The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-01-18
I'm the Wonderland
OF North America.
Twenty-Third Letter of Northwestern Travel.
The Magical City OF Portland.

an inhabited garden. as the grounds of
the residences are profusely ornament
ed with shrubbery. For Portland is a
city of flowers and foliage. the mildness
of the climate and moisture of the at
mosphere causing vegetation to flour
iSh
IMcOmpnrnble scenery.
The scenery to the east is grand in
the extreme. The broad and rich val
leys of the Columbia and Willamette.
with their noble rivers, their waters
uniting in one common flood. twelve
miles below. the gorges Of the Columbia.
which in many espects equal and in
Others surpass those Of Colorado and
California. the glaciers Of Mt. Hood and
Mt.Jefferson,tifty and dseventy-fivem miles
distant. the rounded dOmes Of Mt. st.
Heiens and Adams. and one hundred
miles away the imperial Tacoma. all
these FIVE peaks radiant with eternal
snow. surpass In grandeur even the
White or Rocky Mountains.
Perhaps nothing more surprises the
stranger In Portland than the magnif-
cent equipment of the street railroads.
Its cable and electric lines furnish tran
sit to all parts of the city and It's sub
urbs. There Ia now In operation over
1913 miles Of cable and electric railroads
$1,000.
The immense electrical plant recent
ly constructed at the falls Of the VILLA
mette, has an energy Of 10000 horse
power, transmitted by wire to Portland.
which IL being used In manufacturing,
leaving out 10000 horsepower yet to
be utilized from the same source and
the Cascades of the Columbia. but thir-
ty miles away. Portland's water sup
xl., L.. L. To-, A1n. AsI.l l,..,.,
brought thirty miles to the city from
stream having its source among the
eternal SHOWS of Mount Hood.
A novel feature we witnessed was
the process of street sprinkling. The
trolley company has the contract for
watering the streets along Its route.
One of its cars Is transformed into an
ingenious sprinkler throwing out
spouts of fifty feet span. playing like
fountain. drawing In the arms. spi-
der-like, to escape wagons, bicycles.
etc. and again throwing them out at
will. all the while speeding on and
sprinkling.
Flags OF All Nations.
The beautiful Willamette river flows
through the city spanned by many
bridges and bearing upon it's bosom
ships carrying flags Of all nations. The
half mile wide and very deep, making
commodiOus harbOr, capable of re-
ceiving ships of heavy draft. The
United States cruiser Monterey, paid a
friendly visit to the city In 1892
Directly across the river and harbor
One-half mile distant, and connected
with Portland by two immense iron
bridges. and three ferry lines. is the
fiourishing city of East Portland. and
also to the north of this city and adjoin-
ing. il the growing town Of Albina
The two are practically part of the city
proper, and the annexation of the three
will add another ten thousand to the
present population of Portland,
An Ideal Climate.
The climate Of Oregon, it's soil, its vast
resources, etc, are well described by
Judge X. T.. Reese, OF Portland Heights.
He says: There are few men who
have knocked around over the country
more than !. But the Garden of Eden
to me Is Oregon, and the Willamette
valley Is its location. Think of section
Of country $50 miles long by seventy
wide. where men work in their shirt
sleeves i'm January, within full view of
the snow capped peaks Of Mounts Hood.
Tacoma and Helens, where the snow
all the year round Is three or four hun
dred feet deep. The soil Of this valley
Is as black as your silk hat. and so
deep that you cannot fathom 1t. Moth
ing that grows can refuse to take root
there. The wheat averages forty-t three
bushels to the acre. Ocean ships come
up the river to bank landings with 12O
feet of water depth. We don't know
what thunder storm is. A lightning
rod man would starve to death here.
The water Is full of soda and we battle
t,,t In hot tu~g nf nt,,,a t,nt
are so big that man standing beside a
fallen giant Of the forest feels himself
dwarfed into insignificance. We have
neither cyclones, blizzards nor earth
quakes."
Speaking of some of the various fea-
lures of physical geography on the
Northwest coast, Judge Reese said:
"There are valleys in Oregon where
the fog comes down in great banks that
keep the grass perfectly green for miles
and miles. yet outside of given
boundary there Is frost and snow, while
within this charmed area there is
neither Along the border of British
Columbia, where ex-senator stanford
had fine estate, there Is strip of
land mile and a half or two miles in
width running from the ocean clear
over to Dakota, in which there Is per-
petual blooming of flowers, yet half
mile from its well defined boundaries
the frost does it's work the same as
elsewhere. This comes from a warm
current of air from the ocean sweep
ing over the land in narrow cham
nel."
The Fcrtilizing Industry.
A new industry has sprung into ex-
istence just outside Of the city in which
several enterprising citizens of Port
land are interested. Albert Fozier, Sec
retary Oregon Press association, gives
us the following account: Among the
new industries lately established here
is the Western Fertilizing Packing
company which bids fair to be great