Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 16.djvu/136

124 And by the completion of the Celilo Canal the navigability of the Columbia and Snake rivers is established; a channel has been opened through which may flow the traffic of that great hinterland east of the Cascade Range called the Inland Empire.

What will these facts mean in the developing of ports, in the settlement and cultivation of now unoccupied lands and in the building of cities and the strengthening of Portland as the great distributing center of the Northwest?

Use alone can answer the question.

The opportunity is almost beyond computation. Civilization may well make here its most splendid achievements.

In the beginning, exceptional advantages as a center of water transportation built Portland. Progress is to be given new impetus now by the same cause. By accomplishment of many improvements, one at a time, and with much yet to be done to perfect the possession, we have now the open river. The beckoning future is much longer than the present. Men and communities will be measured by it.