Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 May 1903 — LAYS A CORNER STONE. [ARTICLE]

LAYS A CORNER STONE.

President Presides at Notable Cere* moay in Portland. President Roosevelt laid the corner stone of the Lewis and Clark monument in the city park nt Portland, Ore., in the presence of 25,000 persons. President Roosevelt in his address said: “We come here today to lay a corner stone that is to call to mind the greatest single pioneering feat on this continent —the voyage across the continent by Lewis and Clark, which rounded out the ripe statesmanship of Jefferson and his fellows by giving to the United States all of the domain between the Mississippi and the Pacific. “Following their advent came the reign of the fur trader, and then some sixty yenrs ago those entered in whose children and children's children were to possess the land. Aetoss the continent in the early 40’s came .the ox-drawn, white-top-ped wagons bearing the pioneers, the stalwart, sturdy, sunburnt men with their wives and little ones, who entered into this country to possess it. “I speak to the men of the Pacific slope, to the men whose predecessors gave us this region because they were not afraid, because they did not seek the life of ease and safety, because their life training was not to shrink from obstacles, but to meet and overcome them.”