112 CASCADE MOUNTAINS AND PASS OF COLUMBIA RIVER. 
The crossing of the Columbia at the Snake river presents no special difficulties. From the 
Dalles to Vancouver, there will be expensive rock-cutting. All the streams can be easily bridged. 
This is not the place to discuss whether the road should keep north or south of the Columbia 
river the whole distance. The crossing at Vancouver is undoubtedly objectionable, as interfering 
with navigation. There is an excellent crossing at the Cascades, at the Dalles, and at several 
points thence to Wallah-Wallah. The final location cannot be properly made till the practicable 
connexions are made with the Salt lake, the Willamette valley, and California, to all which routes 
the line down the Columbia, either in whole or in part, will be the main trunk. It is possible 
a better deflection to the valley of the Columbia may be found a little more eastward of the present 
route, close under the base of the Coeur d’Alene mountains, to a crossing of the Snake between 
the Peluse and the Kooskooskia, and thence to the valley of the Wallah-Wallah river, and 
thus the route made to lend itself to either bank of the river and its several connexions. In the 
vicinity of Vancouver, the crossing, instead of being by a bridge, miglit be effected by suitable 
ferry-boats. It is sufficient for my present purpose that there is a favorable route down the 
Columbia, and that a connexion can be made with the valley of the Willamette. 
In view of the agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial advantages of Oregon, the navi- 
gability of the Columbia to Vancouver and Portland for sea-going vessels and steamers, and the 
rich character of much of the adjoining country in the Territory of Washington, and looking 
also to a connexion with California, I am of opinion that a line down the Columbia, thus found 
eminently practicable by the exploration, must enter into every plan of railroad connexion from 
the St. Lawrence basin, by the northern route, to the Pacific. 
The question simply is, whether the unrivalled commercial advantages of that sound, its being 
six hundred miles nearer to Asia, making it the natural port of freights and passengers to our 
entire North and to Europe, are such as will authorize the construction of a road through the 
Snoqualme Pass, even at the expense of much difficult work and tunnelling, in order to save the 
increased distance of one hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty miles of the line of the 
Cowlitz. 
For detailed information in reference to the geographical description of the Cascades, I will 
respectfully refer you to the reports of Captain George B. McClellan and Lieutenant J. K. 
Duncan, C No.7 and C No. 8; and of the line of the Lower Columbia, to the same reports 
and that of Mr. F. W. Lander, B No. 6. The report of Dr. Cooper, C No. 9, will give some 
interesting facts in relation to the natural history. 
