Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 16.djvu/134



122 MARSHALL N. DANA

and industry the splendid river subdued to assist the ends of transportation and the progress of civilization. In a state- ment by Captain W. P. Gray, a veteran open river campaigner and navigator, president of the Columbia and Snake Rivers Waterways association, and admiral of the Celilo Canal Cele- bration fleet which moved from Lewiston to the sea via Celilo canal, May 3-8, occurs this assertion:

"An open river does not mean merely the completion of the Celilo Canal, blowing out a few rocks at the rapids and scraping the gravel off a few shoals. It means a 40-foot channel across the Columbia river bar, a 30-foot channel from Astoria to Portland and Vancouver and a low water channel 10 feet deep from Vancouver to The Dalles, six feet deep from Celilo to Pasco, five feet deep from Pasco to the Canadian boundary on the Columbia and four and a half feet to the head of naviga- tion on the Snake, the Willamette and other smaller rivers. It means canals and locks around Priest Rapids, Rock Island Rapids and Kettle Falls. It means dams with locks on the Snake and other rivers to submerge the rapids, reefs and bars, and it means that where dams or canals and locks are built, cheap electric power will be generated and the water that now flows useless by our thirsty plains will be raised to give them life. The verdant field, the orchard and the vineyard will soon re- place the cactus thorns and sagebrush. The busy hum of factory wheels will wake the echoes of our rock-ribbed canyons. Cities will grow beside the rapid streams. Trolley cars and automobiles will replace the buckboard and the broncho."

May it be as spoken !

The purpose of this review was to direct attention, partic- ularly, to the efficiency of untiring public spirit, applied in forwarding such a project of community benefit as the open river, even though centered in a small but indefatigably loyal group. Yet the best of patriotism would have availed little in the construction of the Celilo Canal had not the government possessed engineering talent more than usually able. Big men