Page:Portland, Oregon, its History and Builders volume 1.djvu/440

 ing of the Cyclorama Co., on Pine street, between Third and Fourth, sixty thou- sand dollars; the first Morrison street bridge, two hundred thousand dollars; on the railroad bridge there was spent one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars; the cable car line up to the heights was begun. The streets were improved to the value of one hundred and ninety-seven thousand, eight hundred and thirty-five dollars. The total improvements of the year are summarized as follows: In the city, one million, fifty-four thousand, one hundred and seventy-nine dollars; on Portland Heights, sixty thousand dollars; in East Portland, one hundred and ninety-five thousand, seven hundred and fifty dollars; in Albina, six hundred and twelve thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars and fifty cents; on Mount Tabor, sixty thousand dollars; a grand total of two million, seven hundred and eighty-four thousand and twenty-four dollars.

During 1888 all former improvements were far exceeded. Many large buildings of the most permanent character and improvements which would have then been thought to be a credit to any great city, were brought to completion or undertaken. The following is a list of the principal works: The Exposition building, on Fourteenth and B, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars; on the First Presbyterian church, sixty thousand dollars, the Jewish synagogue, sixty- five thousand dollars; the railroad bridge (finished) four hundred thousand dollars; improvements by the water committee, two hundred and forty thousand dollars; buildings in Portland (not otherwise named), one million, eight hundred thousand dollars; improvements on the streets of Portland, three hundred and twelve thousand, five hundred dollars ; East Portland and Sunnyside, three hundred and nineteen thousand, three hundred and eighty-eight dollars; at Oswego, five hundred thousand dollars ; at Albina, one hundred and eighty-one thousand, six hundred and ninety-five dollars; on the street railways, fifty thousand dollars; on Portland Heights, forty thousand dollars; on Mount Tabor, thirty thousand dollars; at Sellwood, twelve thousand dollars; at Milwaukie, seven thousand, three hundred dollars. This shows a total of three million, five hundred and twenty-two thousand, six hundred and thirty-nine dollars.

It is noticeable by the foregoing that many of these imrovements were made outside of the city limits, in some cases from three to six miles distant. The propriety of including them among the improvements of Portland arises from the fact that they were undertaken and completed by Portland capital and were in fact the growth of the city itself — illustrating how Portland has completely overstepped what were once called "the natural limits of the city," between the circle of hills and the circling course of the Willamette. The improvements of 1889, reaching a value of about five million dollars are fully mentioned elsewhere, and need not be enumerated here.

These statistics as given in the foregoing pages, while probably not without error, are nevertheless the best now to be had, and give approximately a correct idea of business operations and the growth of the place. By examination it will be seen that the development of Portland, as of all new cities, has been, as it were, by wave impulses, the flood now rising and now falling again, but nevertheless at each new turn reaching a much higher point. Much of this oscillating movement has been due to the peculiar circumstances of the city and to the opening of the country by public works. In the very earliest days the first movement was due to the coming of ships loaded with goods for the use of the rural population of the Willamette valley. Portland as a shipping point and post of supply made a secure beginning. After it had become thus established it did the business for the farming community surrounding in a regular and steady fashion without much increase except as the growth of the tributary country demanded. During the early sixties, however, a new and promising field was opened for her merchants and navigation companies by the discovery of precious metals in Eastern Oregon and Idaho. With the development of the mines and to quite an extent also with the settlement of western Oregon and Washing-