among the number. One of the speakers of the occasion was a man who had made the overland journey across the plains with ox teams in 1843—Senator James W. Nesmith, of Oregon.
The year 1883 is a turning point in the railroad history of the Pacific Northwest. Within the next few years, as we have seen, the Oregon and California Railway surmounted the difficulties of the Siskiyou, connecting thus with California and by the Central Pacific with the East; and the Columbia River line was extended eastward through Oregon, Idaho, and a portion of Wyoming (the old Oregon Trail) to connect with the Central Pacific directly.
A new railway era opens in 1883. In 1893 the Great Northern Railway was completed to Puget Sound, making the third transcontinental line to be built. It marks the entrance into the transportation life of the Northwest of Mr. James J. Hill, as the California road and the Northern Pacific marked the entrance of Mr. Villard. Mr. Hill's work during the succeeding years produced many changes in the railroad map of the region, particularly in the states of Montana, Idaho, and Washington. The most notable recent achievement, and that which marks his entrance into Oregon, was the completion in 1908 of a great water level railway on the north bank of the Columbia. This road connects at Pasco, Washington, with the main line of the Northern Pacific of which the Hill interests secured control, and from Vancouver, Washington, it is carried over the Columbia and the Willa
