SHASTA ROUTE— ^SEATTLE TO SAN FEAXCISCO. 41 



At Drain the railroad crosses Elk Creek and entei-s a gorge cut in 

 hard basaltic rock, illustrating the fact, abcady pointed out, that 



where the rock is hard erosion is slow and the stream 

 '^^^'"- valleys are narrow, but where the rocks are soft, as 



Elevation 324 feet. nortli of Drain and near Yoncalla, erosion is more 



Population 335. 'j i xi i. ti • t .i • n a 



Seattle 34snifles. rapid and the streams readily widen their vaUeys. A 



stage line from Drain down Elk Creek and the Umpqua 

 reaches tidewater at Scottsburg, about 25 miles from the coast. 



Near milepost 606, on the right (west), is a mineral spring (Bozwell 



Spring). 



From Yoncalla Valley (see sheet 6, p. 46) grain fields, orchards, 



and flowered pastures sweep up the gentle hillsides. 

 Many of the hills in this vicinity are composed of 



Yoncalla. 



Elevation 385 feet. Eoceno Sediments, but some may have been carved 

 Seattle 353 mUes. from basaltic lavas. The rocks to be seen on the 



long ascent to Rice Hill are largely shale and sand- 



Kice Hill. 



Elevation 774 feet. 



stone, but include a small mass of basalt. At the 



seat^ie'ssVm^^^^^^^ sunimit early in June are golden fields of St. John's 



wort (Hypericum), locally called goat weed. 

 Half a mile north of Oakland the railroad crosses Calapooya 

 Creek, just beyond which, on the left, is a small lens of impure lime- 

 stone of Eocene age that contains great numbers of 

 Oakland. fossils. To the right, beyond the station, can be had 



Elevation 454 feet. a vicw of Tyce Mountain, apart of the Coast Range, 

 s2S?£?riL This range is more even crested here than it is farther 



north. Turning to the left the railroad goes through 

 a sandstone ridge, near which are some tile works, and comes out 

 on the flat valley called Camas Swale, where the thriving town of 

 Sutherlin has recently sprung up. Camas Swale was once occu- 

 pied by Calapooya Creek, but long before man had 

 any knowledge of the region the creek deserted this 



Sutherlin 



Elevation 548 feet. valley for its present course, north of Oakland, rejoin- 

 seattio 3-0 mnes. .^^ ^^^^ ^^^ channel just below Stephens. Man has 



since compelled part of the water of the creek to return to the old 

 valley, where it is used for irrigating numerous thrifty orchards and 

 productive fields. To the west may be seen the Coast Range and, 

 nearer at hand, the entrance to the crooked canyon thi'ough which 

 Umpqua River runs northward to the mouth of Elk Creek, west of 

 Drain, before turning to the sea. South of Camas Swale, to the left 

 (east) of the track, are prominent hills of Eocene sandstone. Near 

 Wilbur the sandstone is accompanied by masses of a rather coarse- 

 grained basaltic rock called diabase. This rock is beheved to have 

 been forced in a molten condition through the sand that was later 

 consolidated into the Eocene sandstone while that material was being 

 deposited on the sea bottom and to have been in turn covered by 

 more sand. During the period of eruption deposits of tuff, made up 



