178 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 
suited to the raising of hay and to dairying than that of the lower 
valley. 
A little north of Ellensburg Mount Stuart, far to the north, stands 
up as a narrow, jagged crest carrying much snow. This view is 
not so imposing as that of Mount Adams seen from a point farther 
down the valley, but the summits here are much narrower than 
that of Mount Adams and the mountain has a more rugged outline. 
The railway is bordered by broad meadows of timothy or clover 
and by fields of oats or wheat that roll in great billows under the 
strong wind that at times sweeps down the valley from the mountains. 
About a mile from the station the St. Paul Railway is visible on the 
right, having crossed Columbia River by a route leading directly 
west from Connell. 
The bluff on the right near milepost 4 is composed of the Ellens- 
burg formation, which overlies the great flows of basalt and is com- 
posed of white clay (in most places volcanic ash), sand, and oravel. 
This material is only partly consolidated, but it stands in steep 
bluffs, as can be seen on the right. The material is so soft and the 
slope so steep that in carrying water along the bluff to irrigate lands 
lower down the valley a timber flume had to be built along the 
entire face of the bluff a distance of more than 2 miles. This 
gives an idea of the elaborate and expensive work that must be 
done in many localities in order to obtain the necessary water for 
wrigation. Not only is the first cost of such a flume great, but the 
maintenance is a considerable item of expense which must be met 
every year. 
Just after passing milepost 7 the train crosses Yakima River, 
here a small stream but beautifully clear and pure, and then it 
follows the river bottom, in some places on the bank 
er ee te) of the stream and in others back at the foot of the 
St. Paul 1,785 miles, Dluff as the river swings from side to side of its 
flood plain. Near milepost 10 the railway again 
crosses the river, and the St. Paul road is on the other side under 
a high bluff, in which is exposed a prominent band of white volcanic 
ash. At the first sharp curve north of the river crossing the basalt 
is at track level, but it rises up the stream with the soft, stratified — 
beds of the Ellensburg formation which rest upon it and which rise 
in the same direction and at the same rate. 
The canyons south of this place have been cut by Yakima River 
through low rolls or folds in the basalt, but none of these folds have 
been of sufficient magnitude for the river to reach the base of the 
lava sheets; but north of Ellensburg the whole series of rock forma- 
tions has been turned up like the rim of a basin, and the canyon 
which begins at Dudley, 10 miles above Ellensburg, is the cut made 
