6 FIELD OPERATIONS OF THE BUREAU OF SOILS, 1912. 



most picturesque streams iii the Northwest. For about 18 miles 

 above its confluence with the Cokmibia it follows a single channel 

 carved deep in the country rock. Above this pomt several branches 

 flow into the river from the Cascade Range, from the northern and 

 eastern slopes of Mount Hood, draining a region covered with dense 

 virgm forest. (PL I.) 



The so-called Hood River Valley is a basui, the surface of which is 

 a series of plateaulike flats, lying at elevations of 100 to 500 feet above 

 the beds of the streams and hiclosed by the steeply slopmg sides of the 

 adjacent mountains and hills. It is divided mto three more or less 

 distmct and conspicuous topographic divisions, kno\\^l as the Upper, 

 Middle, and Lower Valleys. The land surface of the extreme southern 

 part of the valley, or Upper Valley, is that of a dissected plain, having 

 a pronounced northward slope. It extends northward to the conflu- 

 ence of the drainage courses or to a prominent ridge occurring in the 

 central part of T. 1 N. This elevation, a short distance from Mount 

 Hood post office, forms the boundary between the Upper and Middle 

 Valleys. 



The Middle Valley consists of but a few hundred acres of gently 

 sloping land, the drainage of which is northward through Neal Creek 

 Canyon into Hood River. 



A somewhat precipitous mountam, east of Hood River, havmg an 

 elevation of about 3,000 feet and extendmg eastward from near 

 Bloucher and Trout Creek on the Mount Plood Railroad, with a low 

 ridge between it and the mountains along the eastern margin of the 

 area, forms the boundary between the Middle and Lower Valleys. 

 Along the northern slope of this ridge there is a small plateau, known 

 as Willow Flat, extending from Odell Creek eastward to Neal Creek. 

 This plateau is bounded on the north by a steep slope, which is nearly 

 coincident with the boundary between the Underwood loam and the 

 lower lymg Hood silt loam, just south of Odell. (See soil map.) 

 From this northern boundary of Willow Flat and the spur of mountain 

 near Bloucher and extendmg northward to the Columbia River lies 

 what is known as the Lower Valley. With the exception of the deep, 

 tortuous channels of the streams and a few mmor elevations, such as 

 Van Horn Butte and Lentz Butte, the land surface slopes quite uni- 

 formly to the northward, and the larger part of it is without any 

 marked irregularities. The elevation of this part of the valley is from 

 500 to 1,200 feet above sea level. 



The Hood River Valley is bounded on the north by the intrenched 

 valley and gorge of the Columbia River. The level portion of the 

 vaUey is separated from this gorge by precipitous walls of basalt and 

 by steep rocky slopes followmg an ii-regular Ime one-half mile to a 



