Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 16.djvu/187



THE DALLES-CELILO CANAL 169

Mention of the heavy shipments over the Portage thus far has been with relation to up-river freight and it is well to record when the tide began to turn the other way, from the Interior to tide water. The first wheat to be sent out from the Walla Walla Valley was in the form of flour. The editor of the Dalles Mountaineer, on March i6th, 1867, wrote; "We have received a sample of bread made of Walla Walla flour at the City Bakery, and believe it to be of an extra quality." The papers of Walla Walla and The Dalles during the next two months bristle with protests against the rate of freight on flour from Wallula to The Dalles of $17.50 per ton as against $22.50 per ton on flour from Portland to Wallula ; and "Cumtux" (J. M. Vansycle) then residing at Wallula, sent the following communication to the Walla Walla Statesman under date June 2nd, 1867: "By a little foresight of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company in putting down their charges on down frieght from this point trade has turned upon them, and where they heretofore had nothing to carry down they now have thousands of pounds of flour by every steamer. The road from Walla Walla to Wallula is literally lined with heavy freight teams, eight or ten yoke of cattle and four, six, eight and ten mule teams, all heavily loaded with flour are coming in every day. Two ten-mule teams are at present time unload- ing 20,000 pounds of flour alone. This is as it should be, but let me ask, how many pounds of flour would the steamer have to take down to The Dalles tomorrow had the Company stuck to their old price of $17.50 per ton? Not a pound! But six dollars per ton gives teamsters something to do, gives our farmers and mill men a market, and puts money in the hands of the O. S. N. Co. Tomorrow's trip will give a clear gain to the company of at least $300.00. It don't cost them one cent more to take down a three or five hundred dollar freight than it does to go down, as they have done heretofore empty." Wheat itself began to be shipped in the fall of 1867.

For sixteen years, 1863-1879, this narrow gauge Portage railway from The Dalles to Celilo was operated by the Oregon