Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 16.djvu/144

 man or white man. One chain was sundered at the Cascades; another we are breaking today; soon Priest Rapids will be freed, and then our dream will almost be realized.

I may also say that we have not been idle in other directions, and that while the engineers were clearing channels, building locks, and digging canals, others were working on the no less important work of freeing our rivers from a control that tended to make these improvements of no avail, even after our millions were spent. I refer to railroad-owned and controlled boat lines, which throttled real competition and prevented all true use of our waterways as instrumentalities of commerce. We are celebrating not only the opening of this Celilo Canal, but a river free in truth and in fact; for now, after all these years of struggle, the steamboat will have a fair chance, and the river will be able to serve its purpose unhampered by the domination which has heretofore stifled competition and restricted service.

Before closing I wish to say a few words on the future of our rivers. Our work is not finished. It has only begun. Above Celilo the improvement presents a problem the successful solution of which will entail results so vast and far-reaching as to be almost beyond our minds to grasp. At this time I can but refer to it very briefly. From Priest Rapids on the Columbia and from Lewiston on Snake River as far west as Arlington and possibly farther, on both sides of the river, lie hundreds of thousands of acres of lands needing but the magic touch of water to transform the desert into a garden. The contour of the country is such that but a small percentage of these lands can be irrigated by gravity. They can only be watered by pumping. This method, while the best, can be successfully carried out only by using cheap power. Above Celilo there are many rapids which ultimately will be improved by means of locks and dams, and the general canalization of the river. With every dam, water power will be created, and this power should be utilized. In other words, the use of our rivers for navigation should not be the only