Lewiston, 1875

Notes on roads in and out of Lewiston

Lewiston is not at the present time a very thriving place.  Business is very dull.  During the great excitement existing in the years after the first discovery of gold in the mountains to the east, and from the washing of the sands along the river banks, the place grew to be of very considerable importance.  Since, however, the mining operations have not proved to be remunerative, it has become simply a shipping point for the country surrounding it.  The town was established in 1861 and 1862; the first trip to reach the place was made in July, 1860, by the steamboat Tenino, Captain White.  Considerable up-river freight is delivered during the few months of the navigable season, but there appears to be but a limited amount of tonnage shipped from there.  Two main roads depart for the interior; one toward the east, to Campbell's Prarie, from sixty to seventy miles, and thence by pack-mules to the gold-mining regions, Elk City, Oro Fino, and Mount Idaho, lying in the west basin of the Bitter Root Mountain range; the other in a northerly direction, to the Spokane and Cour d' Alene regions, a distance of eighty miles.  Two roads leave for Walla-Walla, a distance of eighty miles, both passing through Dayton and Wakesburg; one crosses the Clearwater just above its mouth, and then passes over the Snake at Selkirk's Ferry; the other uses the ferry over the Snake, immediately at the town.  During extremely high water, once in eight or nine years, the plateau upon which the site of the town is located is slightly submerged, but at a low stage the river becomes very narrow, and a large sand-bar extends out, and almost entirely across it.

There is a good road for fifteen miles to the military post of Fort Lapwai, situated on Lapwai Creek, three miles from its junction with the Clearwater; the latter, which is but a mountain stream, is only navigable for steamboats as high up as that point, and then only during a very favorable contition of the water, when raised by the melting of the snow in the spring of the year.

N. Michler, Corps of Engineers, Messages and Documents of the War Department, 1875-1876, Volume two, Page 778-779

The Snake River below Lewiston, 1875

From the annual report of N. Michler, Corps of Engineers, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875, in a section entitled "Improvement of the Upper Columbia and Snake Rivers, Oregon, and the Territories of Washington and Idaho"

I skipped a couple of pages where he details rocks that he removed from rapids in the Lower Snake

After leaving Texas Creek, and before arriving at Lewiston, some interesting settlements and Indian villages are observable from the boat, and worthy of notice.  Penawa, about fifty miles below the town, is the best improved place on the river since entering it; there are men, women, and children.  The fields are fenced in and cultivated; extensive flats and a beautiful grazing country exist, but there is no timber.  A large number of horses and cattle are seen upon the hillsides.  At the mouth of Penawa Creek is an Indian village, only temporarily occupied, however, as the occupants are migrating, existing on fish and such game as they can procure; they raise large herds of ponies.  At Alenota Creek is another small settlement, containing some few buildings, and is a landing for a very considerable section of country.  Alpoway is an Indian village, twelve miles below Lewiston; it was established by the missionaries a great many years ago.  An old orchard, the trees regularly set out, still flourishes at the mouth of the creek.  The Indians of the Nez Perces and Coeur d' Alene tribes, have some fine farms on the Clearwater, extending for thirty miles above its mouth.  Some fields are planted with corn.  Owing to the close proximity of this section to the Blue Mountains, more rain falls, averaging about two inches per month, and the vegetation appears more fresh and green than on the lower portions of the river.  In winter, scarcely a foot of snow covers the earth at any time and then very seldom; it rapidly disappears under the mild influence of the prevailing northerly winter winds, called by the natives, "chinook."  A short distance below Alpoway is Granite Point; this is the only spot where that rock is known to appear at the surface along this lower section of the river.  The country is of volcanic formation, with terraces of basaltic trap cropping out.

N. Michler, Corps of Engineers, Messages and Documents of the War Department, 1875-1876, Volume two, Page 778

On building a canal around Celio Falls

From the annual report of N. Michler, Corps of Engineers, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875, in a section entitled "Improvement of the Upper Columbia and Snake Rivers, Oregon, and the Territories of Washington and Idaho"
 

The sections of the two rivers to which reference is particularly intended comprise those portions from above the "Dalles," on the Columbia, a succession of falls and rapids cleft through deep canyons, and extending over a distance of fifteen miles up to Priest's Rapids, in Washington Territory, on the main fork of the river; and up its tributary, the Snake, to Lewiston, in Idaho Territory, at junction with the Clearwater.  These are the principal tributaries of the Columbia, draining an immense extent of country, from the north, east, south, and west.
The distance from the head of the falls, at Celio, to Priest's Rapids is one hundred and ninety-five miles, and to the junction of the Snake and Clearwater two hundred and fifty.  From the foot of the falls and rapids, at the town of Dalles, to the sea, is two hundred and twenty-five miles.  Along this portion but one serious obstruction exists, and that at the Cascades; the latter, a series of rapids, with a fall of 37.3 feet in a distance of five and three quarters miles, is now passed by a railway portage, the cars being drawn by locomotives.  A survey has been made for the purpose of ascertaining the practicability and cost of constructing a canal and locks at this point, a seperate report of which, with plan and profile, was submitted during the year.  The length of the proposed canal is 2,600 feet, with a total rise of 21 feet.  To overcome the difficulty at the "Dalles," a canal, with locks, will have to be constructed around Celio Falls, at the head of it; a total fall of 36 feet in 4,500 has to be overcome.  As in the previous case, a survey has already been prosecuted, with similar objects in view, and a report submitted.  The improvements for the fiscal year were confined to two localities, between Celio and Wallula, the Squally Hook Rapid and the Umatilla Upper Rapid.  The working season is a very short one, being generally confined to the winter months, during which period the river reaches its very lowest stage, and the water is rendered extremely clear.  The rocks below the surface are then more readily exposed, and the workmen operate to much greater advantage.  The temperature becomes extremely cold, the thermometer (Fahrenheit) not unfrequently indicating 25 degrees below zero; the river becomes ice-bound above and below the rapids, thereby preventing any floating ice from impeding the progress of the work.  The days and nights are always clear; very little snow ever falls, and the men soon become habituated to the extreme severity of the weather.  The one great difficulty to contend against is the force and duration of the prevailing winter winds.  The commencement of the annual spring-rise of the river, bearing down upon its waters the accumulated ice of the more northern regions, early necessitates the suspension of all further operations for the season.  The following is a resume of the nature and quantity of the work accomplished during the fiscal year, and which continued until the limited appropriation became exhausted.

N. Michler, Corps of Engineers, Messages and Documents of the War Department, 1875-1876, Volume two, Page 772-773