108 CHARACTERISTICS OF TIIE GREAT PLAIN OF THE COLUMBIA. 



Tou-chet river to the Snake, twenty-eight miles ; yet, by a slight deflection to the east, water can 

 be got at shorter intervals than twenty miles. 



Lewis or Snake river, after cutting out a corner of Washington Territory, turns southward into 

 Oregon, leaving, however, a tributary to the eastward the Little Salmon or Kooskooskia river 

 which, passing through the Nez Perces country, forks and affords two trails through the Coeur 

 d Alene mountains, called the northern and southern Nez Perces trails. 



In the re-entering formed by the Snake, whilst most of the country between the Snake and 

 the Wallah- Wallah, along the Columbia, and for some twenty miles back, has but little arable 

 land, there is good though somewhat scant bunch-grass over nearly the whole surface, and the 

 Wallah- Wallah itself, with its numerous tributaries, affords excellent arable and grazing land. It 

 has already attracted the attention of emigrants, and if the Indian title were ever extinguished, it 

 would be rapidly filled up. 



The Spokane river, and its principal tributary, the Coeur d Alene river, and Clark s fork, 

 furnish the other two trails through the Cceur d Alene range. 



These four trails have already been described, and the route of Clark s fork indicated as the 

 most practicable one for a railroad route. On this river is the Pend d Oreille lake, forty-five 

 miles long, and on the Coeur d Alene tributary of the Spokane river, the Cceur d Alene lake. 

 Between the Pend d Oreille lake and the country from the Cceur d Alene lake to the falls of the 

 Spokane, the country is favorable, the divide low, and feasible routes are afforded for passing from 

 Clark s fork to the Spokane plain, and across the Columbia. This gives a southwestern direction 

 to the railroad route. Westward, however, of this favorable region of country, a high range of 

 mountains extends across Clark s fork, and presents obstacles to the construction of the road 

 either towards the mouth of Clark s fork or Colville, though, as will be seen by reference to the 

 report of Lieutenant Arnold, accompanying that of Lieutenant Donelson, a practicable route 

 probably exists, and could be made use of did the connexion west require it. Westward of the 

 Columbia river, at these points, the country is very rugged, indeed impracticable, and leads to 

 the abandonment of all plans of reaching the passes of the Cascades in this direction. 



From the Cceur d Alene mission, some miles above the Cceur d Alene lake, there is a good 

 wagon trail to Wallah- Wallah. There is also said to be a good wagon trail from the Pend 

 d Oreille lake, keeping on its eastern and southern shore, to the Cceur d Alene mission and to 

 the Cceur d Alene river, and an excellent railroad route, which is marked on the sketch. 



As regards the great features of the country west of the mountains in reference to its practi 

 cability for a railroad, viz : the Bitter Root, Clark s Fork, and Columbia rivers, I will state that 

 Dr. Suckley, the surgeon and naturalist of the eastern division of the exploration, left St. Mary s 

 village on the 15th of October, and, proceeding down the Bitter Root and Clark s fork, reached 

 Columbia barracks on the 6th of December, making the whole distance, except about sixty miles 

 from the Pend d Oreille mission to Colville, by water. The distance was 1,049 miles, (esti 

 mated,) the running time 285J hours, made in fifty-three days, or 3.67 miles per hour. But three 

 portages of magnitude were made one of thirteen hundred paces on Clark s Fork river, above 

 the Pend d Oreille lake, one on the Columbia, at the Dalles, of eight hundred paces, and one at 

 the Cascades, one and a half mile in length. 



From Horse Plain, at the confluence of Clark s fork and the Bitter Root river, the whole dis 

 tance to the mouth of the Columbia readily admits the rafting of lumber, and it is probable that 

 logs can be run to Horse Plain from the upper valley of the Bitter Root in the freshets of spring, 

 and from and above the Flathead lake, on Clark s fork. 



The forest growth on the banks of the Columbia above the mouth of the Wenatshapam can be 

 transported down to any point of the river where it may be needed for fuel, for buildings, and 

 for constructions. Thus, for all practical purposes of railroad construction, the Columbia through 

 out its entire length may be considered as bountifully supplied with wood. 



With reference to the growth along its banks, I will quote from the report of Dr. Suckley: 



