THE COLUMBIA RIVER.
All waters of eastern Washington reach the ocean through the Columbia river, uniting the entire region in one spirit of fraternity. The grandest and most reaching scenic feature of the region, it supplies unlimited water for successful irrigation and power purposes, and in places still provides the principal mode of transportation. Between Kettle Falls and the Snake river are a number of important rapids, chief of which is Priest Rapids, just below Saddle Gap, ten miles long with a descent of seventy feet and a possible horse power of half a million.
Just above the mouth of the Snake river are the cities of Kennewick and Pasco, ready to profit by direct navigation to the sea as soon as the Celilo locks are completed. At the lowest elevation in the Inland Empire and surrounded by a large area of irrigable land, they are served by three transcontinental railroads, permitting rapid transit to any part of the northwest.
The state of Washington is rapidly developing a system of roads which, finally consummated, will rival in skillful engineering and commercial importance the French highways, and in scenic grandeur the mountain passes of Switzerland. Easy approaches are being constructed to every town and hamlet and into every farming community. So vigorously has the work been pushed that Washington now outranks every other state, except Colorado, in the facility and directness with which its mountain recesses may be reached. Upwards of 50,000 miles have been already completed, presenting altogether a labyrinth of broad thorofares, boulevards, and country highways. The most important highways built and maintained at state expense are the Pacific, the Sunset, the Inland Empire, the Olympic and the National Park.
THE PACIFIC HIGHWAY.
The Pacific Highway extends from the southern limit of the state of California to Vancouver, British Columbia, twenty-seven miles north of Washington's boundary line, a total distance of about two thousand miles. Three hundred and fifty miles is within the state of Washington, connecting Vancouver on the Columbia with Blaine at the international line. It traverses nine counties of Washington, containing forty-eight per cent of the wealth and fifty-five per cent of the population, and passes through nine county seats, including Olympia, the state capital, Vancouver, Kalama. Chehalis, Tacoma, Seattle, Everett, Mount Vernon and Bellingham.
