Geological Papers. 151 



at anchor in the harbor while the goods are brought ashore by In- 

 dians in Indian canoes. The cost of bringing in goods by way of 

 Clallam bay is about twenty dollars per ton for the inland freight 

 charges and five dollars per ton from Seattle to East Clallam. 

 These rates keep imports down to the lowest limit and practically 

 prohibit exporting. 



If there were any easy means of exporting, it is probable that 

 sawmills would be established at the mouth of the Quillayute river. 

 As has been shown, there is an abundance of good timber in the 

 country, and good sites for mills are to be found near the mouth of 

 the river. Also, supplies from the outside world could be obtained 

 more cheaply than at present. 



A map of the Quillayute harbor and river, shown elsewhere, 

 shows that the harbor is well sheltered on the northwest but open 

 to the southwest storms, the prevailing storms in winter. Al- 

 though the harbor is hemmed in by precipitous cliffs and high, 

 rocky islands, it is itself entirely free from rocks. Its prevailing 

 depth is twelve feet at low tide, 800 feet from the low- water line of 

 the beach, and the bottom slopes regularly toward the ocean. At 

 the entrance of the bay there is a general depth of six to seven 

 fathoms. The mean range of the tide is about eight feet. The 

 mouth of the river, as we have seen, was formerly at the north end 

 of this bay; but about thirty years ago this mouth was silted up 

 and the river formed a new mouth through a sand-spit three-fourths 

 of a mile up the river from the old mouth. The width of this 

 mouth varies according to the seasons. At the present time it is a 

 little over fifty feet wide at low tide. 



The bay into which the river now flows is rocky, exposed and 

 dangerous, and there is a rapids in the river and a bar just off its 

 mouth. No improvement of the present mouth is feasible. The 

 improvement needed is the reopening of the old mouth of the river. 

 The lagoon which formerly formed part of the river is separated 

 from the ocean by a narrow sand-spit about 300 feet wide at high 

 tide, and, having a maximum elevation of about twelve feet at low 

 tide, the tide backs the river-water into the lagoon at high tide. 

 Thip lagoon at the south end has a depth of four feet at mean low 

 water, as referred to that datum in the ocean, but the actual depth 

 is about eight feet, as the surface of the water in the lagoon is 

 about four feet higher than the ocean when the- tide is out, on ac- 

 count of the north end, the outlet of the lagoon, having been choked 

 up with sand to a height of four feet above mean low water. To 

 reopen the old mouth of the river it would be necessary to close 



