THE RIVERS OF OREGON 



drain large and fertile and beautiful valleys. 

 Rogue River Valley is peculiarly attractive. 

 With a fine climate, and kindly, productive 

 soil, the scenery is delightful. About the main, 

 central open portion of the basin, dotted with 

 picturesque groves of oak, there are many 

 smaller valleys charmingly environed, the 

 whole surrounded in the distance by the Sis- 

 kiyou, Coast, Umpqua, and Cascade Moun- 

 tains. Besides the cereals nearly every sort of 

 fruit flourishes here, and large areas are being 

 devoted to peach, apricot, nectarine, and vine 

 culture. To me it seems above all others the 

 garden valley of Oregon and the most delight- 

 ful place for a home. On the eastern run of 

 the valley, in the Cascade Mountains, about 

 sixty miles from Medford hi a direct line, is 

 the remarkable Crater Lake, usually regarded 

 as the one grand wonder of the region. It lies 

 in a deep, sheer-walled basin about seven thou- 

 sand feet above the level of the sea, supposed 

 to be the crater of an extinct volcano. 



Oregon as it is to-day is a very young coun- 

 try, though most of it seems old. Contem- 

 plating the Columbia sweeping from forest to 

 forest, across plain and desert, one is led to 

 say of it, as did Byron of the ocean, 



"Such as Creation's dawn beheld, thou rollest now." 

 345 



