Omaha daily bee., 1896-09-20
TUE A,>swoRTu TmAr WAS.
How n Northwestern Metropolis Arose,
ElnnrIshch mud rnssrh AMnN.

" "Ac Va lAA'' AHN 'hN'AA h'NN'AN'' 'A'A
been settled finally and decisiyely by the
series Of Indian wars from 1872 to 1871,
and that matter was forever at rest. The
great herds of cattle and horses that had
been gathering and increasing over the
country began to give way to the sheepman
and the bunch grasser. The whtte-toppcd
wagons stirred the alkali dust on the old
Cmigrant road down the Columbia. The
stream poured in an opposite direction from
that Of the oldou time. and the deep fur
rows that had been Tutted by the figure =
shoe OF the OK were dCCpcnCd by the toe
corks OF the shod horse turning toward the
Upper Country Great wheat fields grew
on the ridges from pcndleton to the palousc.
and these were made possible by the advent
OF the railroads, Of which the pioneer was
the old road down the Walla Walla river
to Wallula to connect with the steamers
on the Columbia. Then came the Oregon
Railway & Navigation company up the Co
lumbia, and finally there were rumors that
the Northern Pacific had at last concluded
that there were enough settlements In the
northwest to pay it TO cross the Rockies
and complete the Job that congress had
been taking money from the ranchmen's
pockets for years to subsiGi2c.
with the railroad came a new class.
There were towns of the mushroom variety,
as well as in the old mining days. One day
a party of surveyors made camp on a sand
fiat by the side of the turbulent Snake river
the Kimooenum Cf the Nez PerCes, the
Lewis river of Lewis and Clarkc-where 1t
pours its yellow-gray. mud-stained flood
into the clear water of the Columbia. There
was little scenery In the landscape. and less
vegetation on the soil. Sage-brush and
cactus were the flora, horned toads. badgers,
rattlcsnakGs, and prairie owls the fauna of
the land. 1t had neither beauty nor utility
to recommend II, and there were no yellow
grains in its sand banks for attractions.
But there must be a railroad, and there
must be a WaV of crossing that half mile
of muddy, rolling water. 1t was not a boys
job. for at its lowest flow it was a powerful
river, and when the SHOWS of the great
peaks of the Salmon river and Rocky
mountains were melting under a June sun,
a current sixty feet deep rushed down over
its rock bottom in dark swirls. There must
be more than a million dollars sunk in the
stream before a car could pass over the
bridge. On the sand of that desert rose a
city. In less than two years there was a
municipal corporation on that sandbank that
numbered in its limits 1000 inhabitants.
1t was not a city set upon a hill, but
1t was not one of the quiet. retiring kind
that hide their light. There were good
times in the city of AinswOrth. The city
was named Ainsworth. The granite for the
great piers of the bridge was carried on
the river above and RATED down. The
lowest wage was $3.50 per day, ana the pay
ranged upward from that. Every one had
money, and spent it. The general mCrchar-
disc business was not extensive, and the
company stores enjoyed a practical monop-
oily. was not the center of a
great trade, as was Umatilla in its pros
porous days, but what fell short in the more
substantial things was amended in refresh
ments. Sixteen saloons fourished and dis
pensed whisky cocktails to its motley poIu-
latiOn. The inference Of a casual observer
is that the nature Of the country was to
blame for this unequal condition of affairs
regarding liquids and more solid articles.
'rrlaDS the residents noted that Sn1I.
river rolled millions of tons of good water
down toward the sea, while at a distance
of ten feet from its shore the land was
parChed and burning the whole year round.
Reasoning from this that water was out of
place there, they swore off using it as a
beverage, and what was remarkable about
swearing off, they almost universally stuck
to it.
OF dance houses and dives there were |
many-perhaps the least said of them the
better. The city was a slice of the slums
OF New York set down in the west 100
miles from nowhere. Its character was of
the toughest; one visitor remarked that it
reminded him of the mouth of a sewer in
New York harbor. II was not the reckless
roughness of the typical west, with its fear
less characters who made Rome howl as
an amusement, settled every Inference with
a siX-shoOter and passed in their checks
In the excitement of a poker game quarrel.
1t was the criminal wickedness of a great
city transplanted and without the restraint
~ 'svu d i"ilihan9 police' II possessed
simr,. ~ HIu " uulis ol tne cit!
fonmI " H." IT," ame loNe VI IAN pay usuaily
i,niiIo thoin 80 II Pupi,G DRAWS
"aro rot so,tIo, a LLintns VI CaItle 'oMh'
ristoI Ala 80 > Ni'1 VI ieNot'cI' me
ttbeir IittIo al dc p,rS an ihpHIt"nL part III
hoo zoe NO ou u v1lr'"'S' puu lne Shhl-
va6iom "%' omG eoHaeGiiHicu amu was SO con
,yere scornn. sanS moo r ~ p'SS ohIy
sunnIontnG ,iba nni "r r 49, "HulG tnat !
low 1910 - cnaro "s"pyn' "'u Ine yeI.
a" ""'n " oH"he river tolu no t"leS ana
e're ~ MN u Us secrets 81,
~ ~ cary nays OF me cry Two cltl@ehs
Of thoni nsmi' Mneh ~ was over one
taot y" az q unGI'i ~ Lau come III con
= ~ " ~ III Nv othGI . manu- ne
Joa al hnn ~ Vas an acriuent, tnat me
h, y a aeuluenlGIy run hBalhsi me
,ha nc 'o ~ " reSiuTnlS colISiuetsu
as -, az - " " 'mut "Lhtie' WIN .ht
90 %,,no liz u .'iia W lnI CaSe thcS
,bot r ua ~ las, ~ " a',rSi upn IoiS, "ii
that mannnr i" 1bor rnaS " qu",rei Gtlucu III
az onininn noro satti,IoI Iii, H"t a. "imetE"CoS
NJ he disnmtants dis ~ aro ~, VI " az
vav noonia wore too hnsu ,ar 80 " 80
invostig ,ttors ana accontod os ,,at,ar na,
worth hotharing Win the ei,tom"rt th ro,
me had gone down The river on enn,n othor
lob" ~
Society at tbe start was as NAV he soon
from what has been said noithor obnina