New-York tribune., 1909-06-20

river as that of St Roc exists. Us laid down in
the Spanish charts" In that same year Ronert
GRAY. the Yankee skipper, stoUtIy sailed in
where Meares had feared to risk his vessel and
the discovery Of the Columbia passed into his (
tory as an American achievement II is anus
ing to-day to read of the energetic claims Dut
forth BY the British in favor Of Broughton. a
commander OF theirs. who entered the river "a
few months after Gray and assembled it soU7tt
miles beyond the point reached by that pioneer.
They sought to prove that Gray had not penr-
trated 10 the river at all. and that 70 cross the
bar at the mouth Was only 70 reach bay or
estuary Of the sea To any one who has seen
the river that as Professor Lyman observes,
is peculiarly surprising.
The truth is that if there is a river in J.e
world which receives you as through a gateway
il is the Columbia One begins 10 feel this even
before the bar IS crossed Cooped up aboari
shin after six or seven months Of hard sailing
in the Atlantic and the Pacific bruised By the
force battles of the Horn and then, after long
| Iheartbreaking Gains. racked for weeks on q
swelling sea you see the cliffs at the mouth
of the river as the friendliest portals For Gays
you cannot pass between them The swell IS
too heavy the breakers on the bar are 200
angry and the pilot will not venture OUT IHr",
| at last comes a favorable morning, the ph't
| concludes to try it, and presently he is aboa-l
| opening in the long rampant of snowy surf. che
warm blanket of the sea falls from you and t.'
| chill Of the land strikes home Almost befor'
you know it you have slipped through the teets
] that guard the bar and you are reDoslnS not -l-
a broad bay but in river that f7r al It's aHli-
tude and majesty seems somehow TO enfOld you
in quietude and safety. DecIdedly the oIc
British disparagement Of Gray's discovery 'I
the river seems drOIl indeed to one VINO mas 'i7
come back to his own land
| Englishrnan and Yankee, Frenchnan and
Spaniard all the sailors Of al the seas. vsr-
only too keen upon crossing that bar when one
the key to il had been found on the river ana
along the coast were such opportunities tpT tir
fur trader as were calculated TO intoxicate III"
SPECTATORS of the world It IS said that on one
occasion Captain Cray. the discoverer men
toned above. obtained furs worth $4,000 for
single axe The merchants of Boston eaSrr.-
entered the field. and Professor Lyman notes
that in the period from 1870 10 ISIS. Will only
Itwenty-twO English vessels and few Por-.-
guese and French were regularly engaged III the
business. over a hundred American sEipIa-s
piled between New England and the coast #
Oregon In those days a capital Of S59171 Hm-
pIoyed in the fur trade was known % yield
gross income of s2S4.000. The trader would z----
from Boston with cargo of trinkets and inn
pIements- With the furs obtained for these E.
would cross the Pacific 70 China AMI cher.
dispose Of them for teas. silks AMI the like.
turning tn his home port in about three years
for his owners % realize on what he brought
them an almost fdntasticll profit Is i- a-g
wonder that the eyes Of the world were turned
iupon the Northwest
/ Professor Lyman is positively exhiIa-1tirz 5-
his description II the movement which bot.
from the sen and IdndWard from the east
brought the white man TO the banks OF the CO.
Iunbia and brought him there stay. II is Z
movement still going forward and in this book
the pioneering OF the past is seen 70 have
smoothed the way with extraordinary rapidity
for expansion OF civilization which IS i'm
pressive in the present and promises wonderfu-
things for the near future. In his dealings with
both epoChs this author disClOSeS an inStire-
for the types and Incidents which make the
story Of the Columbia River one OF poignsuc
human interest He tells OF traders and miners.
| Of priests ard Indian fighters. of the men and
women who have peOpIed a wide country and
made it great Now and then. too. he enliveI.s
his pages with touch of rough hurnor as III
this anecdote Of a traveller in WaIII WaIII in
gold mining days.
Upon going into of tho numerous saloons.
hy found the fotr covered with S,IW,iuSt and upon
asking whISkty. Er received with n WLISk-
broom. Feeling puzzled tho IIIeut 1t the
latter. and not wishing 10 reveal his -SUorICr4.
he waited till another came Waiting t'-