File:The Pacific coast scenic tour, from southern California to Alaska, the Canadian Pacific railway, Yellowstone Park and the Grand Cañon (1890) (14766878765).jpg

Identifier: pacificcoastscen00finc (find matches)
Title: The Pacific coast scenic tour, from southern California to Alaska, the Canadian Pacific railway, Yellowstone Park and the Grand Cañon
Year: 1890 (1890s)
Authors: Finck, Henry Theophilus, 1854-1926
Subjects:
Publisher: New York, C. Scribner's Sons
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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ely level. But it would take volumesto describe all these imposing mountain formations.Opposite Castle Rock, and below, are miles of magnifi-cently sculptured palisades, compared with which thoseon the Hudson River are of toy-like dimensions. Theyare beautifully mottled with green shrubs and mossesand yellow lichens, and fringed above and below byribbons of young fir-trees. And to think that all thissuperb scenery has been known to civilized man onlyone century! We now approach the famous Cascades of the Colum-bia, the place where, according to the Indian tradition, anatural bridge once existed, formed by the water dig-ging a tunnel for itself through the mountain. Thelegend goes on to relate how the rival volcanic mon-archs. Hood and Adams, which face each other on oppo-site sides of the river, once had a fight and hurled hugerocks at each other, some of which fell on this archwhich spanned the Columbia, and demolished it. Thefragments, filling the river-bed, created the rapids which
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CASTI-E ROCK—COLIMHIA. KIVEU. UP AND DOWN THE COLUMBIA RIVER. 197 now obstruct navigation. Day excursions from Port-land do not go beyond this point; but tourists who wishto get a glimpse of the Cascades themselves, and ofsome of the finest scenery on the river, must leave theboat here and take another one about five miles up theriver, for the Dalles. The Columbia River boats atpresent depend for their existence on freight more thanon passengers, and the greatest drawback to the enjoy-ment of the Columbia River trip is the tedious delay ofan hour or two, necessitated by loading all the freighton the train which takes us from the Lower Cascades tothe Ui^per Cascades, on the Washington side, and thenagain loading it on the upper boat. However, themountain scenery is very fine at this place, and the airso exhilarating that the offence is greatly mitigatedthereby. The government has been at work for about twentyyears constructing a canal and locks for the boats ; buta million dollars ar

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