or ] 
The lesser Lakes'and Rivers 21) 
a mile and a quarter and an average breadth of 310 feet; to 
Williamson, Sprague and Lost rivers; to the hot and coid min- 
eral and non-mineral springs; to rivers which in great volume 
rise from and disappear into the earth ; to the lava beds, and to the 
magnificent fertile plains where wheat is grown in abundance 
at an elevation of over 4,000 feet; but these and many other 
features must be passed over or barely mentioned. 
The Oregon Caves. 
Scarcely less wonderful than the mysterious Crater lake are 
the caverns of the Oregon mountains. The Josephine county 
caves, about thirty miles from the railroad southwest of Grant 
pass, will be found when thoroughly explored, it is believed by 
those who know most about them, to be as extensive and won- 
derful as is the Mammoth cave of Kentucky. These caves were 
discovered but a few years ago by a hunter named Elijah David- 
son, who followed a bear to its lair in the lower cave. The 
entrance to each of the caves, one located higher in the moun- 
tain than the other, is about eight feet wide and seven feet high. 
They contain a great number of wonderful avenues, said to be 
miles in length, besides large numbers of chambers, grottoes, 
lakes, abysses and cataracts, and also innumerable chambers, 
large and small. The first chamber is ten feet in height. One, 
called “The Devil's Banquet Hall,” is 150 feet in length by 75 
feet in width and 60 feet in height. Its roof and walls are bril- 
liant with hundreds of scintillating stalactites. The only explo- 
ration of these wonderful caverns has been by private parties. 
A thorough, scientific exploration should be made at an early 
day, and it is my intention to ask an appropriation from the 
next Congress for such purpose. 
The Great Wheat-producing Inland Empire. 
The vast fertile grain-producing valleys of Oregon are the 
Willamette, the Rogue river, the Umpqua, and that portion of 
what is known as the “great Inland Empire” which lies in 
eastern Oregon. The Willamette extends from Portland to the 
Calipooia mountains, 30 miles south of Eugene, a distance of 
over 150 miles in length by an average of 75 miles in width. 
This valley is famed as one of the most fertile and productive 
in the world. There is scarcely an acre of waste land in this 
