GEOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR. 275 
It is very probable that De Fuca strait, from its remarkable geographical position, will, in 
course of time, prove to be the most important entrance from the Pacific ocean on the whole 
northwest coast of America. It will surpass, with respect to commercial and naval advantages, 
all its rivals to the north and south. It is the outlet of that great and fertile valley into 
which Admiralty Inlet branches, filling it with innumerable excellent harbors, and the greatest 
facilities for navigation. And also of that still greater northern valley which is partly occupied 
by the Gulf of Georgia. 
The valley of the Fraser’s river, therefore, must also be considered as an appendage of De 
Fuca strait, and as having there its real oceanic embouchure. 
Furthermore, the entrance to the Columbia river, with its sand banks and breakers, will at 
all times be inconvenient, compared with the broad, deep, safe navigation of De Fuca strait ; 
and when these countries become densely settled, and railroads come to their aid, a great part 
of the trade of the Columbia river valley may possibly be drawn towards Puget Sound. 
The great North Fork of the Columbia, which, for the greater part of its upper course, flows 
upon the parallel of De Fuca strait, will soon be connected with it. That river, to a distance 
of about seventy miles, flows directly to Admiralty Inlet; it then turns by a right angle to the 
south and west, and reaches the sea after a most circuitous route of more than 400 miles; and 
besides, this water communication is very much interrupted by cataracts and rocks. The 
isthmus between Admiralty Inlet and the angle of the Clark’s Fork may be traversed by roads 
and perhaps by canale, so that the whole northern half of Columbia river may become 
dependent on De Fuca strait. Even the lower regions of the Columbia have a near approach 
to salt water by Puget Sound. : 
Finally, the North Fork of the Columbia river carries with it, so to speak, the Upper 
Missouri, which flows along the same parallel, and brings the navigable waters and fertile 
valleys of the east very near to it. This is not so much the case with the South or Lewis's 
Fork of Columbia river. 
This immense system of commercial connexions we see, even now as it were, foreshadowed 
on our railroad maps, where one of the principal projected lines which commenced at Chicago 
and Lake Superior has its western terminus at Puget Sound and De Fuca strait. 
, 122? 13' WEST LONGITUDE. 
THE SOUTHERN SHORE OF DE FUCA STRAIT, 124° 4' 
The southern shores of De Fuca strait are hills, in the immediate neighborhood of the 
water, of a moderate height. Many low sandy cliffs fall perpendicularly on beaches of sand 
and stone. From the top of the cliffy eminences the land takes a further gentle and moderate 
ascent, and is entirely covered with trees, chiefly of the pine genus, until the forest ow» а 
range of high craggy mountains, which seem to rise from the woodland ру їп а very 
abrupt manner, with their summits covered with snow. The northern shore is not quite so 
high. It rises more gradually from the sea side to the tops of the mountains of Vancouver’s 
Island, which gives to them the appearance of a compact range, more uniform and much less 
covered with snow than those of the southern side.* The eminences with which the whole 
coast is lined have nearly all, more or less, the same form. They form little peninsulas, which 
all point to the northwest. The northeastern sides of these peninsulas are long, the n 
western short, and between two neighboring points lies usually a little bay, the shores of which 
are low and sandy. 
о Vancouver, vol. I, pp. 220, 221. 
