State-rooms on the River and Sound steamers are provided with one double lower and one single upper berth.

Passengers can, if they choose, purchase the full accommodation of a state-room.

The steerage capacity of each of the three Ocean steamers is about 300.

The diagram of the Ocean steamers and the night boats to Astoria can always be found at the Union Ticket Office of the Union Pacific Railway in Portland, corner First and Oak Streets.

Tourists receive more than an ordinary amount of attention on these steamers, more than is possible to pay them on a railway train.  The pursers will be found polite and obliging, always ready to point out places of interest and render those little attentions which go so far toward making travel pleasant.

On River and Sound boats, the forward cabin is generally the smoking-room, the cabin amidships is used for a “Social Hall,” and the “After Saloon” is always the ladies’ cabin.

All Union Pacific steamers in the Ocean service are heated with steam and lighted with electricity; all have pianos and a well-selected library.  The beds on these boats are well-nigh perfect, woven-wire springs and heavy mattresses.  They are kept scrupulously clean—­the company is noted for that—­and the steerage is as neat as the main saloon.

One hundred and fifty pounds of baggage is allowed free on board both boats and trains.

Boats leaving terminal points at any time between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m., arrange so that passengers can go on board after 7 p.m. and retire to their state-rooms, thus enjoying an unbroken night’s rest.

Sea-sickness is never met with on the Sound, and very rarely on the voyage from Portland to San Francisco.  On the Pacific, the ship is never out of sight of land, and the sea is as smooth as a mill-pond.

The heaviest swell encountered is going over the Columbia River Bar.  The ocean is uniformly placid during the summer months.  The trip, with its freedom from the dust, rush, and roar of a train, and the inexorable restraint one always feels on the cars, is a delightful one, and with larger comforts and more luxurious surroundings, one enjoys the added pleasure of courteous and thoughtful service from the various officers of the ship.

Taking the “Columbia” as a sample of the class of steamships in the Union Pacific fleet, we notice that she is 334 feet long, 2,200 horse-power, nearly 3,000 tonnage, has 65 state-rooms, and can accommodate 200 saloon and 200 steerage passengers.  Steam heat and electric light are used.  In 1880 the first plant from Edison’s factory was put on board the “Columbia,” at that time a great curiosity, she being the first ship to use the incandescent light.

[Illustration:  Crater lake, ore.  Reached via the Union Pacific Ry.]

Crater lake.