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Description of the Cascade Mountains and the Pass of the Columbia River. 
In reference to the Cascade mountains, the entire geography of the eastern slope, which has 
been represented very inaccurately on all existing maps, has been developed from the Columbia 
river to above the forty-ninth parallel, and a’good portion of the western slope to Puget sound. 
The highest mountains of the Cascade range on the Columbia river are at the Cascades, and 
at the mouth of the White Salmon and Telickitch rivers, from which points spring the main 
Cascade ranges, running to the north up to Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams, and centering 
still farther north in Mount Rainier. Thence one main chain runs off to Mount Baker, having, 
however, a deep re-entering to the east, through which issues a stream, which, winding round 
Mount Baker, flows into Bellingham bay, giving the appearance of a pass from the waters of 
the sound, and another runs off to the northeast. 
Eastward, and from a range coursing along, and some six or eight miles south of, the Yakima, 
to above our northern parallel, the Cascades, with their innumerable spurs, extend nearly to 
the Columbia river, causing nearly the whole country to be mountainous, or high, broken table- 
land. The streams are rapid, have their sources in lakes, frequently of large size, and are not 
even adapted to the rafiing of lumber. North of the Columbia river a range of hills extends 
nearly parallel to it, at some eight miles distance, and heavily wooded. From these hills flow 
many small streams to the Columbia, and the grazing is excellent over this intermediate space 
from Wallah-Wallah to the Dalles. Much of this is good farming land. 
The streams on the western slope flow in nearly a northern direction, and the mountain spurs 
between them, in many cases, extend to near the shores of the sound. Reserving to a subsequent 
oceasion some account of the sound, and the country tributary to it, I will now consider the passes 
of the Cascades practicable for a railroad. 
There are two practicable passes, both having good connexions with the line of Clark’s fork: that 
by the Columbia itself to the Cowlitz river, a stream which rises in Mount St. Helens, flows in 
nearly a southerly direction, and empties into the Columbia river about forty-five miles below 
Vancouver, and by the Cowlitz river to the sound, and that by the main Yakima and Snoqualme 
rivers. 
The pass of the Columbia river, examined personally by myself, as well as by Captain 
McClellan and Mr. Lander, is remarkably favorable in its grades, which rarely exceed ten feet; 
in the ease with which debris from the ledges can be worked, to form the embankments required 
to guard against freshets; and the great facility with which wood and stone, both of good 
quality, can be transported down the Columbia for purposes of construction. The only serious 
obstacle is Cape Horn mountain, which, to avoid sharp curvature, may require a tunnel seven 
hundred feet in length, though it is hardly probable that the road may be run over a gap in rear 
of it without tunnelling, heavy work, or steep grades. The lateness of the season prevented the 
examination. Vancouver would furnish an admirable depot, and also afford a crossing in 
its vicinity to the valley of the Willamette. The grades down the Columbia to near the mouth 
of the Cowlitz, and thence to Olympia, Steilacoom, or Seattle, on the sound, will be small; the 
work throughout light; and abundant materials of all kinds will be found for road-beds and super- 
structure. 
