158 The Rocks of the John Day Valley. 



as the elevation and extent of the land in- 

 creased, the ocean water that first occupied 

 the depressions between was displaced and 

 fresh water took its place, brought there by 

 the now greatly increased flow from the land. 

 Henceforth history written by the ocean 

 ceased; history written by lakes and rivers 

 commenced in the storing away of specimens 

 of tree and beast and bird, and their effectual 

 preservation as material facts in an unerring 

 record. The sea thus excluded never re- 

 turned to the region east of the Cascade 

 mountains. A vast lake system took its place 

 and began at once to make, as well as to 

 write, its own history. 



There are many residents of the Pacific 

 slope who will remember having journeyed 

 from The Dalles, on the Columbia river, to 

 Canyon City, among the Blue mountains. 

 For sixty miles or more the road passes over 

 volcanic materials which have drifted there 

 from the Cascade range. Twenty miles fur- 

 ther and this outflow thins out into a mere 

 capping of basalt on the hill tops. The hills 



