SHASTA EOUTE — SEATTLE TO SAN FRANCISCO. 25 



■ 



At 157 miles from Seattle Lewis River is crossed. The bluffs of 

 basalt on the left here give place to slopes of gravel, sand, and clay. 

 These deposits were laid dow^i by Columbia River in early Pleisto- 

 cene time and now form hills of pleasing rounded contours. 



Two miles beyond the crossing of Lewis River are well-stratified 

 sands and clays like those near Tacoma, and just beyond is a hori- 

 zontal sheet of lava (basalt) showing the peculiar feature called 

 columnar jointing. The columns are due to cracks produced in the 

 lava by contraction on cooling and maybe compared with the polyg- 

 onal cakes into which a layer of mud breaks on drying. The mud 

 cakes are thin in comparison with the long, regular columns found in 

 some bodies of basalt, but the modes of formation are analogous. 



Gravels deposited by the Columbia when its bed was higher than 



it is now occur between Ridgefield and Knapps, 

 ^, ^. ,^, ^ where they form an extensive terrace 50 feet above 



Elevation 60 feet. i i 



Popiiiation 297. sca levcL Ou tlio Icftj near Felida, is a bluff of 



Seattle 161 miles. 



Ridgefield. 



gravel and sand, which are older than the Pleis- 

 ''^^*^^- tocene gravel of Columbia River. 



^uificl^L^^^^^^ At Vancouver Junction the rounded hiUs are 



covered with prune orchards. From this place 

 a branch line runs northeastward 28 miles to 



Vancouver Junction. 



Elevation 62 feet. 



Seattle 172 miles. l acolt. 



Vancouver Wash Vancouver is the military headquarters of the 



Elevation c5 feet. Department of the Columbia. Here Dr. John 



Population 9,300. McLoughlin, thc factor of the Hudson's Bay Co., 



omies. ^-j^^ j^ 1824-25 ruled the region with iron hand 



but benevolent purpose, built Fort Vancouver, which soon became 

 not only a tluriving port for ocean vessels engaged in the western 

 fur trade but also an outfitting point for exploring parties. In 1841 

 the Wilkes exploring expedition ascended the Columbia and camped 

 at Fort Vancouver for some months, exploring the great river and 

 its tributaries. An overland party imder Lieut, Emmons, including 

 the geologist J. D. Dana, was dispatched by way of the Willam- 

 ette Valley, Mount Shasta, and Sacramento to San Francisco. In 

 1843 John C. Fremont visited Fort Vancouver, havmg floated down 

 the Columbia from The DaUes, a route then in favor by emigrants who 

 came into the country over the Oregon Trail. On arklike rafts 

 loaded with farm and household belongings these emigrants glided 

 down the river, those boimd for the Puget Soimd coimtry turning 

 northward from the Columbia at the mouth of the Cowlitz, and those 

 for the Willamette Valley turning southward opposite Vancouver. 

 Later, in 1853-1855, came the exploring parties of the Pacific railroad 

 surveys in search of the best transcontinental and coast routes. 



