The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-09-08

from the river it looks like a single fall of
$50 feet, but only half a dozen feet in width.
Nor would one from the East estimate the
height so great 1t is dwarfed by the noun
tains, just as everything is along the
river.
Occasional glimpses up canyons, mere
riffs in the sides of the mountains, showed
us great pine trees, huge in body and
tall in stature, over whose roots trickled
clear, babbling brooks, fed by the eternal
SHOWS on the towering heights above.
Ere long we approached the cascades of
the Columbia, where the waters come
tumbling down with all the rapidity and
savagery and much of the grandeur Of the
Lachine rapids in the st. Lawrence. A
comparison between the two is involun-
tarily made. But no boat can live in the
cascades of the Columbia,
Where the rumbling, roaring waters
Tumble madly toward the sea-
1.-THE government has built a lock at
cost of S3,500,000 to enable boats to pass
some thirty-three miles farther up the
river.
LEGEND OF NATURAL BRIDGE.
when the Columbia first became known
to the whites, the Indians, then so numer
Gus along the banks, told them that once
at the Cascades a great natural bridge of
rock SPAWNED the river; and that it had
been great highway for the Indians when
travelling with their horses from one side
of the river to the other. The water flowed
under the vast arch Of the bridge without
obstruction, and from the bridge up to the
fall of 'Tum-wa-wa,' above the 'Dalles of
the Columbia the river was narrow, shall
low and rapid, and it's banks were covered
with forests of tall fir trees, very much un-
like their present condition. The legends of
the several tribes agree in saying that at
time when the Indians fathers fathers were
alive, the great snow mountains made war
on each other; first they pulled forth great
clouds of smoke, then they growled and
spat out fire for three weeks at one an
other, and covered the surrounding coun-
try with ashes. Finally they shook the
whole earth. so that the bridge fell The
| river being damned up by the huge masses
of rock, which now form the Cascades, be-
came wide and deep above the obstruction,
and all the trees along the banks were SUBJ
merged and killed. When the river is low,
portions of the trunks of trees may yet be
seen, and forty years ago they were more
numerous.
above the Cascades are the Brown
Hills of eastern Oregon and the upper
Columbia To a stranger they appear as
stubble fields, an illusion which even good
field glass does not dispel. The hills do not
come down to the waters edge as abruptly
| as below the Cascades, but slope down at
| an angle with the course Of the river bed,
giving a very singular appearance to the
| landscape.
"All the way along we saw wheels for
| catching fish, especially salmon; and fish
| ing was conducted on a gigantic plan by
| hitching team of horses to each end OF an
| immense seine and drawing it into shore
The wheels resemble the old over-shot water
wheels. They are placed near the shore
| and the current keeps them in motion. Once
| in the nets attached to the wheel the fish
is deposited in a chute leading to a boat
anchored in the stream. Last year the
canning industry the Columbia alone
was valued at over two and a quarter mil
| lion OF dollars. This year the catch of fish
has been so great that the canneries could
not take care Of them, and it was necessary
| to throw thousands OF them back In to the
| river.
AN INDIAN CEMETERY.
| Thirteen miles below the Dalles we
passed a small. rocky island, which the
Indians used for ages a resting place for
their dead called MISUNDERSTANDING
or Land Of the dead They buried their
| dead by dressing them in their best clothes,
| placing them on shelves in houses erected
| on this island, and surrounding them with
their weapons and domestic utensils. These,
however, have now disappeared. But,
standing the highest point OF rock of
the island is a small stone house, eight feet
| square, surmounted by obelisk of white
granite thirteen feet high. In this house lies
the body Of an early pioneer of the North
west, Victor Trev!tt Vic. as he was called
by his friends, came across the plains with
the Rifle Regiment in 1S49, the first escort
the government furnished the emigrants. He
| located at The Dalles, then a frontier town
! in the Indian country. His business required
him TO go frequently among the Indians,
| then SO numerous, and they learned to love
! and respect him. He was their friend and
adviser. Long before his death, which
occurred in 1888, he made certain friends,
then living in the city Of his adoption,
promise that at his death his body should
:. be placed on this island near the bodies of
his red friends; and, like theirs, it should
be laid to rest above ground. His friends
built for it the stone house described, and
in il rests his body. unburied
1.-The Dalles' is the end of navigation
on the Columbia river. 1t is another name
for The Falls Dalles City has popu-
lation of $500 souls. Here our boat stopped
| half an hour, long enough for us, for since
we had passed the Cascades, thirty-three
miles below, the day had grown suddenly
and intensely hot-over hundred de-
! grees of scorching heat. AS the city lies
| east Of the Cascade range it is subject
to great extremes Of heat and cold, often
| having in winter two three feet of snow.
1t was not until after o'clock that the
extreme heat began TO diminish, and then
| the temperature was most delightful.
GRANDEUR OF THE TRIP.
Nothing could exceed the grandeur OF
that downward trip; all the world seemed
| TO bring its most glorious scenes and lay
at our feet. The roaring. tumbling Cas-
cades, followed by the clear, placid river
in which was reflected the overhanging
mountains, and which sent back to US the
sound of the boats whistle many times
repeated, in laundering tones. and many
beautiful cascades leaping down. as IL for
our special enjoyment. Mount Hood came
out from the mists for our delight