CHAPTER VIII
My tooth got to aching while we
were going to Olympia and I couldn't eat any supper in the new hotel
there. Everything looked good and I wanted some of the ice cream, but I
had to look at the rest of them eat it all. So I made up my mind I was
going to get it pulled when I got back to Centralia and the next day I
went to the dentist. He jabbed it with a needle with some dope and my
jaw felt as big as a house. Pretty soon he got a hold on it with the
pliers and — Gee I thought he was taking my whole head off. He said it
wouldn't hurt, but it did and if I was big enough I would have jabbed
his jaw. My face was swelled up for two or three days so I could hardly
eat or drink anything.
Aunt Susan is my mother's aunt and she is 86 and goes out riding in her
auto every day, and when you see her with her girls you can hardly tell
which is the youngest—she is a dandy sport.
Mrs. Scace was buried the day before we got there and we drove out to
see her grave; it was covered with flowers. She went over to Portland
in an airplane and on the way back they got in a cloud bank and hit a
tree and she was killed. She was a real sport too, and she had a lot of
friends.
Dad had some business to attend to at Portland so he went a couple of
days before the rest of us did. We found him at the Portland hotel
where they were having a lumbermen's convention. I was sick when we got
to Portland and they put me to bed and kept me there for two days.
There were some people there from Pennsylvania who came to see me while
I was sick.
Mr. and Mrs. Cook came to dinner with us one evening and then we all
went to a show. They all drove out the Columbia Drive one day; but I
was too sick to go. They told me what a wonderful road it was and the
lot of falls along it, the biggest one of all was Multnomah Falls, over
800 feet high. They all say it is the finest driveway in the world. It
goes up the Columbia River for about 80 or 90 miles and they are
building down the river towards the ocean too; people come from all
over the world to see it; they are going to have it ready to drive on
all the way through to Idaho pretty soon.
We went with Mr. and Mrs. Cook to a Jap restaurant for a dinner one
night and got a dish of some kind that I don't remember the name of,
but it was good. There are lots of Japanese and Chinese stores down in
the lower part of the city and they sure have some funny kinds of
things to eat in them like bird's nests for soup and dried eggs and all
kinds of curious nuts and preserves,—their meat markets look like
anything but a meat market. We couldn't see the salmon plants as they
were not in season when we were there.
They got me all excited about the Roundup show so it was to be in a few
days and we could not go very far away. Dad was going out to Hanly's
ranch and then to see some land he has there some place in that part of
the country, but we had to give it up or miss the big show and I didn't
want to miss the show for they kept me in bed while the rest of them
went out joy riding.
They raise Loganberries in Oregon and ship them all over the country
and Loganberry juice is good. It is better than Bryan's grape juice any
day.
They told us about snakes that live around Klamath Lake in the tulles;
these snakes are so plentiful that they get into the streets of the
town and interfere with the traffic. They are not poisonous and they
are not allowed to be killed because they do good. The pelicans are
plentiful there too, but they do not kill them either. The big game is
mostly deer and some bears in the mountains,—and lots of wild geese and
wild ducks.
I don't think I would like to live all the year in Oregon; it is too
wet on the west of the mountains and too dry on the east of them. I
suppose it would be all right after you get used to it for everybody
there says they would not live anywhere else.
Oregon is the state where Mr. Strahorn is building his railroad that he
told me about when he was there. It begins at Klamath Falls and runs to
Bend and then there is a branch that runs to Crane. It is the last big
country without a railroad and is about as big as the state of Ohio and
is timber partly and ranches. One of the big ranches is 40,000 acres
and belongs to William Hanly. We were going to his ranch but the
roundup was to be in a few days and we did not have time to go to both
places. Mr. Strahorn told us that they shipped three thousand car loads
of lumber a year to California and the fruit farms to pack apples and
oranges and raisins to ship east. They raise lots of cattle too around
there.
The big ships come to Portland for lumber and it is sent to China and
Japan and lots of it goes through the Panama Canal; some of the biggest
sawmills in the country are at Portland and along the Columbia. There
are a great many salmon canneries around there. They make fishing a
business.
Mr. DuBois, who lives in our town, owns about all the best timber in
that part of Oregon. Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Wheeler own a lot too; they
were both at the same hotel when we were there and Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler
went along to the roundup show.
Mr. and Mrs. Cook are about the finest people that live in Portland.
They live in the finest part of the city and Mrs. Cook drives the car;
they know everybody and everything. They own a lot of timber and have
mills in the timber country. Frank Branch Riley came to see us at the
hotel He is the big lawyer there and lectures all over the country
about the wonderful northwest. He was to see us at the farm last year
and we went to his lecture at Pittsburgh. His father is one of the
finest old gentlemen I ever met and he is Frank's pard in the law
business. We were not ready to leave Portland but the roundup was such
a big show we could not miss it so we joined the special train and went
along with the crowd. I will tell about the roundup in the next letter.
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