The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1905-09-28
OUR TRIP TO THE WEST
What The Reporter Editor Saw on
His Trip to the Pacific Coast
and Portland Exposition.

SuuS suC nSVUtlOi lullUl SdW VII
His Trip to the Pacific Coast
and Portland Exposition.
One Of the finest side trips which the
western traveller can take is the water
trip up the beautiful Columbia river,
one of the most scenic streams in the
world. Excursion steamers ply from
Portland, and one fine morning we en-
barked on the palatial steamer Dalles
City for the trip to The Dalles, the head
of navigation on the Columbia river.
The boat had several hundred excursion
lists on board when we left the dock at
Portland and soon we were ste ming
swiftly down the Willamette. AS we
leave Portland we notice a fine brick
building standing on the top of one of
the cliffs which border the river and
learn that it is Columbia University,
the state university Of Oregon, and it
is-one of the finest schools in the west.
A ride of fifteen miles and we round
the point on which stands the govern
ment lighthouse, marking the entrance
to the Columbia river. The stream at
this point is nearly mile wide and our
steamer points her nose against the
swift current for the trip up the river
of nearly 100 miles. The water is dark
green in color and very deep SO the
steamer can travel in any part of the
channel. Our first stop is at Van
couver, Washington, where considerable
freight is taken on for up river points.
Just above Vancouver we pass Fort
Vancouver beautiful army post. 1t is
the site Of the old Vancouver of the
/ PoV, Of =
/ DR.. Mclaughlin was the chief factor,
or superintendent in the days when the
Oregon question held the boards in
congressional debates. We are in sight
of several snow capped mountains, Mt.
ST. Helens, $3.50 in heighth, Mt. Rainier,
! 1852 feet, Mt. Adams, 12,25O feet.
The river winds in and out among
towering cliffs on both sides, and after
passing Reeds Island VIC see Rooster
Rock, a lonely pinnacle rising sentinel
like at the entrance to the wonderland
we are coming to, it stan ling several
hundred feet out of the water, and with
sides so steep that no one could climb
to the top. On the opposite side of the
river hundreds of men are at work in
immense stone quarries blasting rock
which is loaded on barges and taken
down to the mouth of the river, where
the government is building six mile
jetty at a cost of several millions of dol
lars. Then we reach Latourelle Falls on
the right a shaft of water falling 121 feet,
and on the opposite side of the river we
pass within arms length of Cape Horn
a great lava cliff towering $500 feet
high, the water at it's base being more
than hundred feet deep. Soon we
4 reach a succession of beautiful falls
Mist Falls, Gordon Falls, Ninltnomah
Falls, which are $40 feet high and then
we are at Oneonta Gorge, a noted cleft
which seems to have been sliced through
the high hills as clean as if cut with q
knife. We have now reached the salmon
wheels and they are scattered along
the river on both sides, wherever the
current is swiftest. 1t was new way OF
catching fish to us. The wheels are
built like big water wheel except
that instead of buckets there are wire
covered traps on the paddles. At Ger.
tain seasons of the year the salmon try
to rush over the wheel as it revolves in
the water and falling into the traps are
east into big pen or stockade where
they are kept until taken out to go tt
the canneries. When the salmon run is
at it's heighth single wheel will catcf
several tons of fish in a night. Some
years salmon fishing is very profitable
VIII le at others the fishermen eke out a
scanJy existence, as in this barren
country when they fail to catch fish
there is nothing for them to do but 81,
around their cabins and wait for the
fish to come. With the enormous salmon
catch each year it looks as if he rives
would soon be tished out, but the gov.
! eminent restocks it each year. We
!. were told by good authority that after
the young salmon are hatched they &C
down the river and out into the ocean
where they remain for four years and
then return to the original waters
where they were hatched- This has
been proven by marking fish, and they
invariably return to the original place
On and on for miles we pass through
scenery which pen cannot describe.
One lady ON our boat said she had
travelled along the famous Hudson river
in New York many times and thought it
was the most beautiful scenery in the
world, but that she was compelled to
admit that it was very tame as com
pared with that along the Columbia
river. ST. Peters dome a prominent
and mark and freak formation, and
then comes Castle ROCK, rugged mass
rising apart from the cliffs 1146 feet
and it is seldom scaled. We are now
nearing the Cascades, and the current
is very strong, big waves washing
against the steamer which is compelled
to put on full head of steam in order
to make any progress against the cur
rent. With the water leaping and
tumbling in foam crested mass, we
push slowly along. On the left we see
the remnants of the old portage road
which was used to transport freight for
several miles around the Cascades be-
fore the government locks were put in.
-Four million dollars and over twenty
years were required to place Cascade
locks in their present state of efficiency,
and at this time large sum is being
Iexpended in improving them. Opposite
1.-THE locks can be seen the site Of the
Fold Phil Sheridan block hOuse where