THROUGH WONDERLAND. 
39 
There, however, he has his first glimpse of the queenly Mount Hood, 
whose snowy peak, soaring 11,225 feet above the sea, stands out sharply against 
the sky at a distance of thirty-five miles. The Dalles themselves, scarcely 
noticeable, except when the river is at flood, constitute one of the most curious 
and interesting sights in the world,—nothing less than that of the mighty 
Columbia turned on edge. Here, within a gorge so narrow that a child may 
fling a pebble‘from bank to bank, is confined the greatest river of the Northwest. 
The chasm through which it flows has never been fathomed, and can only be 
approximately determined by an inversion of the grand proportions of the river 
where it flows through its ordinary channel. . 
At Dalles City, the eastern terminus of navigation on the middle river, the 
tourist finds himself in an attractive town of nearly forty years’ growth. Here 
he may with advantage make a brief stay, resuming his journey either by train 
or by steamer, the fine boats of the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company 
plying daily between this city and Portland. From the heights commanding 
the town, magnificent views are to be obtained, Mount Hood looming up in the 
southwest, and Mount Adams, another of the great peaks of the Cascade Range, 
in the north. 
We have now left behind the low-lying shores that extend for so many miles 
between the Dalles and Wallula. Henceforward the scenery increases in inter¬ 
est every mile, the mountains becoming loftier and more precipitous, the rocky 
shores more rugged, and the intervening foliage more luxuriant. 
It should be stated that the scenery, especially on the south side of the river, 
appears to much greater advantage when viewed from the deck of a steamer 
than when seen from the train. In consideration of this fact, railway tickets are 
available by steamer without extra charge. The boat leaving the Dalles early 
in the morning, there is a loss of one day involved in taking the steamer on the 
westward journey; but, returning from Portland, the tourist is able to reach the 
Dalles in time for that day’s east-bound train. 
Forty-three miles from the Dalles are the Cascades, where the river changes 
from a placid lake to swift rapids and a foaming torrent. Before the com¬ 
pletion of the railroad every pound of freight had to be transferred, at this 
point, from a steamer navigating the river above this insurmountable barrier to 
one navigating it below, or vice versa. The railway portage of six miles on the 
Washington side of the river is still operated, and the transfer of such passengers 
as choose to complete their journey by water is made so speedily and conveniently 
as to enhance, rather than otherwise, the pleasure and interest of the river trip. 
In view of the importance of the river as a free commercial highway, Con¬ 
gress has made several appropriations for the construction, at the Cascades, of 
a system of locks. It is certainly a gigantic undertaking, and many years will 
probably elapse before its completion. 
To a great convulsion of nature, of whose occurrence there is abundant 
evidence, may be traced a singular Indian tradition, that Mount Hood and 
Mount Adams formerly stood close to the river, connected by a natural bridge. 
