The Portland daily press., 1900-12-24
HOLIDAY RUSH.
Portland Sidewalks Crowded to
the Curb Saturday.
cIsy Msrehan,. in Mood 20 EnJoy
Christmas Dinners.


Congress street was fun Of people all
day saturday up TO 10 O'Clock at night.
There seemed to be no diminishing in
the size Of the crowds and even from 8
o'clock to the stores were filled with
people Saturday night the sidewalks on
Congress street were so crowded that II
was utterly impossible TO make rapid
progress In either direction unless one
took to the street itself. The electric
cars were packed full all day and extras
were being run Saturday night on all
lines to accommodate the Christmas
shoppers All day the suburban lines
were bringing In parties OF eager shop
pers and 1t was not until well along In
the evening that the tide of travel turned
outward from the city.
The merchants have done a wonderful
business this season, bstter than for
some years past. There has hardly been @
store which has not had about all the
patronage 1t could comfortably look after
and people have been purchasing more
costly and elaborate presents than has
teen the case for some years,
1t was q busting. hustling, good
natured holiday crowd and the very
warm and pleasant weather had much to
do with making business brisk. 1t
seemed Saturday night that everyone
was intent on buying ali Of the Christ
mas gifts bsfore the stores closed, though
of course there are many people who
have put of this pleasant duty until
Monday.
One of the busiest places in the city
Saturday night was the post office.
Here the governments clerks were kept
hard at work ali day ana well into the
night and the sacks of mall bags, packed
to their utmost capacity. seemed to
grow larger rather than smaller as the
evening wore away and incoming trains
added their part to the never diminishing
number of bags. 1t was a mighty hard
days work for all the post Office en-
plnyes and Sunday gave. these 4 men
little rest for it was necessary to keep
at work all day on this large amount OF
mail matter in order that gifts intended
to be delivered before Christmas find
their way into the hands Of the proper
people by the time Santa Claus should
come around according to she old stories.
Mr.. W. n. Howe, the cashier of the post
office, said Saturday night that the sale
of postage stamps up to that time indi-
Gated thar the receipts from this source
would be several hundred dollars larger
this year than was the case a year ago.
Regular stream of people were COM
ing with Christmas packages all day
Saturday and the carriers who did the
collecting from the boxes about tho city
all came in with their wagons loaded
down.
At the American Express office in
Monument Square there was another
ing and outgoing packages OF ali de-
snriptions from this place exceeded any
thing that has been known by this COM
Dany for some years.
: The venders OF Christmas trees did a
rushing business Saturday. These trees
mostly come from Scarporo, though there
are some selling on the streets which
were cut in the city of Portland out
in the new districts These trees are OF
all sizes, but for the most part they are
sold very cheaply. 1t is money In the
farmers pocket to cut down these small
fir trees which are OF no uss excepting
at Christmas and to dispose OF them at
from ten cents to dollar tree, accord
ing to the size and whether a stand goes
with them or not. These miniature
forests are to be found on almost every
corner and at night, after the purchasers
have gone home are carefully guarded
by the owners who take their turn in
performing this duty.
All the trains passing through Port
land and especially those bound to the
eastward, were crowded all day Satur.
day. The night trains In particular were
extremely heavy and were being run in
sections, go heavy was the travel Double
crews Of mail clerks and all the substi-
tutes allowed by the departm snt, have
been working for the past three or four
days and viii continue to run back and
forth on their routes until the Christmas
rush comes to an end. This is no small
matter, the handling of millions OF
packages of all sizes and descriptions
and these men find that this holiday
custom of gifts to be sent to friends by
means OF Uncle Sans Santa Claus de-
livery brings them nothing but hard
work AMI great deal of trouble,