The Willamette Sound. 67 



mile in length, is in some places two hundred 

 feet wide and twenty-five to thirty deep. 

 Along the freshly fallen sides of these new 

 excavations one can see the distinct hori- 

 zontally stratified deposits we are seeking. 

 The record at Shoalwater bay is the latest 

 there; the record among these ravines is the 

 latest here. The height of water proved to 

 have existed so recently there must neces- 

 sarily have made its mark here. And now, 

 inasmuch as these ravine sediments are the 

 latest traces of high waters here, their eleva- 

 tion necessarily gives the height of those 

 waters. And the figures that mark the height 

 of these fossils above the present level of the 

 river are the figures we need to complete the 

 theory with which we started from the capes 

 of the Columbia. 



Nor is there any room for mistake here; 

 for while this fossil sediment extends through 

 a vertical range of more than one hundred and 

 fifty feet, the least total altitude that will meet 

 the conditions of the problem must take the 

 highest portion of this fossil bed. Stating this 



