Here are the second impassable rapids, and the second railroad of fourteen miles, built at heavy expense, and accompanied by a telegraph wire. Here for ten miles are the Dalles (flag-stones) of the Columbia, worthy of the prominence given them by Washington Irving, Lewis and Clark, and other early writers, as the most noteworthy feature of all this curious region. The river, above and below so broad and glassy, is here of fathomless depth, compressed into one-tenth its usual limits; and even this narrow stream is broken by scores of dark-brown rocks. Boiling, swelling and hissing, the torrent rushes through its close, tortuous confines, lashing the smooth rocks in foamy passion-a river of eddies and troughs, whirlpools and shooting rockets of water, beating out its life against prison walls. On the bank, immense drifts of sand, white as snow, prove most serious obstructions to the locomotive.

On the flat shore-rocks are the bark lodges of Wascopin Indians; naked children, with stomachs distended like bladders, rolling and running in the sand; filthy, repulsive women, who seem hardly members of the human race, bearing bundles of faggots upon their heads; and men at the water's edge, spearing savory salmon, often weighing twenty-five pounds each. On the south in full view towers Mount Hood, the grandest peak on our continent.

It is believed that the great basin of the Upper Columbia, containing four hundred thousand square miles, was once a vast inland sea, broken only by a few islands which are now mountain peaks. If this theory be true, what resistless floods must have burst through the mountain-wall and rolled on to the mighty ocean!

The railway taking us past the rapids leaves us at Celilo, a village of a dozen dwellings. On the river bank is the largest warehouse in the United States, over eleven hundred feet long, built to receive the heavy Idaho freights.

Here we embark on the Owyhee* another new steamer built above these rapids. It is one hundred and twenty feet long, and cost thirty-two thousand dollars.

After a brief rest upon the steamer, Messrs. Colfax and Bross

*So called from one of the richest mining districts of the United States, in Idaho, which originally derived the mellow name from a Sandwich Island.

404

A BIT OF ORATORICAL FUN.

[1865. with the Portland friends who accompanied us, returned to Dalles to address the assembled citizens on public affairs. Mr. Bowles and myself, wearied with the excitement of travel, spent a quiet evening upon the little 'Owyhee' in company with Messrs. Deady and Read of Portland. Just after we had gone to bed, the locomotive whistle announced the return of the company,

As Mr. Colfax, through

entire journey

had been greet

1

ed with flags and speeches, banquets and brass bands on every conceivable and inconceiva ble occasion, one of our quartette instantly suggested that he should enjoy the novelty of a reception from his own comrades. Enveloping ourselves in sheets, we stepped into the dimly-lighted cabin and waited for the arriving orators and listeners. They soon came on board, Mr. Colfax, fortunately, at their head. Reaching our end of the saloon, he was a good deal startled by four white, sepulchral figures. Like the Ancient Mariner, almost he dreamed that he had died and was a blessed ghost. Apparently

A MIDNIGHT RECEPTION TO SPEAKER COLFAX.

1865.] NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD WANTED.

405

here was a committee of shades about to give him the last reception. One of the airy effigies stepping forward, immediately began a speech of welcome which at first bewildered and surprised the newcomers, but before its close, excited their uproarious laughter. The speaker of the House promptly recovered himself; and the moment it was ended, made a neat and graceful reply, abounding in happy hits at the friends who welcomed him. Mr. Colfax has been the victim of more speeches than any other public man in the nation; but he never assisted at any ceremony so unique and memorable as this midnight reception among the forests of the Columbia. The next morning the Owyhee steamed on. Thus far we have sailed up a stream with deep forests of pines, firs and cedars-with no branches on the side next to the prevailing winds-covering the hills and cliffs. Here is classic ground here:

'The continuous woods,

Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound

Save its own dashings.'

Now a tide of commerce and im

But Bryant sang of a past era. migration pours through this remote solitude; and the surprised traveler finds railway carriages and steamers, with the same luxury and elegance he is wont to enjoy between Boston and New York.

Above the Dalles the woods disappear; the banks are smooth, hills of velvet grass, without leaf or shrub in the whole range of vision. The entire country, watered by the upper Columbia, embracing eastern Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and a portion of Montana, looks a dreary desert; but its grasses are rich and nutritive.

Our trip ended at Wright's Harbor, one hundred and fifty miles above Portland. Steamers run nearly three hundred miles higher to impassable rapids; and even above them a little boat plies on the Snake river, in Idaho. But Umatilla is the head of sure navigation on the Columbia. It might be connected with the head of navigation on the Missouri, by railroad of about six hundred miles. Already a short route from Oregon to Montana has been opened via the Pen d'Oreille lake and river, upon which small steamers are plying.

Here should pass a northern Pacific railroad. The great cereal interests of our Northwest, the copper and iron resources of Lake

406

A COUPLE OF 'LITTLE STORIES.'

[1865.

Superior, the lumber forests of Minnesota, the incalculably rich gold and silver mines of Montana and Idaho, and the vast lumber, fishing, and mineral interests of Oregon and Washington imperatively require steam communication with both oceans. A northern railway line should be inaugurated without delay.

Two 'little stories' shall close this rambling chapter. A sarcastic resident was rallying one of my traveling companions on his inability to drink buttermilk, declaring that no man can be quite civilized who does not relish that beverage. Mr. B. quietly answered him:

'In my section we give the buttermilk to our pigs!'

At an Oregon farm-house, early one morning, we tapped for admission. The door was opened by a girl of fifteen, of whom our spokesman asked:

'Is your father here?'

'No sir; he is mowing in the field.'

'Very well; we will go out to find him and then return and breakfast with you.'

At this unexpected proposition, which was followed by our names, the damsel opened wide her two astonished eyes; but in a moment recovering herself, cheerfully acquiesced in the arrangement. Two hours later, after the morning meal and a delightful visit, as Mr. Colfax shook hands with her at parting, he said:

'You were a good deal surprised at our inviting ourselves to breakfast, were you not?'

'O, no sir. I was surprised; but not at that.'

"What then?'

'At hearing your name.' (Very earnestly.) 'It is not often that we see a great man in this country!'

1865.]

A FRONTIER SUPREME COURT.

407

CHAPTER

XXXIV.

WHEN we acquired Oregon it extended north to British Columbia. But the upper half, through its lumber and fishing interests, and its own outlet to the sea-quite distinct from the farming and mineral regions of the lower-was cut off and made a separate Territory. Its resources prove far richer than they promised. And Russian America, added to our area by that absorption which must ultimately give us the entire continent, will likewise better expectation. American skill and enterprise will develop it; American patriotism should name it. One man is commemorated by an infant State; one other ought to be. We have the Terri tory of Washington; let us have the Territory of Lincoln.

The first settlers of Oregon crossed the continent through the South Pass, in 1839, nine years before the gold discoveries in California. They were stimulated by the richness and beauty of Wallamet valley, whose fame had penetrated even to Missouri and Ohio; and by our national tendency to go to the farthest place. They were not equal in intelligence to the pioneers of California or of Kansas; but their history affords striking examples of the capacity for self-government among our 'plain people,'—of that ingrained respect for law and order and decisions of the majority, which forms the 'bed-rock' of American stability and greatness.

In early days, the miners of Jacksonville elected an alcalde, A party to a contested claim case, thinking himself wronged, posted this notice: 'Whereas, the alcalde has given an unjust and corrupt decision against me, on Sunday next I shall take an appeal to the supreme court.' Sunday saw a hundred miners convened, from curiosity to learn what the supreme court was. They themselves were that august tribunal! The aggrieved