East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1913-04-15


morning addresses before the water
ways convention was that by II. y.
Dryer, a well known young business
man of Umatilla who has taken a
great interest in the open river
question, His subject was "River
Docks and Terminal Rates" and in
part he said:
The committees which have ar
ranged the program of this session are
TO be congratulated upon the excel
lent judgment they have used in the
subjects Of the various addresses. /
First, by Mr. Teal, in showing the
effects we may expect through the
opening of the work at Panama. Then
a history of the early work of open
ing the Columbia and the Snake,
bringing this down to the present day
and amplifying it by clearly showing
us what we may expect for the fu-
ture through the settling up of our
vast areas of desert land with men
and families of the older, densely
populated sections of Europe where
o. necessity, production is reduced
to an exact intensified science, the
munities their establishing low cost,
easy means of communications be-
tween each other and their points of
lowest transportation by means of
highways, electric lines, auto trucks
| and other means of easy transporta-
tion and delivery. Their care of pro-
ducts both inbound and outbound to
secure the most logical distribution
of the articles transported. The de-
yelopment of industrious. self-reliant
| communities by means of irrigation
along the banks of these rivers, the
possibilities of extending the naviga-
tion of the Snake and the Columbia
in the future into Idaho and the
northern part of Washington into
British Columbia. Leaving us at the
conclusion of the session with clear
comprehensive idea of the designs
and aims of this association.
The cities and towns along the Co.
lumbia and the Snake bear two re-
sponsibilities They owe it to them
selves to take a pride in being upon
an actual waterway and should man
itest this pride with a full realization
of their fortunate position by erect
ing suitable landings, warehouses
and facilities to take care of their
own business and to the operation of
the boats which serve them. We
take it for granted that this has or
will he done at every town along
these rivers as "a matter of local pride
and local economies.
But upon these points which by
the nature of their position. their
radiation of existing rail lines and
their strong probability of radiating
highways serving many cities and
towns back many miles from the riv-
er itself. such as The Dalles. Airing
ton Umatila, Pasco, Kennewick,
Lewiston Junction and Lewiston,
there rests dual and large respon-
sibility of so serving these points in
such a manner that they are able to
reap the benefits of navigation as
well as their more favored sisters on
the banks of the rivers.
In bringing about this understand
ing between the river points and
those beyond it is necessary that
great deal of good judgment, con-
Son sense and hard logic be used.
Being more familiar with the de-
= velopment of Umatilla as a distrhu
tion point than with the others, ! ask
/ your pardon for giving our experience
es and perpleXities as an illustration.
Several years ago we We're not
receiving any freight in Umatilla by
/ water and our first step was to ad-
I vertise in Portland and in the inter-
/ ior that we We're ideally situated to
/ be a distribution point. We succeed
/ ed in making a convincing argument
and began to get the business We
/ wanted. At first we tried handling
this business on the beach but found
/ it very unsatisfactory for the freight
was here subject to weather condi-
tions and we soon found ourselves
facing many. Thereupon we
commenced to consider the matter
a fight over the ownership of the
beach lands, which lasted for a year
and half. We had reason to be-
ieve that the railroad company was
attempting to secure control of these
lands in order to shut off competi-
tion but we headed off their move
and at last succeeded in getting title
to all of the beach lands for the city.
The city council leases these lands
now. requiring each lessee to make
a certain amount of taxable improve
ments so that the city derives reve-
nues not from rentals but from tax
alton.
adequate dockage has been pro-
vided and we have seen the freight
rates lowered substantially and the
intermediate charges of through
shipments absorbed The result of our
system at Umatilla, l enumerate as
follows:
acknowledgements business few
er claims. better distribution, careful
handling, bond of sympathy, and
ownership.
trust that our experience at Una