Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1904-10-07
CHAPTER l.
The Storm.

Down che went!
"All aboard were lost"
"She made gallant fight"
'"see! She comes to the surface
againi"
The foregoing exclamations came
from group of fishermen who stoo6
upon the shores of Bakers bay ano
watched ship battling with the waves
on the Columbia bar.
The rain fell in long, slanting, twist
ing sheets. 1t appeared as If the heav'
ems were a vast waterfall swayed and
tossed by all of the gods of fury. The
wind howled and moaned like power
fnl monster, making the earth and
everything upon it tremble while 1t
pursued its way as steady as tide from
the deep.
Trees bended their boughs to the
ground and writhed and quivered to
the end of their tiniest roots. Houses
rocked and swayed like weather vane
upon their foundations. The more
timid of the men and the women and
children, though accustomed to storms,
crouched and tremb!ed with awed ex-
preston upon their faces as they lis
tened to the deafening din which was
sweeping the earth.
The waters at the broad mouth of
the Colun bia river arose like wild
steeds as they met the storm-driven
waves of the Pacific and battled with
them for supremacy. The combating
elements formed like mountain range
along the bar, showing, with the rapid
ity of a kaleidoscope view, peaks,
gulehes and canyons as the waters rose
and clinched and then fell and divided
for another attack. =.
/ Natureigave her picture additional
grandeur by the coloring. The ap-
3roach of night through such storm,
while there was still enough shaded
light to cast lurid haze over the scene,
the minglipg Of the blood-red waters OF
the river with the green and, white Of
ocean streaked the whole, with a hue
emblematic of contest and death.
The tides from the deep seemed to be
angered by the battle above their heads
and rose higher and higher, with a
power that made the rock-bound
shores shake, to crush out the wild con-
test between river and waves. The
spray dashed up even to the timber
belt above the beach, creating fog on
the windows of the high-perched light
house that made the newly lighted
lamp appear dim, and the whole noun
tain range along the coast to the north
quivered to its foundation while stay
ing the mighty rush Of the waters from
the ocean.
A group of fishermen stood at point
on the shores of the bay. They were
drenched to the skin, but they did not
mind this. They were more intent
upon watching an object battling for it's
life on the bar of the river. 1t was
these who had made the exclamations
given at the introduction OF this chap
ter.
1t was the severest storm for many
years. They had been partially drawn,
practically thrown ashore in their crude
fishing boats by the receding waters
from the conflict between ocean and
river. While anxious eyes watched
them from the windows OF the fishing
in the landstorm, they looked more
anxiousiy out to sea. Having been
so merciless,y by the waters
which had spent their fury and were re-
treating from the battle at the bar, they
trembled at the fate of an object which
they discovered in the center of the rag
ing conflict.
1t tossed and leaped and rose and fell
like wounded and bewildered animal
pierced by bullet from some hunters
rife. Now on peak, which shot up
like a rocket from. the depths below
now on the brink of a deep canyon.
formed in the twinkling of an eye; now
on a narrow ledge pending over deep
abyss, and then in the depths of a
gulch, whose watery walls were crash
ing down upon it-then it disappeared
from viewl
"Down she wentl" said one fisher
man.
"All aboard we're lost, said another.
"She made a gallant fight" remark
cd third.
"SeeI She comes to the surface
againl" exclaimed the man who had
first spoken.
The ship had instantly appeared
again. But it wrlthed in the roaring
surf like a striC ken serpent. 1t had
been fine rugged sailing vessel, but
now it was q mere hull with part of q
deck and q few stumps of masts left.
1t had been the pride of a country and,
like brave soldier wounded and dis
armed, it was fighting the enemy even
in its dying gasps.
1t lunged this way and that. One
it careened on its side; another
it stood on its beam; then it reared up
lire an animal in desperation, and with
the agility of cat regained its position
on q. wild wave and rode it with a gal
lantry that charmed the fisherman.
Then lost for noment it appeared
again as if it had been discharged from
one of Neptune's greatest guns sta
toned on moro of the deep.
"Bravo!" shouted a fisherman.
"She deserves to live," said another.
"But lookp' shrieked third.
The shattered vessel had crossed the |
bar and was heading straight for Sand
island. Caught on the receding waters