350 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



four miles to the southwest of the town, 

 over the nearly level floor of the Coulee, 

 which is dotted with sage brush and 

 basalt hummocks, past several farms 

 with small orchards, the brink was 

 reached and its western margin fol- 

 lowed until a wonderful panorama was 

 disclosed. Stretching to the eastward 

 for about three miles was the serrate 

 headwall of the Lower Coulee, with a 

 large and small plunge pool lake lying 

 at its foot, occupying hollows in the 

 rock carved out by the falling waters 

 which gradually wore the cliff back sev- 

 eral miles up the Lower Coulee to this 

 point during the time in the Glacial 

 Period that the waters of the Columbia 

 River with water from the melting ice 

 were flowing in this high level channel. 

 Different parts of the cliff have receded 

 at different rates, and the plunge lakes 

 lie in the deepest embayments, separated 

 by a flat-topped remnant of the cliffs, 

 which is partly fallen to pieces. The 

 larger of these lakes is called Castle 

 Lake, and is a beautiful sight as viewed 

 from the top of the cliff. The basalt 

 rock of the cliffs turns a rusty brown 

 under the effects of the weather, and is 

 frequently covered with orange or 

 greenish-yellow lichens in great patches, 

 so that the cliffs are generally bright 

 colored. 



We continued along the road for 

 about two miles more to the southwest 

 and obtained a fine view down the 

 Lower Coulee for several miles, and 

 saw nearly the whole floor occupied by 

 a chain of lakes, which are nearly con- 

 tinuous. The nearest lake was Blue 

 Lake, and the next, partly hidden by a 

 bend in the Coulee, is Alkali Lake. The 

 west wall here has a height of nearly 

 900 feet, but the long talus slope which 

 extends about half way up, makes the 

 height seem less. The east wall is about 

 half the height of the west wall. The 

 fringe of vegetation about the shore of 

 Blue Lake, and the farm with a fine or- 

 chard at the northern end of the lake 

 added a touch of green, which made 

 the scene one of great beauty and 

 grandeur. 



The road descends to the floor of the 

 Lower Coulee from this lookout point, 

 and if in a light wagon, or on horse- 

 back, or foot, it is possible to make the 

 descent. The road is so very steep and 

 has such sharp turns that it is not ad- 

 visable to descend in an automobile. On 

 reaching the bottom we went through 

 the farm and fruit orchard to the shores 

 of Blue Lake, and out on the lake in a 

 boat and landed on some of the small 

 islands. Later we went up to Castle 

 Lake and the other small lakes near the 

 foot of the fall, and traveled up a road 

 to the east which leads past another 

 small farm and into an eastern branch 

 of the Lower Coulee. 



This eastern branch of the Lower 

 Coulee is in many respects the most in- 

 teresting and beautiful, because it is 

 comparatively narrow, and a large part 

 of it is occupied by a long, narrow lake, 

 which is bordered by vertical cliffs. The 

 lake is called Deep Lake, and from the 

 vertical walls and the absence of any 

 beaches it must be very deep, although 

 no measurements of its depth have been 

 made so far as could be ascertained. It 

 is possible to get out of this east branch 

 at one place only, and that is on the 

 south side, where a road has been made 

 which rises through a notch in the wail 

 and reaches the upper level, and then 

 swings to the north past the head of the 

 east branch around to Coulee City. 



The Deep Lake branch of the Lower 

 Coulee may be reached most easily by a 

 walk or drive of about two miles to the 

 south of Coulee City. This branch falls 

 away gradually in a series of steps, with 

 drops of from 15-50 feet, which must 

 have caused beautiful cataracts when 

 the water was flowing through here. A 

 few small pools remain in the deeper 

 hollows of the upper part of this chan- 

 nel. We swung to the east past the 

 head of this branch, and then following 

 along the southern brim soon came to a 

 lookoff point from which we looked 

 down upon Deep Lake, the surface of 

 whose waters is about 425 feet below. 

 The walls rise from the water in a ver- 

 tical cliff for about 100 feet, and then 



