The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1901-10-31
WORKING THE TIDES,

With characteristics enrontery, tat
oregonian llkens Portland 70 such sea-
pcris as san Francisco ana Boston, in
discussion Of the system in vogue
on the Columbia o: working the ;ides''
that is to say. awaiting extreme bigh
water to navigate, The oregonlan
makes the following paragraph nom he
Boston Herald the subject q It's edi-
torial article;
The Dominion line steamship Com
mcnwealth Is advertised as sailing from
her dock this morning at o'clock. This
is unuues,$onahly an inconvenien;
hour, but 8, is made necessary by the
die. When the Commonwealth goes
out with a full cargo she needs about
al the water there IS in Boston har-
Dor. This early sailing presents a tell
Ing object lesson n the need q bet
ter ani deeper channel for our har-
bor.
The oregonian then goes m TO ex-
plain tha; similar condition Of affalrs
exists at san Francisco. wasre vessels
take advantage of the tides in order
that sufficient depth OF water may be
insured But our good neighbors a,
Astoria-where loaded vessels. bound
out or in, always have to wait Ger the
;lde-win not allow that any vessel to
or from Portland shouli work the
tide. and are extremely Indignant or
sarcastic when vessels DO" continues
the oragonian. It then concludes its
utterance with the statemen, tbat
working the tides" IS a practice COM
mon AMI necessary in Bos:ln. New
York. san Francisco. London. Liver
pool and nearly every other great port
in the world.
The expression. working the ;ides,
as applied to Portland, differs widely
from an application Of the term 20 such
ports as Boston or Astoria. Portland
is situated 100 miles inland from Asto-
ria, and approximately l2o miles from
the sea. Boston is within a rev miles
OF the sea. as is san Francisco and As
torla. If a vessel mus; work the
tide" leaving either Of the three Forts
mentioned, she viii Be subjected to only
one delay. The Glenturet, for instance. .
On the occasion Of her recent return
from Portland. stopped four times, the
duration Of the shortest stop being six
hours. When the Glen;urret got really
for sea. she proceeded out. OF course,
she took advantage 0f nigh tide to leave /
port, but the delay was not more than .
few hours. if there was any incon- .
yenience on this score at ali.
Portland Is not an Astoria. or a Bos- |
ton, or a san Francisco; it Is Port /
land, and will always be 50. One hun /
dred and twenty miles separate it from .
the sea. and the advantage Of taking
the ship TO the wharves has not yet
been demonstrated; indeed. every stu
dent OF commercial problems will agree
that the wharves must go to the ship.
Where Astoria, Boston and San Fran
cisco are practically on the ocean, Port
land is far inland.
But, apart from all this. ships do not
work the tides" in San Francisco
harbor. Astoria harbor or any other
Of the har5ors named by the Oregon
ian. It's bad enough for Ships 10 be
to work the tides coming in
and going out Of harbors, but when
they must work the tide in a port the
situation becomes extremely annoying.
and the port" loses its prestige.
The alleged analogy between Port
land and the other ports referred to is
not apparent.