NARRATIVE OF 1853. 159 
Agent Shaw have gone by land from Neeah bay, west of the Coast range, to Gray’s harbor; also 
from the Qui-naitl river, midway between Gray’s harbor and Neeah bay, to the head of Hood’s 
Canal, and from the Chehalis river, along several lines, the Satsop, Black river, and other lines, 
to the head of the canal and the head of the sound. In the volunteer service much information 
was also gained of this country, and I have freely made use of everything at my disposal in 
giving the geographical a but I shall state nothing of the entire accuracy of which I 
am not satisfied. 
I will remark that, previous to my visit down the sound, both Dr. Suckley and Lieutenant 
Arnold reached Olympia. Lieutenant Arnold executed the instructions which he had received 
from Lieutenant Donelson, to proceed to Colville from Clark’s Fork, though, in crossing the 
intermediate divide, he encountered a considerable fall of snow, which, on the divide, accumu- 
lated to the depth of two feet, it being the snow which fell but a few inches deep in the 
Colville valley. 
LIEUTENANT ARNOLD’S REPORT. 
Lieutenant Arnold ascended the Columbia from Fort Colville to the mouth of Clark’s Fork 
in a canoe, returning in the same way, between the 3d and 8th of November. The weather 
during the whole trip was very unfavorable for observations of the country or of latitude; and 
the only one he could make was about three and a half miles above the mouth of Clark’s Fork, 
in latitude 49° 3’ 25", : 
On the 4th and 5th snow fell to the depth of six inches, and the mountains bordering the 
river allowed of no extended view, and presented a remarkable similarity and an unbroken 
line, except where the principal tributaries broké through them. A narrow level belt of 
bottom-land bordered the stream, partly composed of prairies from four to six miles in length 
and from one to two miles wide ; the rest was like the mountains, thickly wooded. 
The river has a rapid current and is filled with innumerable small rapids, but that known as 
the Little Dalles is the only one that would impede navigation. Here the stream is only about 
twenty feet wide, its sides being of solid rock; thé current, at that season very rapid, though 
the water was low, becomes at the highest floods a perfect torrent. A portage of half a mile 
was made in ascending, but in descending he ran through it, although innumerable eddies and 
whirlpools rendered the navigation in canoes rather precarious. Above Clark’s Fork the 
Columbia continues much larger than any of its tributaries, and has a swifter and deeper 
current than below. Only one large stream comes in on the west, nearly opposite to Fort 
Colville, (the Ne-hoi-al-pit-quu,) and another above the Little Dalles, at that time a mere 
brook. The only one on the east side worth mentioning is Clark’s Fork. 
This noble stream runs through a deep gorge in the range, about a quarter of a mile from 
the main stream, and has two falls, one near the gorge and one at its mouth, and empties into 
the Columbia with a roar. The fall near the gorge is about three feet in height; that at its 
mouth fifteen feet, and not more than one hundred and fifty yards wide. 
The Columbia at Fort Colville is about three hundred and fifty yards wide just above the 
Sometknu, or Kettle Falls. These consist of two pitches, one of fifteen feet and another below 
it of ten, and the river is narrowed to two hundred yards.—(See sketch.) An extensive and 
fertile bottom-land borders the river here, and extends back towards the east for some miles. 
This continues to border the river, with an average width of half a mile, for twenty miles стн 
the stream, when the wooded hills come closer to the banks, higher and with numerous ravines 
