial, social, or health
giving value, he can but come to this
that The Dalles is q most
favored pot,-once seen by the eye, by |
The mind ne'er forgot" -
G. De C. WILLIAMS.