The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1904-02-16


ietes revement work which win connne the cham,
in lateral bounds which win force its way
the sea-
This is a fair sample of the silly but Signifean
stuff that appears periodically in the papers of Port
land, Those of lis who have followed the 0regonia,
and are familiar with its attitude for the past six
eight years will recall that any such reference to tn
bar made two or more years ago from any othe
source would have called down the stupendons wratl
of Portland morning paper and subjected the auth
of the utterance to the bttereSt denuncaton cap
able of emanating from The tall tower But now
with utter disregard for past vigorous opinions o
its own making, our Portland contemporary openl,
and persistently parades the misfortune of INSULT
cent depth at the Coumbia's mouth expresses tn,
utmost satisfaction with the 24-foot" channel abov,
Astoria, then inconsistently calls upon the engin
GERS to provide greater depth from Portland to tn,
sea by means of jettes and finally tips its mitt' by
pronouncing the bar dredge an utterly worthless ad
junct
OF course it is not difficult to divine the intent OF
the Portland paper. With customary knavishness il
is anxious to prevent depth on the bar in excess Of
the uncertain inland waterway upon which it de.
pends for the foreign shipping which it does not en-
joy. 1t strives with might and main to make it ap.
pear that the dredge Chinook is worthless, fearful
of course, the dredge will give depth that will ac
comodate vessels which half loaded would strand on
the sand bars rising out of the river above Astoria
The Chinook has worked less than 100 hours in all
on the Columbia bar thus far because of the storms
prevailing since her advent here, yet the 0regonian
processing sincere interest in the undertaking at
the mouth of the river has long ago condemned the
dredge as unfit for this work, and has sought to
make it appear that operation of the vessel is mere
waste of funds
This policy of knocking has been observed since
the day of the arrival of the Chinook at Astoria
Her former dredging master, Mr. Hubbard, who has
grown old in this branch Of the government service
expressed the firm conviction that the Chinook would
provide 60 feet depth on the bar and maintain it.
This and similar assertions from officers of the Chi
nook have awakened our Portland friends to the ne.
cesslty for immediate knocking, and the edct has
gone forth that the Chinook must be dscredited So
extensive has this knocking tendency become that
even the engineer department has oeen influenced
and Is now engaged in making soundings on the bar
for the express purpose Of determining whether or
not the Chinook is getting results and this test not
the reSsel has w0rkcd only sirty or
serenity hours, and At time Of the gear Whea less
progress could be made than at any either perodi
Improvement Of the mouth Of the Columbia is
truly matter Of great Importance to the people Of
the Columbia river BASIN but it pales into insight
cance beside the evil designing of those selfish Port
land people who demand bar that will fit the Port
land channel And contemplating this lamentable
condition of affairs we may thank Providence we
have at least one representative at Washington who
will to it that the interests of this state are ad
vanced without consideration for the limited fa-
.ilities Of any particular municipality
w
Most of us will be surprised to learn that the late
William G.. Whitney was murdered but that seems