Chapter II: Preface

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Often enough a preface is an outgrowth of disguised pretentiousness or insincere humility. Presumably it is an apology for the authorship, or at least an explanation of the purpose of the pages it introduces.

But no one is compelled to write a book; and, in truth, publishers habitually exert a contrary influence. It is a fair supposition, therefore, when a book is produced, that the author has some good reason for his act, whether or not the book itself proves to be of service.

Among many plausible apologies for authorship, the most reasonable is, it seems to me, a genuine enthusiasm for the subject at hand. If one loves that with which the book has to do the desire to share the possession with readers approaches altruism. In this case let us hope that the enthusiasm, which is real, and the virtue, which is implied, will sufficiently cloak the many faults of these little sketches, whose mission it is to convey something of the spirit of the out-of-door land they picture--a land loved by those who know it, and a land of limitless welcome for the stranger who will knock at its gates.

The Oregon Country, with which these chapters are chiefly concerned, has been the goal of expeditioning for a century and a quarter. First came Captain Robert Gray in 1792, by sea. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, twelve years later, tracked 'cross country from the Missouri to the mouth of the Columbia. In 1810, the Astor expedition, under Wilson and Hunt, succeeded, after hardships that materially reduced the party, in making its way from St. Louis to the Columbia and down the river to the mouth, where was founded the town of Astoria. Finally, after a half-century of horse-and-wagon pioneering, the first railroads spanned the continent in 1869. But the Union Pacific and Central Pacific were more the concern of California than of Oregon, for the Northwest had no iron trail to link it with the parent East until in 1883 the Northern Pacific Railway, under the leadership of Henry Villard, reached Portland.

So Oregon was discovered by sea and land, and finally, as highways of steel replaced the dusty trails of the emigrants, she has come into her own. From within and without she has builded, and what she has done for her sons, and offers to her settlers, has established a place for her in the respectful attention of the world.

Now, in the year nineteen hundred and fifteen, a new era is dawning for Oregon and for all our Western Coast, through fresh enterprise, this time again by sea. The waters of the Atlantic and Pacific have been joined at Panama, our continental coast line, to all intents and purposes, being made continuous, and the two Portlands, of Oregon and Maine, become maritime neighbors. Our East and our West have clasped hands again at the Isthmus, and comparative strangers as they are, there is need for an introduction when they meet.

Not strangers, perhaps; better brothers long separated, each unfamiliar with the attainments and the developed character of the other. The younger brother, the Westerner, has from the very nature of things changed most. His growth, in body, mind, and experience, is at times difficult for the Easterner to fathom. A generation ago, he was such an immature fellow, so lacking in poise, in accomplishments, and even in certain of those characteristics which comprise what the East chooses to consider civilization; and his country, compared with what it is to-day, was so crudely developed.

The Easterner this year is the one who is coming to his brother of the West, because of the Canal, the Expositions celebrating its completion, and an immediate inclination to "see America first" impressed upon our public for the most part by the present war-madness of Europe.

It would be rank presumption for any one person to pretend to speak a word of explanation to that visitor on behalf of the Coast. As a fact, no explanation is required; the States of the Pacific are their own explanation, and their people must be known by their works. Secondly, the Coast is such a vast territory that what might be a reasonably intelligent introduction to one portion of it would be utterly inapplicable elsewhere.

So this little book does not undertake to present a comprehensive account of our westernmost States, or even of the Oregon Country. It is intended simply to suggest a few of the many attractions which may be encountered here and there along the Pacific, the references to which are woven together with threads of personal reminiscence pertaining to characteristic phases of the western life of to-day. For the stranger it may possess some measure of information; it should at least induce him to tarry in the region sufficiently long to secure an impression of the byways as well as of the highways. For the man to whom Oregon, California, or Washington stands for home, these pages may contain an echo of interest--for we are apt to enjoy most sympathetic accounts of the things we love best. But for visitor or resident, or one who reads of a country he may not see, the chief mission of these chapters is to chronicle something of their author's enthusiasm for the land they concern, to hint of the pleasurable possibilities of its out-of-doors, and, mayhap, to offer a glimpse of the new West of to-day in the preparation for its greater to-morrow.

G. P. P.
BEND, OREGON,
December 25, 1914.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Some of the material in this book has been printed in substantially the same form in _Recreation_ whose Editor has kindly sanctioned its further utilization here.

For the use of many photographs I am indebted to the courtesy of officials of the Oregon-Washington, and Spokane, Portland and Seattle railways.

G. P. P.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I.--"OUT WEST" 1

II.--THE VALLEY OF CONTENT 9

III.--THE LAND OF LEGENDS 19

IV.--THE LAND OF MANY LEAGUES 37

V.--HOW THE RAILROADS CAME 54

VI.--THE HOME MAKERS 64

VII.--ON OREGON TRAILS 76

VIII.--UNCLE SAM'S FORESTS 90

IX.--A CANOE ON THE DESCHUTES 105

X.--OLYMPUS 116

XI.--"THE GOD MOUNTAIN OF PUGET SOUND" 130

XII.--A SUMMER IN THE SIERRAS 153

ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

THE COLUMBIA RIVER VALLEY AND MOUNT
ADAMS _Frontispiece_

"THE MAN FROM BOISE DESCRIBES GOD'S
COUNTRY IN TERMS OF SAGEBRUSH AND
BROWN PLAINS" 2

"THE PALOUSE DWELLER PICTURES WHEAT
FIELDS." THE GRAIN COUNTRY OF EASTERN
WASHINGTON 2

From a photograph by Frank Palmer, Spokane,
Wash.

A WESTERN MOUNTAINEERING CLUB ON THE
HIKE 6

From a photograph by Kiser Photo Co., Portland, Ore.

ALONG THE WILLAMETTE 12

MOUNT SHASTA 12

From a photograph by Weister Co., Portland, Ore.

MOUNT HOOD FROM LOST LAKE 20

Copyrighted photo by W. A. Raymond, Moro, Ore.

NATIVES SPEARING SALMON ON THE COLUMBIA 22

COASTING ON MOUNT HOOD 22

From a photograph by Weister Co., Portland, Ore.

THE PACIFIC 24

ALONG THE COLUMBIA. "GROTESQUE ROCKS
RISE SHEER FROM THE RIVER'S EDGE" 24

CELILO FALLS ON THE COLUMBIA 28

THE NORTH ABUTMENT OF THE BRIDGE OF THE
GODS 28

WHERE THE OREGON TRUNK RAILWAY CROSSES
THE COLUMBIA. "THE RIVER ROLLS BETWEEN
BANKS OF BARRENNESS" 30

COLUMBIA RIVER. THE LAND OF INDIAN
LEGENDS 30

THE DALLES OF THE COLUMBIA 32

From a photograph by Weister Co., Portland, Ore.

ALONG THE COLUMBIA RIVER. "A REGION OF
SURPASSING SCENERY" 34

CENTRAL OREGON TRAVEL IN THE OLD DAYS 38

A CENTRAL OREGON FREIGHTER. "YOU WILL
FIND THEM EVERYWHERE IN THE RAILLESS
LAND, THE FREIGHTERS AND THEIR TEAMS" 38

IN THE DRY-FARM LANDS OF CENTRAL OREGON.
"SERRIED BY VALLEYS, WHERE THE GOLD OF
SUN AND GRAIN, AND VAGRANT CLOUD
SHADOWS, MADE GORGEOUS PICTURINGS" 42

CROOKED RIVER CANYON, NOW SPANNED BY A
RAILROAD BRIDGE 56

IN THE DESCHUTES CANYON. "THE RIVER
WINDS SINUOUSLY, SEEKING FIRST ONE, AND
THEN ANOTHER, POINT OF THE COMPASS" 56

ALONG THE CANYON OF THE DESCHUTES 62

IRRIGATION--"FIRST, PARCHED LANDS OF SAGE;
THEN THE FLOW" 68

IRRIGATION--"NEXT, WATER IN A MASTER
DITCH AND COUNTLESS MAN-MADE RIVULETS
BETWEEN THE FURROWS" 68

"IT WAS A VERY TYPICAL STAGECOACH" 70

IN THE HOMESTEAD COUNTRY 70

A VALLEY OF WASHINGTON. "THE BIG WESTLAND
SMILES AND RECEIVES THEM ALL" 74

From a photograph by Frank Palmer, Spokane, Wash.

A TRAILSIDE DIP IN A MOUNTAIN LAKE 78

"SLIDING DOWN SNOW-FIELDS IS FUN, THOUGH
CHILLY" 78

ON THE TRAIL IN THE HIGHLANDS OF THE
CASCADES 80

"A SKY BLUE LAKE SET LIKE A SAPPHIRE IN
AN EMERALD MOUNT" 80

THE TRAILS ARE NOT ALL DRY-SHOD 84

"OUR TRAIL WOUND BENEATH A FAIRY FOREST" 84

AN OREGON TRAIL 86

From a Photograph by Kiser Photo Co., Portland, Ore.

"PACKING UP" AT A DESERTED RANGER
STATION 96

USING THE FOREST FIRE TELEPHONE AT A
RANGER STATION 96

AN OREGON TROUT STREAM 100

From a Photograph by Raymond, Moro, Ore.

CANOEING AND DUCK SHOOTING MAY BE
COMBINED ON THE DESCHUTES 108

ON A BACKWATER OF THE DESCHUTES 108

ALONG THE DESCHUTES, THE "RIVER OF FALLS."
"IT ROARS AND RUSHES, IN WHITE-WATERED
CASCADES" 112

"CANOEING IS THE MOST SATISFACTORY METHOD
OF TRAVEL EXTANT" 118

THE PACK TRAIN ABOVE TIMBER LINE 118

From a photo by Belmore Browne

"THE HUMES GLACIER, OVER WHICH WE WENT
TO MOUNT OLYMPUS" 128

"OUR NATURE-MADE CAMP IN ELWHA BASIN" 128

THE "GOD MOUNTAIN" OF PUGET SOUND 132

"THE LIVE OAKS OF BERKELEY'S CAMPUS" 156

From a photograph by Wells Drury, Berkeley, Cal.

LOOKING ACROSS THE CLOUDS TO MOUNT
ADAMS FROM THE FLANKS OF RAINIER 156

"WE GLORIED IN THE SHEER MIGHTINESS OF
EL CAPITAN" 158

"A VAST FLOWER GARDEN MAINTAINED ENTICINGLY
BY DAME NATURE" 160

LIGHT AND SHADOW IN YOSEMITE 160

SUNRISE AT HETCH-HETCHY 164

THE GOVERNMENT ROAD THAT LEADS TO
MOUNT RAINIER 164

In the Oregon Country

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In the Oregon CountryChapter II: Preface

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