THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 165 
Beyond Ritzville are the stations Essig (see sheet 23, p. 168), Paha, 
and Ruby, but there is little of interest until, as the train descends a 
valley at milepost 164, the main line of the Chicago, 
Lind. Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway i is seen on the left. 
pte cln 5 feet. This road diverges from the main line of the Northern 
Pacific at De Smet, a short distance west of Missoula, 
and crosses the Coeur d’Alene Mountains by a more 
direct route than that of the Northern Pacific by Pend Oreille Lake. 
At Lind the two roads are on opposite sides of the valley, but a mile 
below the town the St. Paul road crosses the Northern Pacific on a 
substantial steel and concrete viaduct. Below the crossing the 
St. Paul line keeps down the valley, but the Northern Pacific climbs 
the slope beyond the creek so as to pass into another valley draining 
to the south. In ascending this ridge it is interesting to note that 
in a number of cuts where the rocks are well exposed the basalt is 
overlain by white silt or clay and fine sand that covers the entire 
hillside and conceals every irregularity of the hard rock beneath. 
This material has been taken as indicating the presence of a lake in 
glacial time, similar to glacial Lake Missoula, but the absence of 
lines of stratification (bedding) shows that the material has had a 
different origin. The question of the origin is bound up in the 
general Tertiary history of this region.' 
After reaching the summit at Providence the railway begins the 
long descent of a little valley which leads eventually into the open 
plain above Pasco. This is one of the least interest- 
ing stretches, so far as scenery is concerned, along the 
Northern Pacific, for the valley is so narrow that the 
views from the train give no idea of the character of 
the upland. e valley is carved in basalt, which shows in places 
in rugged ledges, with the white loess mantling everything. 
St. Paul 1,587 miles. 
Providence. 
Elevation 1,549 feet. 
St. Paul 1,595 miles 
tion Co.’s railroad, as stated above, but | Co., a corporation owned jointly by the 
there were other reasons, such as the 
possibilities of obtaining large traffic in 
a Valley and the fact that any 
expensive nay As than the present 
crossing, construction of the line by 
the faa i Pacific along the north 
bank of Columbia River was delayed so 
long that Congress declared a forfeiture of 
portion of its charter and of the ac- 
until 1908 that a railro 
along the north bank of the Columbia by 
the Spokane, Pi e Railwa: 
Nort — Pacific and the Great Northern 
compani 
' The ees history of Oregon = 
Washington begins before there was 
ascade Range, at a time when the at 
tory now occupied by that range, as well 
as much of the region lying to the east, was 
a lowland in which shallow estuaries ex- 
tended for long distances from the coast, 
while to the east were fresh-water lakes. 
In these shallow waters and on the low 
land near them was laid down a thick 
series of beds of shale, sandstone, and coal, 
now known as the Swauk and Roslyn for- 
mations, of Eocene (Tertiary) age. The 
; 
