THROUGH WONDERLAND . 
41 
Portland has been even more remarkable than the rapid growth of its population. 
The handsome business blocks that line its principal streets bear witness to the 
magnitude of its trade and commerce, while its churches, schools and other 
public buildings testify to the high moral tone and refined taste of its citizens. 
Although one hundred miles from the coast, Portland, like London, Rotter¬ 
dam and Antwerp, is virtually a seaport, and its growth and progress are based 
upon the solid foundations of its natural advantages. Loading at its wharves, 
or riding at anchor on the broad bosom of the river, may be seen, not only 
river craft of all sorts and sizes, but ocean-going vessels of 3,000 tons. When 
the great wheat crop of Oregon is in course of shipment to Europe, there may 
be seen a fleet of as fine merchantmen as can be found in the world. The 
salmon exports alone, for the year ending August 1, 1885, required 120 large 
vessels, having a total capacity of about as many thousand tons. The total 
value of the exports to foreign countries for the year just mentioned, was 
$5,857,057, and that of domestic exports $6,699,776, making a grand total of 
$12,556,833. Tn addition to several hundred thousand tons of wheat, and the 
120 ship loads of salmon already mentioned, the exports from the Columbia 
river included over eleven million pounds of wool, over two million pounds of 
hides, nearly five and one-half million pounds of hops, and twenty-nine million 
pounds of potatoes. 
Portland is said to number among its merchant princes twenty-one million¬ 
aires, and certainly there are few cities whose private residences are more 
strikingly indicative of wealth and refinement. The picturesque surroundings 
of the city render it an exceedingly desirable place of residence. From the sum¬ 
mit of Robinson’s Hill a view that it is no extravagance to pronounce one of the 
finest in the world may be obtained. At one’s feet lies the city, nestled in rich 
foliage. Stretching away, for many miles, from where their waters unite in one 
common flood, may be seen the Columbia and Willamette rivers. But above 
all, bounded only by the limits of the horizon, is the great Cascade Range, with 
all its glittering peaks. On the extreme right, seventy-eight miles distant, as 
the crow flies, is seen the snowy crown of Mount Jefferson ; across the river, 
fifty-one miles distant, rises Mount Hood, one of the most beautiful mountains 
on the coast, and the pride and glory of Oregon ; to the northeast stand out 
the crests of Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens, and in the same direction, 
but one hundred miles away, may be descried the great Tacoma, the grandest 
mountain on the Pacific slope. All these five peaks are radiant with eternal 
snow, and it may well be imagined that the effect of the uplifting of their giant 
forms against the clear blue sky is grand in the extreme. 
Tourists coming northward from San Francisco have the choice of two 
routes and two modes of travel. They may either take one of the fine steamers 
of the Oregon Railway and Navigation Company, sailing every five days, and 
performing the voyage in from sixty to seventy-two hours, or they may travel 
overland by the Oregon & California Railroad, a line that traverses not only 
the most fruitful plains, but also the most beautiful valleys, of this rich State. 
