The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1905-06-09

into the ocean. Iney We're greatly I'm
pressed with the ocean, and while the
were rambling over the great bar, di
costing their inspirations" and tn
like the weather clerk rang up a yer.
violent storm which lasted thirteen day.
and nearly put them out of commission
for they could neither get away no.
, stay in security. The sea ran very high
washing over the bar for miles, but af
a ter the storm they crossed over to the
south side and went into winter quar-.
, ters in the forest.
At this place there are hundreds OF
S fishing smacks to be seen and light
house and life-saving station on the
. heights to the northward. The wash
from the river keeps building out into
the ocean, and the waves of the ocean
coming in against the slope of this SUBJ
merged bank make the water rough at
the line of meeting, so that ships cross
ing it are permitted to have fit On
my first trip out, I thought our steamer
was so big and so heavy it would cut
through the waves and not be affected
much by them, but when we reached
1.-The Bar" and 1 saw how the steamer
| went into the air." so to speak, my
eyes were opened so that I had great
respect for the ocean wild and wide, and
l realized that the Scriptures meant
something by that expression: "They
| that go down to the sea in ships, that
do business on great waters; these see
the works of the Lord" The minister
was preaching a Sunday sermon in the
social hall Of the steamer just then, but
the plunging of the steamer right there
and one long look at the six Thousand
miles of pillows ahead of us. gave me
more appreciation of the Infinite than
l ever got out of any one sermon. Of
course the same things might not hap
pen to you, but sometimes in your tray
els you will gather religion in little
chunks whether you care to admit it or
not
There is another matter I want to
mention in passing, and / wish I could
put it up to the "Hustlers' of Blackfoot
and Pocatello, and to the knockers of
Pocatello and Blackfoot. 1t carries a
lesson and encouragement for the one
class and a lesson and salve for the
other class if they could only be widen
ed out enough to see it.
The Columbia river furnishes a great
avenue to the sea for commerce, and
our coastwise trade and our trade with
the Orient are increasing at a wonder
full ratio. The debris coming down the
river piles up somewhere all the time,
and the channel Of the river was always
CHI c.,
ment for improvement of rivers and har-
miles into the sea on the south side of
bors laid hold of it. Vessels We're wreck
ed and fortunes lost which are now
saved by keeping the channel in better
the channel 1t is high trestle with
condition. This has been done by build
ing what is called a "yetty," several
a double track railroad on it. A pile
driver keeps extending the road into the
sea, and the trains haul rock to dump
in to build up a great dyke above the
water line. This forces the water to
flow straight out into the sea and keeps
straight, open channel for ships.
This work has been going on for a
generation and when I looked over the
job in the year 1900 there was gap in
the jetty where about a mile of it had
been carried away by a storm. The
kickers said it was a waste of money
to try to rebuild it, but the piledriver
was driving pine trees down into the |
sea as fast as possible and the section
of jetty standing away out in the sea
looked lonely. The steamer Geo. W. |
Elder which came down the river that |
morning carrying 500 people and a mil
lion dollars worth of goods, struck
shoal and stuck The rise of the tide
right away saved her and she foated
The jetty was rebuilt and has since been
destroyed again for about a mile. The
Geo. W. Elder continued it's usefulness
for another five years and did the same
thing again, only the tide never foated
her. The keel was damaged she sprung
aleak, and she is a total loss. AS we
passed, the waves were beating her to
pieces and the piledriver was driving
the big pine trees down into the sea
just about where they were five years
ago, and two twisted sections of the
jetty far out in the sea told of the fury
Of the storms which vessels have to
meet sometimes on the bar. 1t Is cost
ing some treasure to build that jetty,
but it Is saving more than it costs, and
the increasing trade makes 1t more use {
full every year. If it were left for the s
tickers and knockers to do the building, !
The big bar of the Columbia would be I
strewn with wrecks, and the waters
passing out to sea would be grewsome :
with human bodies and the gurgle of
browning people. We have jetties to
build at Blackfoot and Pocatello, and
when the hustlers get some trestle
'uilt and are bringing up the rock trains ,
he kickers come along and knock down \
he timbers, leaving only a twisted sec I
ion of their work away out beyond the
asst buoy. 1t lis pretty hard to frame
md enforce a law against knockers but n
he unwritten law ought to be strictly
and when it is it will get ~
hem where the hair is short This is
ot part of the exposition but l just
bought / would mention it while | was +
trung out. p
p. SIT was good of you to lend D.,
lie that suit case. If l had bought
ew one I'd be more certain to come I'm