Page:Report of the Oregon Conservation Commission to the Governor (1908 - 1914).djvu/27

Rh for many years furnished the chief methods of moving and distributing products and merchandise. Here, as elsewhere, with the advent of the railway, the tendency to abandon the waterways as carriers became quite pronounced, hut their use for this purpose on the lower reaches of the Columbia and the Willamette has been atways exercised, Of late, here, as elsewhere, the awakening has conic arid at this time it is doubtful if there is a community in lie United States more keenly appreciative of the benefits to be derived from the use of the waterways for all

DUMPING ROCK, COLUMBIA RIVER JETTY.

purposes than are the people of Oregon. No better proof of this fact can he furnished than the large sums 111ev have freely given to this purpose of late years. No lengthy description will be attempted of past improvements or those now in progress. The briefest outline will have to suffice.

Improvement of the Columbia
The projects under way on on this river at the present time are as follows:

Mouth of the River.
Deepening the mouth of the river through (lie building of a jetty on the south bank, aided in the future by the operation of a dredge and the roustroction of a north jetty. This project from some standpoints is the most important work now in hand.