THE RIVERS OF OREGON 



The Deschutes River comes in from the 

 south about twenty miles below the John Day. 

 It is a large, boisterous stream, draining the 

 eastern slope of the Cascade Range for nearly 

 two hundred miles, and from the great num- 

 ber of falls on the main trunk, .as well as on 

 its many mountain tributaries, well deserves 

 its name. It enters the Columbia with a grand 

 roar of falls and rapids, and at times seems 

 almost to rival the main stream in the volume 

 of water it carries. Near the mouth of the 

 Deschutes are the Falls of the Columbia, 

 where the river passes a rough bar of lava. 

 The descent is not great, but the immense vol- 

 ume of water makes a grand display. During 

 the flood-season the falls are obliterated and 

 skillful boatmen pass over them in safety ; while 

 the Dalles, some six or eight miles below, may be 

 passed diu-ing low water but are utterly impas- 

 sable in flood-time. At the Dalles the vast river 

 is jammed together into a long, narrow slot of 

 unknown depth cut sheer down in the basalt. 



This slot, or trough, is about a mile and a 

 half long and about sixty yards wide at the 

 narrowest place. At ordinary times the river 

 seems to be set on edge and runs swiftly but 

 without much noisy surging with a descent 

 of about twenty feet to the mile. But when 

 the snow is melting on the mountains the 



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