The River Highway Opens
A new transportation link connects the Inland Empire to Portland, promising a surge in regional trade.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The steamer Columbia has completed a trip on the Columbia River from Kennewick to Celilo, the eastern terminus of the portage railroad, establishing for the first time a line from the Inland Empire to Portland through steamboats and the portage road. The D.P. & A.N. has established a line of boats from Portland to Big Eddy, and everything is now ready for handling wheat and other freight from eastern Oregon, Washington, and northern Idaho into Portland. As soon as the Gerome, currently being repaired after a wreck near Two Rivers, is back in commission, two boats will be running the upper river to meet the demand from local farmers and merchants.
“everything is now ready for the handling of wheat and other freight from eastern Oregon, Washington and northern Idaho into Portland.”
This connection represents the historical ambition to tame the Columbia for trade, a precursor to the massive dam projects that would later redefine the river's entire ecology and economy. Today, the freight move is handled by massive rail and truck networks, but the economic dependence on the 'Inland Empire' moving goods to the coast remains a central pillar of Washington's regional identity.
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