Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 16.djvu/131



THE CELILO CANAL 119

Columbia. The Columbia and Northern Railway has surveyed a line from Hardman through Gilliam and Morrow counties to Blalock and secured some right of way. A line has also been surveyed from Prosser on the Yakima river, through the noted Horse Heaven wheat belt, reaching the Columbia at Paterson opposite Irrigon."

Then follows a statement showing in dollars and cents the reductions in rates that gave the Open River line actual value to the upper river country as a transportation agency. And a digest of the O. R. & N. Co. tariff, effective January 1, 1907, shows how the railroad reduced its rates after competition on the river became a fact. The admonition on the title page of the report reads :

"The question of whether or not the river is to be opened to free and unobstructed navigation, and the people receive the benefit of water rates, rests with themselves."

After the portage railway had been built and the Open River line inaugurated, there was a general feeling that work on the Celilo Canal should go forward without the delays due to exhaustion of appropriations by congress. In a report of the Open River Association's executive committee for October 9, 1907, I find this assertion :

"The Celilo Canal, if placed upon a continuing contract basis, can be completed within three years. When completed it means a free river followed by continued improvement until from British Columbia and from Le wist on to the sea, the people of the Inland Empire will be forever protected from excessive freight rates and freight congestion by nature's own great reg- ulator of traffic."

Five years later than the date indicated if built under con- tinuing contract, the Celilo Canal is ready for use, having been constructed under the biennial appropriations of Congress. Had a continuing contract been adopted the Celilo canal could have been built at less cost and in five years instead of ten. In the jetty and canal work of the Columbia River, we of the North- west are given evidence of the delays and unwisdom incident