Oregon, Washington and Alaska; Sights and Scenes for the Tourist

by E. L. Lomax

Fifth Columbia Tour—Portland to San Francisco by boat.

PORTLAND

Is a very beautiful city of 60,000 inhabitants, and situated on the Willamette river twelve miles from its junction with the Columbia. It is perhaps true of many of the growing cities of the West, that they do not offer the same social advantages as the older cities of the East. But this is principally the case as to what may be called boom cities, where the larger part of the population is of that floating class which follows in the line of temporary growth for the purposes of speculation, and in no sense applies to those centers of trade whose prosperity is based on the solid foundation of legitimate business. As the metropolis of a vast section of country, having broad agricultural valleys filled with improved farms, surrounded by mountains rich in mineral wealth, and boundless forests of as fine timber as the world produces, the cause of Portland's growth and prosperity is the trade which it has as the center of collection and distribution of this great wealth of natural resources, and it has attracted, not the boomer and speculator, who find their profits in the wild excitement of the boom, but the merchant, manufacturer, and investor, who seek the surer if slower channels of legitimate business and investment. These have come from the East, most of them within the last few years. They came as seeking a better and wider field to engage in the same occupations they had followed in their Eastern homes, and bringing with them all the love of polite life which they had acquired there, have established here a new society, equaling in all respects that which they left behind. Here are as fine churches, as complete a system of schools, as fine residences, as great a love of music and art, as can be found at any city of the East of equal size.

But while Portland may justly claim to be the peer of any city of its size in the United States in all that pertains to social life, in the attractions of beauty of location and surroundings it stands without its peer. The work of art is but the copy of nature. What the residents of other cities see but in the copy, or must travel half the world over to see in the original, the resident of Portland has at his very door.

The city is situate on gently-sloping ground, with, on the one side, the river, and on the other a range of hills, which, within easy walking distance, rise to an elevation of a thousand feet above the river, affording a most picturesque building site. From the very streets of the thickly settled portion of the city, the Cascade Mountains, with the snow-capped peaks of Hood, Adams, St. Helens, and Rainier, are in plain view. As the hills to the west are ascended the view broadens, until, from the extreme top of some of the higher points, there is, to the east, the valley stretching away to the Cascade Mountains, with its rivers, the Columbia and Willamette; in the foreground Portland, in the middle distance Vancouver, and, bounding the horizon, the Cascade Mountains, with their snow-clad peaks, and the gorge of the Columbia in plain sight, whilst away to the north the course of the Columbia may be followed for miles. To the west, from the foot of the hills, the valley of the Tualatin stretches away twenty odd miles to the Coast Range, which alone shuts out the view of the Pacific Ocean and bounds the horizon on the west. To the glaciers of Mt. Hood is but little more than a day's travel. The gorge of the Columbia, which in many respects equals, and in others surpasses the far-famed Yosemite, may be visited in the compass of a day. The Upper Willamette, within the limits of a few hours' trip, offers beauties equaling the Rhine, whilst thirty-six hours gives the Lower Columbia, beside which the Rhine and Hudson sink into insignificance. In short, within a few hours' walk of the heart of this busy city are beauties surpassing the White Mountains or Adirondacks, and the grandeur of the Alps lies within the limits of a day's picnicking.

There is no better guarantee of the advantageous position of Portland than the wealth which has accumulated here in the short period which has elapsed since the city first sprang into existence. Theory is all very well, but the actual proof is in the result. At the taking of the census of 1880, Portland was the third wealthiest city in the world in proportion to population; since that date wealth has accumulated at an unprecedented rate, and it is probable it is to-day the wealthiest. Among all her wealthy men, not one can be singled out who did not make his money here, who did not come here poor to grow rich.

Portland enjoys superb advantages as a starting-point for tourist travel. After the traveler has enjoyed the numerous attractions of that wealthy city, traversed its beautiful avenues, viewed a strikingly noble landscape from "The Heights," and explored those charming environs which extend for miles up and down the Willamette, there remains perhaps the most invigorating and healthful trip of all—a journey either by

STREAM, SOUND, OR SEA.

There must ever remain in the mind of the tourist a peculiarly delightful recollection of a day on the majestic Columbia River, the all too short run across that glorious sheet of water, Puget Sound, or the fifty hours' luxurious voyage on the Pacific Ocean, from Portland to San Francisco.