CHARACTERISTICS OF OREGON 



high, beaming with intelligence, and so im 

 pressive that one was overawed as if suddenly 

 brought before some superior being newly 

 arrived from the sky. 



The atmosphere was somewhat hazy, but 

 the mountain seemed neither near nor far. 

 Its glaciers flashed in the divine light. The 

 rugged, storm-worn ridges between them and 

 the snowfields of the summit, these perhaps 

 might have been traced as far as they were in 

 sight, and the blending zones of color about 

 the base. But so profound was the general 

 impression, partial analysis did not come into 

 play. The whole mountain appeared as one 

 glorious manifestation of divine power, en 

 thusiastic and benevolent, glowing like a 

 countenance with ineffable repose and beauty, 

 before which we could only gaze in devout and 

 lowly admiration. 



The far-famed Oregon forests cover all the 

 western section of the State, the mountains 

 as well as the lowlands, with the exception of 

 a few gravelly spots and open spaces in the 

 central portions of the great cultivated val 

 leys. Beginning on the coast, where their 

 outer ranks are drenched and buffeted by 

 wind-driven scud from the sea, they press on 

 in close, majestic ranks over the coast moun 

 tains, across the broad central valleys, and 



297 



