88 NARRATIVE AND ITINERARY DALLES OF THE COLUMBIA. 



Indian whom Colonel Fremont carried, in 1843, to the eastern States to he educated. I asked 

 him very particularly about a summer trail up the Des Chutes valley, which Colonel Fremont 

 was informed lay nearer the Cascade mountains than the one he followed. The Indian assured 

 me that there was no such trail, and that, " if I wanted to take my pack mules through that 

 region, I must go first with pick and shovel and make a trail, and then return for the animals." 

 Although I questioned many white men and Indians about this trail, I could never find 

 one that had even heard of it, and I am satisfied, from my own subsequent explorations, that 

 none such exists. Colonel Fremont was, undoubtedly, misled by false reports ; and the trail 

 seen by him on December 4, 1843, probably terminated, like many which disappointed us in 

 the same vicinity, in a whortleberry patch. 



At the Dalles of the Columbia, situated a short distance above the town, the river rushes 

 through a chasm only about 200 feet wide, with vertical basaltic sides rising from 20 to 30 feet 

 above the water. Steep hills closely border the chasm, leaving, in some places, scarcely room 

 on the terrace to pass on horseback. The water rushes through this basaltic trough with such 

 violence, that it is always dangerous, and in some stages of the water impossible, for a boat to 

 pass down. The contraction of the river bed extends for about three miles. Near the lower end 

 of it, the channel divides into several sluices and then gradually becomes broader, until, near 

 the town where it makes a great bend to the south, it is over a quarter of a mile in width. The 

 Dalles is a favorite fishing resort for the Indians ; and we saw, on the river bank, many piles 

 of salmon which they had preserved for winter use. There are many fine specimens of columnar 

 basalt in this vicinity, and the banks rise in low basaltic terraces, which, on the northern side 

 opposite the town, are very rough and broken. 



Our provisions arrived from Vancouver on September 16, and my men immediately began to 

 prepare them for transportation on the pack mules. 



September 11. — To-day I went, by steamboat, to mate a rough reconnaissance of the river as 

 far down as the Cascades, and to determine its descent there, leaving orders with Mr. Coleman 

 to start for the Depot camp as soon as the provisions were ready. A small steamboat runs 

 from the Dalles to the Cascades, where there is a land portage four miles and a half in length. 

 From its lower terminus, another steamboat runs to Vancouver, and thence to Portland in the 

 Willamette valley. I feel under great obligations to Captain W. B. Wells, the chief proprietor 

 of this line of steamboats, and to Mr. L. W. Coe, an artist by profession, but now connected 

 with the company, for their personal kindness, and for the valuable topographical information 

 which they furnished. 



In passing down the Columbia from the Dalles, the natural scenery was of the most magnificent 

 description. The river soon entered a gorge of the Cascade Range, and wound through a wilder- 

 ness of mountains, whose silent grandeur was truly impressive. In about ten miles we passed 

 the narrow entrance of the canon of Klik-a-tat river, a mountain stream flowing from the north. 

 Soon afterwards we passed the Mam-a-loos islands, the lonely resting place of a departed nation of 

 red men, whose bones lay bleaching in the sun. The method of burial had been very simple. Four 

 stakes, interlaced with twigs and covered with brush, formed a tomb, which had been gradually 

 filled with dead bodies, and then abandoned to the wind and rain. Ten miles more brought us 

 to Dog River valley, a little, fertile spot extending towards Mount Hood, and forming a pleasing 

 contrast to the savage mountains by which it was bordered. Nearly opposite was the mouth of 

 White Salmon river, which struggled through a narrow gorge opening towards Mount Adams. 

 About ten miles further on, we passed on the northern bank Wind mountain, a round isolated 



