60 The Willamette Sound. 



of deluge has left any trace of such agency 

 to disturb the conviction one feels that the 

 changes indicated there were quiet ones, cov- 

 ering a long period of time, yet scarcely dis- 

 turbing the quiet order of life over which they 

 presided. 



That every inlet on our northern coast 

 has its group of facts of like import there can 

 be no doubt. Our line of thought needs only 

 those that mark its extension to the Columbia 

 river, and there the lessons gleaned from the 

 bluffs of Shoalwater bay reappear in all their 

 clearness. A fine instance of this is seen in 

 a bluff on the old Whealdon farm, just inside 

 the cape. Several others may be seen along 

 the streams that fall into Young's bay, on the 

 south shore of the river, and just back of As- 

 toria. All these contain remains of animal 

 and vegetable life linked to our shores and 

 forests of to-day by identity of species, and 

 separated in our minds from the present order 

 of things by the conviction that the agencies 

 which placed them there have passed away. 



