THE SOIL, HOW MADE, AND FROM WHAT 33 



Cascade and Rocky Mountains in Oregon, Washington, and 

 Idaho. Then, again, we find to seaward (westward) of the 

 high ranges of the last two states, and also on the coast of 

 California north of Cape Mendocino, a humid climate with 

 summer rains. In northwestern Oregon and Washington 

 these rains are very abundant; while just across the moun- 

 tains to eastward (up to the Bitter Root and Blue Mountains) 

 not a drop of rain may fall for five or six months. The soils, 

 of course, on the opposite (humid and arid) sides of these 

 mountains differ just as they do between the Atlantic states 

 and California. The splendid crops of the Palouse country, 

 and of the lands lying to southward in Oregon and in the 

 Snake River Valley, are due to the great depth of soil and 

 increased rainfall caused by the mountains to eastward. 



