The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1907-10-26
a FEW WORDS MORE.

Reyerting to the inspired article in th
October Success magazine talluded t
il these columns yesterday morning)
which was written by one Channce,
Thomas, and which deals with the har
bors and commerce Of the great North
west. to the utter negation Of the moutl
Of the Columbia River as an agency ii
this immense field, we desire. at thi'
time to call especial attention to this
mans peculiar. cff-hand doctrine q
wiping things off the face Of the earth
Commenting on this coasts equipment
in the way of harbors he points out that
San Francisco, once ''the New York Of
the Pacific is doomed to lose her com
manding prestige before the looming ext
pansion Of Puget Sound. and then says
there are but three harbors north Of the
Golden Gate, to-wit, the mouth Of the
Columbia, Gray's Harb0r and Puget
Sound; he then proceeds to eliminate
this port, Portland and Gray's Harbor,
adhsring tenaciously, however. to his
Puget SOUND Inspiration with all the
ardor Of man earning rattling big
fee.
In his peremptory obliteration Of the
harbor here, he starts in with the asser-
tion that the "navigable mouth of the
Columbia is but mile wide," as if that
were an insuperable impediment. when
the yeriest school-boy in America knows
that all entrances to rivers. from the
ocean. are governed by channels. and
that not one in thousand of them, is q
mile wide for the purposes Of practical
navigation. His particular darling. Puget
Sound. has to be approached from the
seas through the Straits Of Fuca, and
he would be mad pilot indeed who
would attempt to swing q ship . mile
one way or another in that A-mile-wide
arm Of the sea, since it, too. has it's
channel ways as well as all other ma
rine avenues. And if. as he says. our
noble river has navigable mouth only
q mile wide, we must be content with
the implied compliment, yet chary Of at
tempting to use it for any such width
as that.
With abounding faith in the contract
he has assumed and really commendable
to his predicate, Puget Sound
and Seattle, he fails to offer any detail
of the shipping interests that traverse
the Columbia bar and river, though the
records are wide open and constantly
available to show that hundreds on hun
dreds Of vessels cross that barrier every
year; that it is safe and feasible for
any 25-foot ship on any food tide of
the year; that it il a prominent object
Of governmental interest and expense In
the building Of an immense jetty on
each Of its lips. and that this jetty sys-
tenn is destined to make it the most
available and accessible harbor, going.
and coming, north Or south, Of the Bay
Of San Francisco; that its record Of
marine disaster Is practically barren for
the years it has been used as a haven
for ships; that it is wholly on American
territory and free from attack and in
reference by England in the event Of
war ian even present contingency on
the Straits Of Fuca); that it is deemed
to be harbor OF sufficient scope and
value to warrant the government Of the
United States is maintaining three dis
tinct forts at strategic points upon
both banks, at its sea approaches; that
it has been chosen by the master railroad
builder Of the present age as the termi-
nal ground for the two great trans
continental systems controlled BY him;
and that this single move has forced
other great railway operators to buy in
here in the same behalf, Hill and HaFri-
man being both here, and Others figuring
for terminal advantages at the
mouth Of the Columbia. And, failing to-
show any Of these things tand many
others), he has the unconscionable nerve