rift of
rubbish, rock and earth, would meet at the common center, but not coalesce. And as these deposits of lava would cool off a line of demarcation between the two lava fields would appear, and ultimately a great fissure or crevice parallel the median line of the two deposits. In subsequent ages, possibly not until the melting of the great ice cap of the glacial age of North America, a stream of water would commence to form, and following down the inclines from the Rocky mountains, would fall into this great volcanic made fissure betv/een Mts. Hood and Adams. The water would pursue its course at the bottom of that fissure. The bottom of that fissure would be on top of the original deposit of sand, rock and soil, and that stream of water, as the Pacific ocean subsided and fell away from the west side of the Cascades, would cut out a channel under the deposit of lava rock. In the regular order of nature in wearing out all ob- structions in rivers and water courses by rolling boulders and pebbles, the chan- nel in the course of ages would be steadily enlarged. And as other streams fell into it from all sides, a river would be formed. It may have taken a million years to form the Columbia river, but that is the way it was formed. There can be no doubt from the geological record that there was a great rock bridge at the Cascades of the Columbia. There were probably other bridges also formed in the same way — the water working down under the superimposed lava cap and washing out a channel. From time to time these lava bridges would break down, and their fragments falling into the torrential stream, would be rolled down stream and rounded off into great boulders as they ground out and ham- mered out a channel by the action of the waters. The perpendicular cliffs at Hood river. White Salmon, and other points on the Columbia show how the great lava bridges broke down and were washed away, leaving the upright walls hundreds of feet high mute evidence of the operations of nature. The bridge at the Cascades was the last to fall down, and when it did fall, a great dam was made across the river and the detritus of rock, gravel and earth was piled up above it in vast quantities, and can be seen at either side of the river above the Cascades at this day. And when the dam finally gave way, the great torrent carried down before it and rounded into boulders rocks that will weigh a mil- lion tons. Such rocks can be seen in the Columbia below the Cascades today; and near by them, on the banks on one side, the original deposit of sand rock containing petrified stumps which were trees before Mt. Hood had an exist- ence; and on the other bank vast deposits of boulders, pebbles and sand piled there high above the present river when the original "Bridge of the Gods" fell down and forced the making of a channel at a lower level.
But what has all this, or any of it, to do with the evolution of the Oregon Steam Navigation monopoly? Let us see. When the Columbia cut through the mountains in the manner described, and wore out a channel in the sand rock, a narrow strip of land was left on each side of the river for a passage- way from the quiet waters above the old bridge to the navigable waters below the old bridge foundation. The value of these passageways around the swift and turbulent waters of the rivers, tumbling and roaring down amidst the great rocks of the old lava bridge, was quickly discovered, even by the red men. It was the best place for the Indians to spear the salmon. They contended for its possession. It was a strategic point to hold back foes coming from either side of the mountains. Here the Indians had a village at the head of the falls (upper Cascades) called Wish-ram; and they took advantage of their position to make exhorbitant demands on every one — red or white — that wanted to go through that narrow pass. And when the white men came into the country, the value of the pass was seen at once. And as early as 1850, Francis A. Chenoweth claimed the land under the Oregon donation law, and proceeded to build a little tramway railway through the pass. The road was located on the Indian trail, was constructed entirely of wood, with one little car drawn by a single mule. And as there was no business at that time, and Chenoweth had no reserve cap- ital to live on, and could not subsist on hopes, he sold his rights and his rail-
