242 GEOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR. 
a general estimate as to the quantity of arable land in this region. Nothing but the detailed 
surveys of the land office can furnish minute data; but the eye of the experienced observer 
going over a country can discern whether it is adapted to agriculture or to grazing, or to a 
union of the two; whether it can be occupied in the small farms previously alluded to, or simply 
by ranches, having about them flocks and herds. This whole country would be a fine country 
for stock, for horses, and especially for sheep. In a meteorological paper which follows, the 
climate, constituents of the soil, and the snows of winter will be presented; but we will now 
pass on to the consideration of the Rocky mountainregion. This region stretches from the 111th 
meridian to the 117th meridian on the 47th parallel, and both north and south has a generally 
northeast and southwest direction. Ihave already referred to the good arable country on its 
eastern slope. 
On the western slope the following description from Lewis and Clark will show the delightful 
and promising character of the country. When encamped in the Kooskooskia valley on May 
17, 1805, they say: “Тһе country along the Rocky mountains, for several hundred miles in 
length and about fifty wide, is a high level plain, in all its parts extremely fertile, and in many 
places covered with a growth of tall, long-leaved pine. This plain is chiefly interrupted near 
the streams of water, where the hills are steep and lofty, but the soil is good, being unen- 
cumbered by much stone, and possesses more timber than the level country. Under shelter ор 
these hills the bottom lands skirt the margin of the rivers, and though narrow and confined 
are still fertile dnd rarely inundated. Nearly the whole of this wide-spread tract is covered 
with a profusion of grass and plants, which are at this time as high as the knees. Among these 
are a variety of esculent roots, acquired without much difficulty, and yielding not only a 
nutritious, but a very agreeable food. The air is pure and dry, the climate quite as mild, if 
not milder, than the same parallel of latitude in the Atlantic States, and must be equally healthy; 
for all the disorders which we have witnessed may fairly be imputed more to the nature of the 
diet than to any intemperance of climate. This general observation is, of course, to be 
qualified, since in the same tract of country the degrees of the combination of heat and cold 
obey the influence of situation. Thus the rains of the low grounds near our camp are snows 
in the high plains, and while the sun shines with intense heat in the confined bottoms, the 
plains enjoy a much colder air, and the vegetation is retarded at least fifteen days; while at the 
foot of the mountains the snows are still many feet in depth, so that within twenty miles of 
our camp we observe the rigors of the winter cold, the cool air of spring, and the oppressive 
heat of midsummer. Even on the plains, however, when the snow has fallen, it seems to do 
but little injury to the grass and other plants, which, though apparently tender and susceptible, 
are still blooming at the height of nearly eighteen inches through the snow. In short, this 
district affords many advantages to settlers, and if properly cultivated would yield every object 
necessary for the subsistence and comfort of civilized man." - Proceeding eastward they reached 
one of the Kamas prairies on the Kooskooskia, within the spurs of the Bitter Root mountains. 
There they encamped in a point of woods bordering the extensive level and beautiful prairie, 
and as the kamas was in blossom, it being the 10th of June, the surface presented a perfect 
resemblance to alake of clear blue water. The country, though hilly around them, was 
generally free from stone, extremely fertile, and well supplied with timber, consisting of 
several species of fir, pine, and birch. Thus we have now to describe a mountain region 
whose western slope is described by Lewis and Clark as extremely fertile, and which is known 
by the late explorations to be extremely fertile, and is bordered on the east by an exceedingly 
