The Pacific Northwest Facts Relating To Oregon And Washington Territory PDF Download

Excerpt from The Pacific Northwest: Facts Relating to the History, Topography, Climate, Soil, Agriculture, Forests, Fisheries, Mineral Resources, Commerce, Industry, Lands, Means of Communications, Etc, Etc, Etc;, Of Oregon and Washington Territory Towns and cities bad grown up, possessing all the elements of a stable prosperity. But the wide expanse of the interior country remained almost unknown. The broad lands of Eastern Oregon and Washington were the pasture grounds for immense herds and flocks - rich in cattle, sheep and horses, but poor in agricultural development and in population. Up to the summer of 1879, that wide region lying east of the Cascade Mountains was dependent for traveling and transportation facilities upon those supplied by a single company. This corporation owned the majority of steamboats on the Columbia and Willamette Rivers, and held possession of both sides of the great gorge of the Columbia River, where, by means of portage railroads, the steamboat routes on the upper and lower waters of the stream were connected. Another railroad around The Dalles of the Columbia added to the security of the corporation, and still another narrow-gauge line from Wallula to Walla Wall in Washington Territory, was owned by it. All the agricultural and other products of the rich region east of the Cascade Mountains were subject to handling and re-handling by the necessary transportation over this much broken route, and high freights were a most onerous tax upon the people. It must be mentioned, also, that the Willamette Valley and the Umpqua Valley had already enjoyed a railroad epoch. Its result was a single road extending south two hundred miles to Roseburg, and afterwards another road on the west side of the Willamette Valley to the Yamhill river. But the credit of the State was seriously impaired by the financial failure of both these enterprises, and the prospect of continuing a railroad through to California was not cheering. Oregon stood as a bankrupt before railroad financiers, and the commerce of her vast interior was locked up in the embrace of a corporation that was content with large immediate profits, and was indifferent to the progress and development of the State. The whole region, indeed, was practically in a condition more desponding than expectant. In the summer of 1879, the word was finally spoken which dispelled the dullness which had until then held sway, and an era of unexampled life and activity was begun. At this date, after strenuous and persistent effort, large capital was enlisted, the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company was organized, and, under the auspices of this company, great projects for developing the Pacific North-west have been successfully put into execution. First, the property and franchises of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, and the steamship line to San Francisco, were secured by purchase. Soon afterwards active operations were entered upon to push branch roads to the great wheat-producing districts of the Upper Columbia river, and to construct a trunk line between Portland and the naturally rich interior. The old steamers, between Portland and San Francisco, small wooden craft, uncomfortable and unseaworthy, were soon replaced by as fine iron steamships as float upon the ocean. The construction of a trunk railroad on the south bank of the Columbia river, from Walla Walla to Portland, was undertaken and has just been completed. From the latter place, the Northern Pacific Railroad is now building a line to Kalama, in order to make a through connection between Portland and the waters of Puget Sound. A fleet of fine steamships, owned by the Oregon Improvement Company, is developing the trade of all the ports on the coast, from Alaska to Southern California. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com