The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1915-01-07
COLUMBIA HIGHWAY
DREAM COMES TRUE


3
from Portland is available for the
travel Of stock through Dalles City.
q LabOrers are constantly engaged in
| improving the worst parts of the road.
There is a good ferry on Dog River
and one on Sandy Rivers"
After the completion Of the o. X. &
n. line the highway was abandoned.
Although il has often been the dream
Of citizens of Portland and those of the
Mid d-COlumbia district 10 see the won
derful route opened up, no denfiite step
was taken until in May 1912. when S.
Benson, who has since donated time
and much money toward the construc-
tiOu Of the Columbia Highway. turned
over to Governor West the sum of
$40, 600 to be used in cutting a way
around Shell Rock mountain. How
ever, in 1911, members of the Hood
River Commercial club had agitated
the proposed road, and a number of
tours Of inspection were made by local
citizens. hut il was the Benson dona-
tion Of $40, 600 that called forth public
sentiment and hastened the completion
Of the road.
A clever story, written by lie Roy
Armstrong and entitled "Hagar's
Son., appeared in the Sunset maga-
zine in 1911 The story was ictional
romance. The hero saw the possibiIi-
ties Of the Columbia highway and con-
structed toll road
After having been present at the
first work done by Governor Vests
honor men, Joe d. Thomson walked
over the entire route of the Columbia
! Highway between OneOnta Gorge and
this city, securing data for an article
which appeared in Sunset, December,
1912. Portions of the latter article
| follow:
Within the deep shade of an obscure
but charming nook, enclosed by the
foliage Of many hazelnut bushes, the
leaves heavy with spray fog waited
from the cataract, my head leaning
| against the bark of cedar, the roots
of which found moisture among the
crevices of the baserOck, | gazed
through half closed eyes upon the
waters Of Multnomah Falls. Eight
hundred and forty feet from the top of
the time worn Columbia river gorge
they plunged to the rounded punch
bowl at my feet. A warm summer
time sun played on the world above
me. ApOlO's chariot had passed the
meridian height aud the afternoon rays
made silvery the white fOaming bill !
lows hurting over the precipice and !
lCaping wildly downward to the turbu-
lent whirlpool beneath me- The mOis-
ture from the spray filled the niche in
the COlumbia's canyon with frag- |
rance, an earthly perfume, the kind |
that fills the soul of weary man with |
gladness.
Such a picture in such an environ
ment could only stimulate and inspire |
daydreams. The rythmic roar of the |
waters, now frightfully near, now
seemingly far away, just as the gusts |
OF wind that sweep forever around the |
base of the cataract chose to bear the |
sound. was the same as might have
been heard by the earliest north coast .
pioneer had he sought a similar nook
more than half-century ago.
The caverns of the gorge's crags
echoed with the whistle of a locomo-
tive and passenger train sped along
its line of steel rails not 200 feet away. |
Faces Of travellers, pressed to the car
windows. gazed at natures water rib |
bon for the brief moment of the pass
ing man-made mechanism. How little |
they saw Since the completion of the |
railroad lines along the waters of the
Columbia, the passengers on the trains |
have looked upon the wonderful seen
rey of the route and breathed raptur-
Gus praises. Yet the peaks and pima
cles, the colOred stones of cliffs and |
ragged-edged crags, the silVery foam |
of cataracts and cascading streams |
which rush down little canyons leading |
off from the big cleft made in the |
earths surface by the Columbia, all
have moved by their gaze like some
too swiftly manipulated film of NOV
ing picture machine. The eye of man, |
always hungering for the wonderful, |
has craved more, and tie schedule of |
the swift passenger service has not |
permitted it. This might be likened
to the variety show of nature. The |
variety show of the stage may easily |
grow tiresOme Not so the green hills |
and the weather stained brown rocks |
of natures theatre there's not
enough, or rather not time enough to .
look at it.
Not another natural pass cleaves the
range of the Cascades, at the crest of .
which loom some of the worlds most .
picturesque peaks Hood, Adams, /
Rainier, St Helen's, The Three Sis |
teTs. And this is why the Columbia |
has been such factor in commerce
it is one of natures great highways. /
The earliest white man, the trapper
lured to the region to secure the peIt .
Dt IpAynFa fpnpI ihA lpItnnp tNu,r,l
ing its waters. Its steep banks re-
sounded with the songs of Dr. Me .
LoughIin's French vOyageurs in the
days when Vancouver was the north
western seat of the Hudson's Bay
Company, and when the surrounding
regions poured untold profit into the
treasury of the gigantic British cor
p0ration. But for the service of the
stream that little handful of men who
established the provisional government
Of Oregon at Champoeg, those fathers
of one of the Unions greatest com
mOnwealths, would have found almost
impossible the passage to the valley of
the Willamette.
That the soil of Oregon was fertile
and that climatic conditions were ideal
were bits Of news that spread with
rapidity throughout the country, and
the population of the communities grew
wonderfully fast. HOmeseekers piled
their possessions on barges and bateaux
at The Dalles on their journeys down
the Columbia to the land of plenty,
portaRlng at the Cascades, where
Indian legend says that in ancient
times the river ran beneath the arches
of great natural bridge, 1.-THE Bridge
of the Gods. As the population of
the territory grew and it was taken
into the Unions family of sisters as
state, money was appropriated to con
struct highway, in order that closer
communication might be established
with the east
Naturally, the route chosen was
along the Columbia, and until the Ore
gon Railway and Navigation Com
pany's line of railway was completed
IN 1882 along the edge of the water at
the foot of the gorge, the mails and
passengers from east and west were
transported over this wagon road.
Direct from Boise to Portland the way
of the pony express lead across the