THE RIVERS OF OREGON 



deep. The walls of the canon lean well back 

 in most places, and leave here and there small 

 strips, or bays, of level ground along the wa- 

 ter's edge. But towards the Cascades, and 

 for some distance below them, the immediate 

 banks are guarded by walls of columnar ba- 

 salt, which are worn in many places into a 

 great variety of bold and picturesque forms, 

 such as the Castle Rock, the Rooster Rock, 

 the Pillars of Hercules, Cape Horn, etc., while 

 back of these rise the sublime mountain-walls, 

 forest-crowned and fringed more or less from 

 top to base with pine, spruce, and shaggy 

 underbrush, especially in the narrow gorges and 

 ravines, where innumerable small streams 

 come dancing and drifting down, misty and 

 white, to join the mighty river. Many of 

 these falls on both sides of the canon of the 

 Columbia are far larger and more interesting 

 in every way than would be guessed from the 

 slight glimpses one gets of them while sailing 

 past on the river, or from the car windows. 

 The Multnomah Falls are particularly inter- 

 esting, and occupy fern-lined gorges of marvel- 

 ous beauty in the basalt. They are said to be 

 about eight hundred feet in height and, at 

 times of high water when the mountain snows 

 are melting, are well worthy of a place beside 

 the famous falls of the Yosemite Valley. 

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