THE MOUNTAINEER 59 



all directions. The majority of the streams flowing east are short and have 

 a much steeper grade than those flowing to the west. The latter have much 

 longer courses and near the coast flow across lands comparatively low. 

 There are three important inland bodies of fresh water which lie in the 

 foothills near the coast. They are Lake Crescent, which is inland about 

 sixteen miles southwest from Port Angeles; Quiniault lake, which is inland 

 from the Pacific and about twenty miles to the northeast from the mouth 

 of the Quiniault river ; and Ozette lake, which lies inland about three miles 

 from the coast and a little south of Cape Flattery. In addition to these 

 three there is Lake Cushman, which lies in the southwestern portion of the 

 region a short distance inland from Hood's Canal. 



On the coast, both to the north along the Straits of Juan de Fuca and 

 to the w^est along the Pacific ocean, the elevations range from fifty to three 

 hundred feet and there is here what is usually termed a terrace with pre- 

 cipitous cliifs along the shore. This terrace is not absolutely level and in 

 many places has prominent ridges rising npon it. Through the more highly 

 elevated mountainous region in the interior and in the nearly level terraces 

 near the coast the streams have cut canyons which in some places are very 

 narrow and precipitous. Both along the north and Avest coasts the shore 

 line is fringed by a wave cut platform. The platform is well exposed at low 

 tide and in places is dotted here and there with projecting rock prominences 

 in the form of reefs or ledges. At high tide these are covered and not 

 visible and are a constant source of danger to navigation. The north- 

 eastern coast, east of Port Angeles, is of a different nature. Here the bluffs 

 or cliff's along the shore are composed largely of glacial material. Ex- 

 tending out from the bluff' in several places are long, curved sand spits 

 forming protected harbors. These may be seen at Port Angeles and at 

 Port Townsend. 



The bed rocks which go to make up the mountains of the Olympic 

 peninsula are represented by the three main divisions which are known 

 to geologists as igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. Under the 

 igneous division are grouped such rocks as have solidified from a molten 

 condition either in great masses beneath the surface of the earth or else as 

 lava fiows ui)on the surface. Under the division kn(f\vn as sedimentary are 

 included such well known rocks as sandstones, shales, conglomerates lime- 

 stones, etc. These have nearly all been formed along sea shore or other 

 bodies of water, by the vast accumulation of waste material brought down 

 by streams from the interior, or from the waste of the sea cliffs themselves 

 for long periods of time. After such depositing the lieds of sediment were 

 uplifted high al)ove sea level in the form of mountains as we know them 

 today. Under the metamorphic division we have such rocks as slates, 

 schists, (juartzites, etc., which are simpl.y sedimentary or igneous rocks 

 which have been altered both in composition and general appearance by the 

 effects of pressure or heat from intruded igneous rocks. 



The great central mass of the Olympic mountains is composed of 

 metaniorpliic rocks. The most couspicuous varieties are schists, slates and 

 (luartzites. Around the coastal border of this interior metamorphic area are 

 sedimentary rocks, consisting of sandstones and shales, and associated with 

 these are igneous lava fiows. Along the eastern and southern margins of this 

 area are boulders of granite and other rocks which are not found in the 

 bed rock series of the Olympic mountains, but are common in the mountains 

 on the east and north sides of Puget Sound. The granites and similar 



