Portland, Oregon, A.D. 1999, and other sketchesHayes, J. W. (Jeff W.)
Science
Portland, Oregon, A.D. 1999, and other sketches
Hayes, J. W. (Jeff W.)
American fiction -- 20th century; Portland (Or.) -- Fiction; Short stories, American
"It was in the year 1850 that my people began talking of going West, and
tried to glean all the information they could concerning the country
they selected, the best means of getting there and the prospects for
disposing of our plantation. It took us three years to finish all of our
preparations, and on April 18th, 1853, our caravan started on the trail
leading Westward.
"I was 26 years old, and at a time of life when I could thoroughly enjoy
the ever varying changes of climate and scenery.
"We found the Indians very friendly, even to kindness, and we bestowed
on them many cheap trinkets in return for food and skins, of which they
possessed a variety.
"We made many stops on the way as we reached the then frontier
settlements, now large and prosperous cities, and it was not until we
had crossed the Missouri river, near Omaha, that we began anticipating
trouble from the Indians. We experienced the usual hardships and
vicissitudes from this cause, nothing unusual in those times, and
arrived in the then little city of Portland, March 19th, 1854.
"I startled our little party, on our arrival in Portland, by announcing
that the next time I crossed the Continent it would be on the steam
cars.
"Long and loudly was I laughed at for my optimism, and it did really
seem impossible for a locomotive to be capable of climbing those
seemingly inaccessible peaks.
"Had I prophesied all that was in my mind, my friends might have thought
that I was deranged. I could have said that I could see people flying
through the air in vehicles shaped like birds from the Atlantic to the
Pacific and that the almost impenetrable forests of Oregon would one day
be entirely laid low by the woodman's axe.
"There were many other things which I could see were bound to come but I
thought it wisest to keep the light of my prophecies to myself rather
than give them to unheeding ears.
"What I saw in those days, however, will not compare to the marvels
which come to me now, at my advanced age.
"I have given a receptive ear to the spirit which tells me what others
would pronounce 'queer notions,' but which I declare to be
scientifically natural. I will tell you of all these things and you may
publish them to the world, and allow them to be a judge of my
optimistic views. I will tell you what I see and also of what I know
is sure to come, so that all who read may know and understand, and put
themselves in readiness for the great events which are bound to ensue by
A. D. 1999."
The old lady then, her eyes beaming with intelligence and in the most
natural and unassumed manner, voiced the following prophecies:
CHAPTER II.
+The Prophecy.+
Taking a note book from her bag, and adjusting her spectacles, the old
lady began her remarkable relation of events to come ere the 21st
century shall have rolled around:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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