NARRATIVE OF 1853, 157 
The tide flows up these from five to fifteen miles, and so far vessels can easily go. Large 
barks have loaded with lumber several miles up the Willopah, which is the largest, and a 
considerable amount of piles and square timber has been shipped from different parts of the 
bay to San Francisco. The country bordering it, except along the sea beach, is heavily wooded 
with fir, spruce, hemlock, and cedar, (Arbor vite, ) and along the river is fine maple and alder, 
all easily accessible, and for cutting which a saw-mill has already been erected. Besides several 
claims taken for farming and lumbering, a settlement has grown up from the oyster trade at 
the north end of the bay, opposite the entrance. The oysters are gathered, mostly, by Indians, 
from whom they are bought by the white settlers, in exchange for goods, and sold alongside 
the vessel for $1 50 per bushel, but in San Francisco are worth $7, there being much loss in 
their transportation. Fall salmon, sturgeon, and other fish are abundant, promising a profitable 
fishery at a future period. 
The principal object of his journey being to explore a route connecting this bay with the 
interior, he learned on inquiry that an old Indian trail, unused for many years since the 
extinction of the tribe through whose country it ran, led from some point on the Willopah 
across the coast hills to the road leading from the Cowlitz to Puget Sound, and that the 
journey could be made in two days. He found it, however, impossible to obtain Indian guides 
at that season, the few remaining at the bay who had ever travelled over it, representing it as 
entirely overgrown and difficult to follow. Three of the citizens, however, Messrs. J. L. Brown, 
Charles Stuart, and Samuel Woodward, volunteered to accompany him, and he concluded, at 
least, to make the attempt. On December 17 they went fifteen miles up the Willopah in a 
canoe, and then started on foot, taking six days’ provisions. The densely wooded nature of 
the hills and the rainy weather, preventing them from picking a route along the ridges, they 
were compelled to follow the valley, occasionally fording the river at the bends. Finding, after 
three days’ travel, (having to cut a way for long distances through the underbrush,) that they 
had only made fifteen miles, and being apprehensive that they might be caught in a snow-storm, 
they concluded to return, having ascertained the general direction of the valley, and marked 
the beginning of the route. Е 
The lower part of the Willopah is bordered by tide-lands, much of them excellent for grazing, 
and parts for cultivation. The river is a mile wide at its mouth, narrowing to twenty-five yards 
beyond the influence of the tides, which is also about the width of the channel at low tido. 
Above this it is a rapid, shallow stream, navigable only for canoes, very winding, and with 
some bottom land subject to overflow. At the head of navigation also open prairies commence, 
varying from thirty to five hundred acres in extent; the rest of the valley is level, but covered 
with timber, mostly vine maple, easily cleared. The whole valley above tide-water embraces 
an area twenty miles long and ten wide. Towards the head of the river the hills separating 
it from the Chehalis and Columbia appeared quite low. i 
From observation, as well as from the reports of the Indians, this could form no om 
obstacle to a road towards the sound, which could probably be made very complete for $50 per mile. 
Being instructed, also, to inquire concerning other routes between the mouth of the Columbia 
and the sound, he learned that, up the branch called Gray’s river, there was a valley кк 
than that of the Willopah, lightly timbered, and with a rich black soil, through wiih, and 
Over a range of hills, there could probably be made a good road to the upper мам — 
it would intersect the Cowlitz road. Another route would lead up the Elokamin or сис 
river from Kathlamet to the same points, having the advantage of an excellent landing for the 
