The Evening Statesman

PORTAGE RAILWAY IS ASSURED.
The contract for The Dalles-Celilo portage railway was awarded yesterday and the completion of the work before the next harvest is practically assured. This is good news for the shippers of the Inland Empire. After years of vexatious delays and of hope deferred it now seems certain that the Columbia will be opened to navigation from eastern Washington to the sea by the building of this portage around the obstructions between Celilo and The Dalles.
It would be much better if the obstructions were removed, but to do this will be a work of ten years or longer. The outlook is now good for a liberal appropriation from congress for a canal with locks to overcome the obstacles to navigation that will be temporarily obviated by the use of the portage railway. To secure this appropriation, however, the senators and representatives from Washington, Oregon and Idaho must be urged to spare no effort to induce congress to deal liberally with the canal project.
The building of the portage railway will no doubt result in a substantial reduction in freight rates from Walla Walla to Portland and from Portland to Walla Walla, and this reduction in one year will amount to more than the $50,000 pledged by public-spirited citizens of this county to aid the project.
To the Open River Association is due the credit of preventing the abandonment of the portage railway by the Oregon commission. When it was announced by the board that the $165,000 appropriated by the Oregon legislature for the purchase of the right of way and the construction of the road was insufficient and that nothing could be done, the Open River Association pledged $40,000 in aid of the project and thus saved it in the nick of time. Dr. N. G. Blalock of this city has been one of the most active members of the Open River Association, and it was due in large part to his energy and persistency that the Oregon appropriation was not allowed to revert to the state treasury and the portage railway to go by default. For many years Dr. Blalock has labored for the opening of the Columbia to navigation from the Inland Empire to the sea under difficulties and discouragements that would have baffled and utterly defeated the ordinary man, but in spite of all he has continued to fight in season and out of season for this "hobby," and he has good reason to feel proud of the final fulfillment of his hopes and the consummation of his efforts that will have been achieved by the completion of the portage railway for which the contract has been awarded.