The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1895-10-13
A SURPRISE
Agreeably Disappointed in AS
tOria and AStorians.
IMPRESSIONS OF A STRANGER
Not Fishing Village, Logging
Camp or a Mining Hold Down"
Beautiful Homes and
Gardens.
IMPRESSIONS OF A STRANGER

that comes slowly plOUulIlS HIOHS OVeT
the regular ordained county road of the
commonplace.
Our stay in ASTORIA for the past week or
more has been one of many pleasant sur
prtlses, for in all ways we have found
Things so much better than we had anti
cipaIted. We had heard a great deal OF
Astoria before we had THE opportunity
of doing ourselves the pleasure Of visiting
it. We had heard 1t wtas extremely rough,
one-fourth civilized, the citizens all wrapt
in a Rip Van Wrinkle sleep, the business
houses all of the crudest sort, and the
city itself very rough cong0omerate,
whose component parts when picked to
pieces, would prove to be a fishing VIII
Nge, logging camp and mining 'hold
down." From this our imagination had
pictured what accommodations would
await the poor tourist who was calied
upon TO tarry for a night in Astoria and
the pictures thalt came were far from
causing us to write an ode on "The Pleas
ures of Imagination" or even settle down
into "a philosophical mood with DR..
Thompson and make a careful analysis
of The Scientific Uses of the Imagina-
tion. We simply said "Begone" to the
Banqueto's ghost, grit our teeth together,
shut one eye, bought bag OF fruit a bar
of soap and a package of Peiarline, and
made up our mind to be armed to meet
what Ills awaited us in the best manner
possible.
AS our steamer rounded Young's Bay
and then steamed into THE Columbia the
sun was shining and kissing with golden
beauty the dancing waves that laughed
and played 0ike merry children just home
from school, while the sea gulls scolded
and ohatted away in q truly domestic
way. This WAS pleasant and tended to
drive away our dark forbodings 1t was
o'clock when our steamer cast anchor
at the wharf, which did not impress us
very agreeably, but we were hungry, and
so passed hurriedly to see If there was
such thing as a restaurant. We found
one almost as quick as thought, and
stepping inside, we were more than sur
prised, we were more than delighted, to
find the appurtenances, bearing SO much
of the stamp of first-crass restaurant,
for this was Astoria, the congEomerate,
where we had expected food best d.
gested when unthought of and unmen-
toned. We were served with a fine
meal that was ALI the more enjoyed from
being so unexpected
The surprise we received on our first
arrival has been a continuous cne; we
ent from what we had looked for and
have thus received much true joy.
Our first jaunt of exploration was made
UP the hill opposite TO the postofflce,
where we note many comfortable homes
by far too pretentious to be classed
among the rough shingfe shanties so COM
mon in conglomerate towns. The houses
on the hi,l are arranged with an eye to
the artistic, and the we'll kept lawns
with bright beds of blooming flowers, tell
Of an innate love of the beautiful and a
refinement rarely found among "the one
fourth civilized" 1t will pay any one
who looks with loving eyes and eXults
in the beautiful to take a walk UP on the
hill some afternoon in the sunshine, and
there drink in the fascinating bits OF
cO.or-delight that are furnished by the
Virginia creeper which has found place
in so many of the gardens, and is now
all but dazzling to the eye as 1t reflects
the brightest red from natures paint
brush, this brilliant red in many places
being found resting on back ground of
dark green and rul5set brown, and the
effect when lighted up by the golden
sunlight is to furnish picture that one
might feast their eyes upon for aye and
ever find a thing of beauty that goes on
increasing its beauty forever.
The view from The top Of the hi,i-lthere
are, by the way, a great many so as to
give you ample choice-is full Of fasci- |
mating charm. There one may watch his
ships that his fancy sent 10 sea "many, |
many weary years ago." he can watch |
them as they SAIL to and fro, wandering
ever, tin at length he will see up the bay
his ships return, full of pictures, gems
and works elf art, and buy from them aft |
his heart desires AMI forget all the bit
terness of 1.-THE past.
We surveyed the street car line finding |
Upper'oNn the most pleasing. We were
muc1 interested in the host OF small |
house boats that swarm along the banks
OF the river like so many mud turtles |
crawling UP out of the water into the
air and sunlight.
They are all ready to font at a mo-
ment's notice, and seem an easy way OF |
denying The real estate man of the ex-
treme pleasure of selling off choice cor
ner iots. And the fishing boats and the
fishing nets and the fishing tackle, my!
what "a lot to be s'Ire, and aid were say
ing, There are good fish in the sea-"
But, o, they won't be caught" ew sug-
gested, only ITO receive in reply an in
dignant cav from passing gull at our
pesSimistic view We should Judge we
SehW d lu-l uHOuSdIlQ HSnlnBSUdnOB InAt
to01 of the great Importance of the Co
lumbia salmon industry at Astoria But
although we saw so many nets we saw
few "od salts" or little fisher maidens;
they were either out to sea, engaged in
some one of the many mills thlt line
the river, or 1t was not fishing time.
We believe Astoria has a bright future
before it. It's location is par excellent,
steamers from al parts of the world
can iand at her gates; the fishing indus
try d5 bound ajWI. TO be an important
as well as paying business; back Of her
is a land rich in soil and as productive
Of as fine timber as is to be found in the
world, and when her new railroad is
completed her attractions as CONNER
cia. center, summer resort and place Of |
homes will be tripled. Therefore let |
every citizen keep his shoulder to the |
wheel, push forward in every line OF
improvement, Gear the track of all |
blocks that impede progress, work for
the good of the city first. laIJt and all
the time; keep awake and avoid all idle |
dreamings and in the near future he VIA
live in city that wil stand second to
none for its thrift, enterprise and pros
perity. Are we wrong, then b,nme
Yours for progress,
OTrTGE L ND A knCtTd