The Senator’s Lament: Puget Sound vs. the Columbia River

Senator Squire was not altogether too well pleased today when the bills appropriating immense sums of money for the Cascade locks and the boat railway around The Dalles of the Columbia were rushed through the Senate. He voted for the bills because he believed these improvements would be of some benefit to the state of Washington, but he is of the opinion that it is about time now for Washington to get something for the improvement of the immense stretch of shore line and the great commercial interests of Puget Sound.

He said very emphatically that the immense sums proposed to be expended on the Columbia River—which cut its way through tremendous mountains half a mile high—would pour the entire commercial product into the city of Portland, and the lower Columbia would be the only part that would receive the benefit of the commerce. He further stated that they would only have three feet of water after the improvements were made, and that these immense sums could be expended to much better advantage for the great and growing commerce of Puget Sound.

He referred to the fact of the tremendous amount of deep water shore line around the Sound and the benefits to be derived by communications of deep water with Lakes Union and Washington. He argued that that section of the country was of direct national importance, since it was there that the government dry dock was going to be built, and with the possibility that in a short time a naval station would be established there. The communication with fresh waters from Puget Sound would be of inestimable value to the country, because it would guarantee reaching these waters by the heavy cruisers of the navy.