The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1915-10-21
OPTIMISTIC PREDIC-
TIONS ARE MADE
(By C. N. RavIin)

| had the pleasure of talking with a
very prominent railroad man the other
Gay, whose name | am not at liberty TO
mention. His optimism over the fu.
ture of the Pacific coast was so pro-
nounced that | will simply have to pass
il along to my Hood River friends. In
substance his remarks were as follows ::
This exposition is going to be of
unestlmable benefit to Oregon and the
whole coast. From close observation,
| really believe Oregon is going to get
more out of it than probably any other
section.
''In 1917 the Pacific coast is going to
experience the greatest boom we have
ever known. Indications point unmis
takably to a Republican president at
the next election, and i'm ediately
thereafter predict tremendous rush
to the west.
''We have been watching this closely
for some time. II is the business of a
big railroad to keep its ears pretty
| close to the ground, and we think we
can come pretty near telling what is
going to happen. We have ou conf
dental men all over the east, and the
reports that are constantly being re-
ceiVed at our main office clearly indi-
cate which way the wind is blowing.
eat our Omaha he adquarteTs we al
ready have on file the names of over
20, 900 people who are coming west to
invest the moment financial conditions
| loosen up. The present Iightuess OF
the money market is purely and entire
ly political, you can gamble your last
went on that.
During the past two months have
been doing lot of boosting for the
Columbia highway, believing that eV.
eryOne we can land on the highway will
surely get into Hood River valley.
| his has brought me into close connec-
tiou with automobile people here, which
has given me some definite idea as to
what we may expect next year in the
way of auto travel.
D. W. Watkins, secretary of the Au
| tOmObile Association of California,
predicts that at least Ito, 600 California
autos will 20 over the Columbia high
way in 1916. twenty thousand autos
have crossed the continent, or from
cast of the Rockies, to visit the eXposi-
tion. During the month of July Secre.
tary Watkins says his office routed over
40O0 cars up through Oregon.
Yesterday met F. A. Dunlsp,a we'll
known attorney Of Los Angeles, and an
active member of the Southern Califor-
MIA Automobile club, which is probably
the livest organization of its kind in
the country, with membership of over
1000.
Mr.. Dunlap motOred over the high
way when it was fiIst opened, and made
the trip around Hood River valley. He
is one of the n ost enthusiastic boosters
| | have met.
Il would not have missed that trip
for anything" he remarked, although
the going was pretty rough. In an
other year it will be the wonder ride of
the west. That highway Is going to
bring more people into Oregon than
anything that ever happened to your
state.
Next summer an official tour Of the
Southern California Automobile club is
scheduled to visit the Columbia high
way. | am going to be there myself,
and can assure you lot of my friends
are going to be along also"
l he Portland Automobile CLUB ha,
recently issued a beautiful booklet,
entitled, "OregOn Scenic highways,
containing an excellent chapter on the
Columbia river highway. Hood River
valley comes in for generous mention
| have personally handled the distrlbu-
tion of over 5000 copies of this booklet
throughout California, in addition to