THE CELILO CANAL 123
capable of doing things in a big way are essential to the de- velopment tasks of the Columbia basin. From the engineering viewpoint the Celilo Canal is no less a triumph than from the public viewpoint.
Major Michler, who made the preliminary examinations in 1874, was succeeded by Major C. F. Powell, who made ex- haustive surveys in 1879. Then came Major Handbury and Captain W. W. Harts, who, in 1900, submitted his plan for the locks and canal around Tumwater falls and the dam at The Dalles or Five-Mile rapids, designed to drown out Ten- Mile rapids.
The board of engineers which was instructed in 1903 to make detailed surveys with a view of modifying Captain Harts' estimate of cost ($3,969,371) consisted of Colonel W. H. Heuer, Major W. L. Marshall, Major Edward Burr, Captain Cassius E. Gelett and Captain C. H. McKinstry. Major W. C. Langfitt was in charge of field work, with James S. Polhemus assisting as supervising engineer, W. E. Morris, assistant en- gineer, and W. G. Carroll, junior engineer.
Colonel S. W. Roessler followed Major Langfitt, and Major James E. Mclndoe succeeded Colonel Roessler, with Mr. Polhemus as assistant in direct charge of the work. For a brief interval Major Cavanaugh was in charge of the district, then came Major (now Lieutenant Colonel) Jay J. Morrow, who has continued in charge of upper river improvements since, with Captain Robert, Captain Dillon and Frederick C. Schubert, successively, in charge on the ground.
The year 1915 will not be forgotten in the water trans- portation records of the Pacific Northwest. In this year we celebrate the fact that the opening of the Panama Canal turns this coast toward Europe and brings us 6,000 miles nearer the markets of the old world, as well as closer to the Atlantic coast. By completing the purchase of the Willamette River Locks at Oregon City the toll imposed by private ownership is lifted on all the traffic in or out of the Willamette valley, not only by water but by rail.
