68 The Willamette Sound. 



at two hundred and fifty feet above the pres- 

 ent level of the river is placing it at the low- 

 est, and even then with the understanding 

 that we are dealing with sediment and not 

 with surface lines. Nor yet will it do to set 

 these facts to the credit of that system of 

 river terraces known to exist throughout the 

 northern portion of our continent. These 

 were described from Frazer river by Chief 

 Justice Begbie of British Columbia, and years 

 ago Professor Dana described those from Ore- 

 gon and California; still later The American 

 Journal of Science designated them as "part 

 of a system of terraces that covers a large 

 part of North America north of the Ohio 

 and existing on all streams, as far as exam- 

 ined, nearly to their heads in the mountains." 

 Now our facts and these exclusively in- 

 land facts refuse to be classed together. 

 The system of old shore lines we are tracing 

 belongs primarily to the sea shore. These 

 other terraces run inland, high among the 

 mountains. The facts upon which our theory 

 was based were gathered at Shoalwater bay, 



