198 The Development Theory. 



Columbia. Of this, too, we may say, and 

 say properly, God created it, the whole of it. 

 But what does this act of creation imply? Let 

 us see: The long winding stream of water 

 we call the Columbia river is a vast thread that 

 binds into geographical oneness regions wide 

 apart and strangely varied, but united in this 

 one tie of an extended water course. 



Similar to this is its place in time; here, 

 too, it becomes a thread that ties together 

 widely dissimilar chapters of geological his- 

 tory. Let us try to recall two or three of 

 these. 



That we may get a glimpse of the first of 

 these restorations of past history, it is requi- 

 site that we imagine the stream of time rolled 

 back one hundred thousand years or more. 



This done and we shall find the water shed 

 of the Columbia river of that period occupy- 

 ing in the main the same region it does now, 

 and yet along its whole course it will seem 

 wondrously changed. It was then in its lower 

 or western portion a broad, winding strait, 

 bearing the same relation to the interior that 



