El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-10-26
CBy G. A. MARTINI

The DalIes, ore, Oct.-'Down
two blocks and turn to the right
There's a saloon on each corner
This is the direction a native or az
least a present resident, of this town,
gave in response to an inquiry as t.
how TO reach the railroad station. 1t
he hadn't said down two blocks his
directions about turning where
there's a saloon on each corner,
would have meant absolutely nothing.
There is a saloon on every corner and
an average of one for the middle Of
each block.
The Dalles is the one town in The
country of which I know that can
show more booze emporiums to IS
population than FL Paso. 1t is a river
town and fish market, and boatmen
and fishermen evidently like their
dram, for all such towns in this north
west are literally provided with thirst
Quenching parlorS-but The DalIes
takes the palm. With its 1900 pee
pie, its paved streets and its three
or four automobile garages, The Dalles
is something of "a live one" from the
viewpoint of the man who wears an
Eagle emblem in his coat lapel and a
diamond in his shirt front. They have
some big stores here, but instead of a
Calisher or a Popular white goods sale,
or. something like that in the big
stores, the biggest advertising is de-
voted to boosting the latest ccncoction
at the bar and many saloons are des.g-
mated as 1.-The home of Kid So and So,
inventor of Such and Such a cocktail
And next TO the four-story hotel, the
biggest place in the town is just off
the main street and burns a big red
light out front after dark.
The Salmon Fisheries.
The Dalles came into being princi-
pally because of its location in the
heart of the salmon fishing industry eff
the Columbia river. nearly 100 miles
from Portland, upstream; and as a
place where tourists generally get off
the boats to go back to Portland
portland, by the way, is not on the
Columbia river but on a branch called
the Willamette with the accent on the
"am"). 1t has always been that and
nothing more, and it is still Fishermen
and timber cutters and boatmen fill
the saloons after dusk and sing as
only drunken men can sing, and
the air of the streets rings with dis
cord Automobiles get busy as soon as
the singing and the booze have SUI
ficiently heated the blood and the town
doesn't settle down for any period Of
slumber-it lives on, day and night.
and men are blear eyed apd their
women associates, many of them, tax
with that huskiness of voice that
comes only after nights of cold bottles
and soothing cigarets.
The Fisher Folk.
AS an example of the class of people
who make the town what it is, the
character of the majority of the pas
sengers on the boat from Portland up
the Columbia, illustrates it best. Big
heavy shoes or boots, coarse, heavy,
H. s~1-
whiskers of from a day to months
growth, almost al with quilt or blank
ct rolls, every man his own saloon with
a quart or a pint in his pocket, they
, fill the forward cabin and play cards,
curse, spit tobacco and-often get into
many a bloody fight. The fare from
Portland UP the river is 81 On the
train it is s1-75.+The trip. on the train
is made in three hours; on the boat in
Il, but the man who rides on the boat
saves IS cents, which buys q flask Of
booze and be generally has the time
anyhow. The business man and the
better class of travellers who are not
sights eeing all take the trains. Tour
fists and the rfff-raff ride on the boats,
the former to view the scenery and
the latter to save IS. cents and "have
a good time" The boats are all stern
wheelers, slow but sure, and as corl-
pared with the beautiful ships operat-
ing between Seattle and Canada Or
Portland and San Francisco, these
river boats compare about as the
smoking car of a day train does to
Pullman. The rear cabin, labeled for
ladies" is somewhat better than tie
plain front cabin which is merely a
saloon, but the boats are all severely
plain and, while the food-served at
80 cents a meals substantial, the
dirty finger nails, tobacco stained lips
and chins and inebriate condition Of
many of the sforecabin passengers, de-
tracts much from the gusto with which
one can eat.
Amusements.
Hardly is the boat under wav from
the docks at Portland until there are
a dozen card games in progress in the
forward cabin and those who are not
playing cards are telling smutty
stories or exchanging the recognition
signs of some fraternal order
Directly Ira Smith-thiS is not an
actual name, but an actual occurrence
rises from card table, shouts loud
~ that no - - -- can say
he can whip Ira Smith and begins TO
pull off his oyercoat and invite his
partner-rnind you, the NAM who is
playing with him against the other
two-to get off the boat at the next
dock and fight Ira then relates for the
delectation of all the occupants of the
stuffy, smoke-filled, whisky-smelliag
cabin that he is en- route to Colorado
Springs to go into a sanitarium for
consumptives; that he is leaving a
wife and child back in a lumber camp
in Oregon; that his old mother is back
In the other cabin, going as far as The
Dalles with him; that he :never done
no harm to nobody"-Wouldn't even