GEOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR. 253 
valleys of the several streams above referred to, as well as the Clearwater and Clark’s Fork, 
are wide and open, including in the lower valley the immediate, gentle, and numerous lateral 
spurs branching off from the main spurs. 
The central portion of the district under review is remarkable for its great number of lakes, 
which are favorite places of resort for wild fowl. On these lakes are seen swans, geese, and 
ducks in large numbers. The western portion of this country, however, comiaencing a little 
north of the mouth of Snake river, and terminating some distance south of the mouth of the 
Spokane, is rather sparsely grassed and scantily supplied with water for farming purposes. 
Looking on the map, it will be observed that the course of the river almost makes a peninsular 
of this poorest portion of the Great Plain east of the main Columbia itself. It is a basaltic 
formation; and it would seem that the walls of basalt occurring from point to point had dashed 
the river up against the immediate spurs of the Cascades, crowding it into a sinuous and some- 
what difficult course. Неге is the great coulée which, in the narrative, is referred to by 
Lieutenant Arnold, and which has been supposed to have been the former bed of the river. 
This coulée, which, starting from the Columbia sixty miles below the mouth of the Spokane, 
and moving in a general direction south-southwest, does not extend across the peninsular to the 
Columbia again, but after proceeding twenty-five miles, passes into the general surface of the 
plain and disappears. Yet in this portion of the Great Plain, and especially on the bank of the 
main Columbia, are many tracts and swales of good land. Indeed, there will be always found 
in this portion farming land enough to make practicable the occupation of the whole country 
by stock raisers and wool growers. The stock raiser will always be able to find land enough 
for the supplies he requires for his family. It is somewhat remarkable that leaving either the 
main Columbia below Fort Walla-Walla, or the Snake river, or the Clearwater, and passing over 
the high bluffs which border these rivers on the northern side, you at once enter upon a rich 
table-land. At the Red Wolf's ground these bluffs are more than one thousand feet above the 
immediate river valley, and in the neighborhood of the mouth of the Peluse eight hundred feet. 
Thence they decline somewhat gradually to the mouth of Snake river, where the country, for 
many miles about, is not over fifty feet above the waters of the Columbia; north of the Columbia 
the bluffs are also several hundred feet high. This country is exceedingly well known to the old 
residents of the interior, who travel it in various directions, there being many trails crossing the 
Snake river and leading to Colville and the Bitter Root valley. From Lapwai, the Red Wolf’s 
ground, a point intermediate between the Red Wolf’s ground and the mouth of the Tukanon 
and the mouth of the Peluse, trails pass on to the interior, all proceeding from a common 
point in the Walla-Walla valley. This country is better supplied with wood than has been 
generally imagined. If the voyageur travelling over this country, whatever route he takes, be 
asked what sort of country it is, he will tell you an excellent country for travelling—wood, 
water, and grass everywhere. But the pine of the Spokane extends nearly to its mouth, and 
for some miles south of the river. The Spokane is the name of the main stream to its junction 
With the Cœur d'Aléne river, when its name is given to a smaller tributary coming from the 
north, the Cœur d’ Aléne being the main stream. One of the most beautiful features of the 
Coeur d' Aléne river and country is the Coeur d'Aléne lake, which is embosomed in the midst 
of gently sloping hills, covered with a dense forest growth; the irregularity of its form, and the 
changing aspect of the scenery about it, makes it one of the most picturesque objects in the 
interior. The Cceur d'Aléne river itself has tributaries flowing from near the main divide of 
