CHAPTER IX. 

 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 rafting 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 

 occasion 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. 



