SALMON. 67 



all together make up a scene of beauty and 

 rich luxuriance, unlike any other part of the 

 river. 



From the Dalles to the Cascades the river has 

 scarcely a perceptible current, either side being 

 bounded by perpendicular walls of mountains. 

 Tradition says, that once the river had a uniformly 

 swift course the entire way, and that where the 

 Cascades now are, the water passed at that time 

 under a huge arch that reached from side to 

 side. Afterwards an earthquake tumbled it 

 down, the ruins of the arch still existing as a 

 chain of islands across the head of the rapids ; 

 the river, having gradually carried away the 

 fragments, forming now the long rapid. The 

 river, thus suddenly thrown back, flooded the 

 forests up to the Dalles, and to this day stumps 

 of trees are to be seen sticking out of the water 

 many hundred yards from the shore. 



Below the Cascades, before reaching the flat 

 district about Fort Vancouver, the scenery is 

 bold and massive ; immense hills densely wooded, 

 bold promontories, and grassy glades are passed 

 successively as the steamer dashes on her down- 

 ward trip. At the Cascades there is now a 

 railway, over which goods and passengers are 

 conveyed to the steamers above the rapids, which 



