484 APPENCIX. 



ington is TV'est of the Cnscade range, although that district repre- 

 sents only about one eighth of the area of the Territory. The 

 soil east of the Cascade is thin, sterile, stony, and dry ; and its 

 unfitness for cultivation is shown by the scantiness and low 

 character of the vegetation. Deciduous trees, especially such 

 as delight in a rich soil, and luxuriant shrubbery, are seen in but 

 few places ; and there are districts where the traveller may go 

 hundreds of miles without seeing a tree save stunted pines, or 

 a bush save the desert-loving wild-sage. This is the general 

 character of the eastern part of the Territory, but there are 

 exceptional spots. Walla Walla Valley has a rich soil ; Mill 

 Creek Valley, near Fort Colville, yields good crops; and in 

 the basins of the Clearwater and Salmon Rivers there are 

 fertile tracts, that will at no distant day be subjected to the 

 plough. The soil about Puget Sound is mostly fertile, in 

 Borae places very rich, in others sandy and gravelly. The 

 vicinity of Seattle is said to have the best soil, that of Steila- 

 coom the most gravelly. The greater part of the western 

 dist! ict is covered with dense evergreen forests, which require 

 vast labor in clearing. Near Olympia are found deep beds of 

 muck made by the decomposition of vegetable matter, valu- 

 able for manure. — West of the Cnscade Mountains the tertiary 

 sandstone prevails. About Puget Sound it is covered by a 

 very deep deposit of alluvium, in some places one hundred feet 

 deep. Lignite or tertiary coal is found in many places ; at Bel- 

 lingham Bay there is a mine which supplies Inrge quantities of 

 it to commerce. In the Olympian, Cascade, and Rocky Moun- 

 tains, granite is the predominant rock. Near Mount Adama 

 there is a large field of lava. East of the Cascade Mountains 

 the rocks are chiefly igneous and metamor[)hic. Trap is very 

 abundant, and in many places there are wide plains covered 

 with volcanic scorias. Small specimens of placer-gold have 

 been found in various little streams flowing from the Olympian 

 mountains and in the Skaget River; and rich diggings have 

 been fovmd on the banks and bars of the Wenatchee, Yakima, 

 Okinagan, Columbia, Clark, Saimon, and Clearwater Rivers. 



