186 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 
Although the railway is steadily descending as it follows Green 
River, the canyon grows no deeper, for the reason that the westward 
slope of the top of the plateau in which it is cut is 
Lester. about the same as the grade of the stream. In the 
Elevation 1,626feet. vicinity of Lester the stream flows about 3,000 feet 
st Paul 1839 miles, elow the tops of the highest hills on either side, and 
this depth is maintained for a considerable distance. 
Hot Springs (see sheet 27, p. 196) was once a noted resort, with a 
large hotel on the right of the track; but a number of years ago 
the hotel was destroyed by fire, and it has not been 
Hot Springs. rebuilt. Green River is now utilized by the city of 
Blevation 1,545 feet. "Tacoma for its water supply, and great care is exer- 
St. Paul 1,841 miles. : . : : 
cised in keeping the stream free from pollution. The 
intake of the waterworks will be seen lower down the stream. 
Below Hot Springs the timber was originally very heavy, but most 
of it has been cut off or burned, and the traveler can obtain a very 
inadequate idea of a virgin Washington forest from 
Maywood. what he sees along this route. In many places, how- 
ee ever, the second growth is very dense, and it would 
: : be difficult to force one’s way through it. In this 
vicinity the traveler gets his first good view of the luxuriant growth 
of ferns that characterizes the forests of the coastal belt of Oregon and 
Washington. (See Pl. XXVI, p. 194.) The rocks, although much 
obscured by vegetation, are similar to the lava flows and breccias 
that occur near the summit of the range and also on 
Humphrey. the east side.. In the Green River valley the rocks 
pe Pad sar ea have been smoothed and rounded by the glaciers 
that formerly flowed down the valley and spread out 
on the plain below. The smooth and open character of the valley 
continues down as far as Eagle Gorge, but beyond that place the 
river enters a narrow, steep-walled canyon that in no 
Eagle Gorge. respect resembles the valley higher up. The contour 
an ‘1110 feet. map shows that a broad valley continues below Eagle 
St. Paul 1,854 miles. Gorge to Barneston, but that neither the river nor 
the railway follows it. From the arrangement of 
the valleys it is evident that Green River, at some time in the 
an epoch during which the ice melted hardy vegetation may have flourished in 
earlier and more rapidly in the lowlands, | soil upon the ice. Rivers flowed on the 
later and lingeringly in the canyons of | glaciers, through tunnels in them, and 
the The piedmont glaciers | from beneath them. Ice-bound lakes 
till they parted, and each man- | were formed in embayments of the hills. 
tled the foothills of its parent range. The | Changes succeeded one another fre- 
Pee eal i. os eee a =e fee gm 
of stagnant ice buried beneath accumu- | and lake left a meager record of its exist- 
lations of gravel, sand, and loam, and | ence in deposits of detritus. 
