Such was the confidence in its future at the beginning, that the Pacific Mail Steamship Company built a wharf and warehouse here; stores and hotels sprang up; mills were built; and men were confident that their fortunes lay in this place. But, by and by, mysterious fires destroyed wharves, warehouse, and mill. The ocean steamer was forced to go to Portland; business died out; men became discouraged, and went otherwheres; and St. Helen was deserted by all except a faithful few, who never lost faith that time would bring all things right.
Six years ago the town-site changed hands, and the present large lumber-mill was erected by the St. Helen Milling Company, cutting from forty to seventy-five thousand feet in twenty-four hours. Two or three merchants set up general merchandising, and trade revived to such an extent as to rekindle hope in the hearts of the faithful few; and, now, St. Helen again asserts her claim to be considered "the best point on the Columbia River for a town." From all which it appears that Columbia City and St. Helen are rivals. As there is only a mile or two between them, it would not seem that their rivalry could be very fierce. Probably there will be, some time, an important town at or about one of these places.
St. Helen is the county-seat of Columbia County, and is situated at the junction of the lower Wallamet with the Columbia River. The country back of it, for about seven miles, is a series of benches, the first two or three of which are sparsely and picturesquely wooded, while the higher ones are well covered with timber. These benches are good farming and fruit lands, but not so fertile as the bottom-lands adjacent to the town-site—those of Sauvie's Island, and those on the
