Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 25.djvu/254

 220 FRANK B. GILL fighters with unsparing zeal—so much so, indeed, that he contracted pneumonia from exposure during the days and nights of exhausting labor, and he died early in Novem- ber, being buried in the cemetery on the Washington side, near the scene of his early work. THE OREGON PORTAGE IN DANGER While the Oregon Steam Navigation Company in 1862-3 was strengthening its position on the Columbia river by the purchase and building of portage railroads, an antag- onist of some caliber—the People's Transportation Com- pany—was preparing to start a strong competition, with new and powerful steamboats at least the equal of the older line's. This contestant, seeking a crossing over the Cascades portage,decided to obtain title to a right of way for a wagon road on the Oregon side from the middle landing, to which point their steamboat E. D. Baker was well able to go, to the upper landing. They went through the formality of offering the 0. S. N. Company $200 for this land, and being rebuffed as no doubt was expected, sued the company in the Wasco county court. The case was set for trial on May 12, 1863, at The Dalles, and its outcome has not been found, but this is immaterial, since the Oregon company fought their rival so vigorously that the People's Transportation Company on June 26 quit the Columbia. Apparently not long after the death of Joe Bailey, the Oregon Portage Railroad ceased to be used for live stock shipments in transit between Portland and upper Colum- bia points, the sawmill at Eagle Creek went out of use, and solitude reigned along the route formerly trodden by the original Iron Horse of Oregon. As the country be- came more populated, however, the Oregon portage began to be the object of wistful glances from would-be pro- moters of rival lines and from time to time plans were hatched for a competing system of steamboats, some of