The Colville examiner. [volume] (Colville, Wash.) 1907-1948, 1920-08-14
SLATER WRITES
TO EXAMINER
FORMER COLVILLE ATTORNEY
is NOW AT ALAMEDA
CALIFORNIA
Took Trip by Auto From COlville to
Frisco, and Made Many Interest
ing Observations on Way


Colville over 1900 miles of well built
road to San Francisco, all the way
through productive lands occupied by
prosperous people, and scarcely a
dozen miles of all the distance at a
stretch over desert sands is record
hard to beat in other parts of the
United States. To the traveller this
should be compensation enough to
justify him in the effort. But, to the
reader, the many incidents and OBJ
servations of the tourist will serve
as a compendium of interest Through
out the route through Eastern Wash
ington from Colville to White Sal
mon, the fields were green and
promising of a bountiful crop; the
orchards were we'll set with fruit,
the herds on the ranges were in fine
order for the market and the people
themselves bore upon their faces
smile of optimism.
The first two or three days trun-
ding over the open hills was mOnoto-
nous. At long intervals some
startling incident would attract the
attention and give us something to
talk about. Near Prosser we were
chugging up a long grade when an
autotruck with two men aboard met
us and eased off the road to con-
venient fiat near by. They had
scarcely stopped when the truck body
burst into flames and was consumed
where it stood. We offered assistance
but the driver said it was no use.
He attributed his bad luck to an
excess of ether in his fuel.
This being our second day out of
Spokane we decided to make long
Jump with Bickleton as our objective
for the night We reached our des-
tination too early and proceeded to
the next place. Then we plodded on
along the edge of the timbered foot
hills looking for water, but, instead
it was a sagebrush prairie where
night fell in on US and we pitched
our tent in the dark. Alone and
miles from any habitation we settled
down to a sagebrush fire to light
us into retirement. An occasional
owl or coyote would remind us that
we were not unobserved and we were
glad to be with such harmless COM
pany. Eight o'clock the next morn
ing we were gliding down a long
grade to Rockcreek on the road to
Goldendale. Making the descent it
was fine mountain road, but on the
way out on the opposite side of the
gulch it was quite the contrary. That
night roundup of more than 1000
head of cattle had been held in the
canyon and as they went up ahead
of us they played havoc with the
roadbed by dislodging every bowlder
that would yield to their clambering
hoofs and filling the runway with
earth and rock. 1t required over an
hour to make two miles but there
were fewer rocks in the road after
we had passed. That night we
landed at White Salmon and ferried
over to Hood River where we joined
the two other auto parties to make
I'M our caravan. At Hood River
there is a fine auto camping park,
with plenty of water and sewer con-
veniences.
Speaking of camping parks, Oregon
is quite a pace ahead of other places
we have seen. The advantages seem
to be in the abundance OF water
shade and scenic ensemble. Along
the Columbia highway the govern
ment has fitted up numerous places
for camping. These are usually in
a deep forest by flowing stream
and tables of special type, remark
able for adaptability and convenience
for the use of tourists, are numer-
ously distributed about the wooded
area. The larger cities, like Port
land. cannot maintain camping
ground because of the overflow OF
patronage. 1t is maintained that the
largest city park would suffer and
the grass be tramped out in week,
and one has to see it to know that
that self same city park would be
sea of mud at the end of one days
rain. In the country places camp
ing grounds are more easily handled.
There are camp grounds at Oregon
City, Salem, Albany, Corvallis,
Eugene, Roseburg, Grants Pass, Med
ford and Ashland. These are well
appointed with ovens for cooking,
sheds for shelter from rain, and fuel.
Ashland, however, is entitled to