APT'ENDIX. 485 



Gold is found along the Columbia from latitude 47^ to 49*^, 

 but there has been very little mining there, because of the dif- 

 ticulty of getting at the bars. Miners have on several occa- 

 sions undertaken to work in the i)lacers of the Yakima and 

 Wenatchee, but have been driven away by the Indians. The 

 diggings along Clark's River, called the Colville mines, liave 

 been regularly worked every year since 185-^. The placers 

 in the basins of the Salmon aiid Clearwater Rivors were dis- 

 covered in 1861, and very little is known of them yet. The 

 mines of these two streams may be considered as one district, 

 extending from latitude 45° 30' to 47°, and from longitude 

 114° to 116°. The general character of the gold found in 

 the Clearwater placers or Nez Perces mines, as they are 

 called, Irom the fact that they are within the limits of a 

 reservation set apart for the Nez Perces Indians, is fine 

 — that is, the metal is found in small particles; while the Sal- 

 mon River gold is coarse. 'No auriferous quartz veins have 

 been found in the basins of either river. The placers are 

 found near the surface, and the gold is obtained by washing 

 the dirt in sluices or long troughs, as in California. Some 

 hill diggings have been found, but nearly all the mining as 

 yet is done in the beds, bars, and banks of small streams. — 

 Thi^ western district of Washington has a climate exactly like 

 that of England in temperature. The average temperature of 

 the different montiis of the year is as follows : January, 3S° ; 

 February, 40*=* ; March, 42^^ ; April, 48° ; May, 55°; June, 60° ; 

 July, 64° ; August, 63° ; September, 57° ; October, 52° ; No- 

 vember, 45° ; December, 39°. The mean temperature for the 

 year is 50°. The climate is very wet. Rain, sleet, and fog 

 prevail during a large part of the year. The average amount 

 of water falling annually is 53 inches, against 43 inches in 

 New York, and 22 in San Francisco. East of the Cascade 

 Mountains, the annual fall of rain, except near the Rocky 

 Mountains, is not one fourth so much a^ about Puget Sound. 

 The winters are very cold and the summers very hot. — The 

 largest, most abundant, and most valuable trees of Washing- 



