o
transit man they knew nothing, except that they were working for a
famous contracting firm and that they emphatically were not in the
employ of Hill interests.

[Illustration: Crooked River Canyon, now spanned by a railroad bridge]

[Illustration: In the Deschutes Canyon. "The river winds sinuously,
seeking first one, and then another, point of the compass"

Copyright 1911 by Kiser Photo Co., Portland, Ore.]

This, which was no news at all, I 'phoned to Portland, and then set
about visiting the suddenly awakened Canyon.

It is the only entrance from the north to the plateaus of Central
Oregon, a deep gorge cut by the river through the heart of the hills. So
one fine morning in July, 1909, after a generation of apathy, suddenly
the two great systems, whose tracks follow opposite banks of the
Columbia, threw their forces into the field, attempting to secure
control of this strategic gateway. Altogether, it was a very picturesque
duel; the quick move was characteristic of the country, and the very
unexpectedness of it somehow was half-expected. And in the end, after
all the strategy and bluff and blocking tactics with shovels and with
law briefs, the duel was a draw, and to-day each railroad follows the
waters of the Deschutes.

During my observation of this picturesque battle of the Canyon, I walked
its length twice, and saw amusing incidents in plenty.

At one point the Hill forces established a camp reached only by a trail
winding down from above, its only access through a ranch. Forthwith the
Harriman people bought that ranch, and "No trespassing" signs, backed by
armed sons of Italy, cut off the communications of the enemy below. At a
vantage point close to the water both surveys followed the same
hillside, which offered the only practical passageway. One set of grade
stakes overlapped the other, a few feet higher up. The Italian army,
working furiously all one Sabbath morning, "dug themselves in" on the
grade their engineers had established in most approved military style.
But while they worked the Austrians came--these literally were the
nationalities engaged in this "Battle of the Hillsides," unrecorded by
history!--and hewed a grade a few feet above the first, the meanwhile
demolishing it. That angered Italy, whose forces executed a flank
movement and started digging still another grade _above_ the hostiles,
inadvertently dislodging bowlders which rolled down upon the rival
workers below. Then a fresh fl