APPENDIX X.— NAERATIVE OF PACKARD'S SECOND JOURNEY. [141] 



winter there is little, sometimes no snow falling, the moisture in the " chinook" op 

 southwest winds blowing from the Pacific Ocean, is mostly absorbed by the Cascade 

 Eange, what is left falling on the Blue Mountains and the Bitter Root Mountains be- 

 yond. The Plains of the Columbia, owing to their slight elevation, and the presence of 

 mountain-ranges on the east and west side, are very hot, the nights being hot as well 

 as the days. 



I have entered at some length into the description of this portion of the Plains of 

 the Columbia because the Commission was unable to obtain from books or geographers 

 any adequate idea of this region. I had supposed that the country was in its phys- 

 ical characteristics a western extension of the Rocky Mountain plateau, and in an 

 unpublished map showing the distribution of the Rocky Mountain locust, prepared 

 last year, I had ventured to extend its distribution west of the Rocky Mountains to 

 the Plains of the Columbia. Even in making inquiries regarding the nature of this 

 region in passing through Montana eariy in the summer, I was unable to elicit any 

 exact information, except that the country was like that of the level portions of Mon- 

 tana, but I found that the rain-fall is much less, the heat probably greater, the winds 

 dryer and hotter, and the soil absolutely incapable of maintaining a farming or grazing 

 community except in the river-bottoms of the smaller streams. Here, then, we have a, 

 country which can only support the Rocky Mountain locusts in small quantities. 

 Swarms may invade Walla Walla and Dayton and. adjoining farming-regions, but their 

 young would not have sufficient pasturage, they would die off, and when present on the 

 farms could easily be stamped out. For thii reason, as in Nevada, while swarms may 

 occasionally appear, they will not gain a permament foothold on the Plains of the Cote» 

 lumbia, east of the Blue Mountains at least. 



To return to the subject of the peculiar variety of Atlanis found at Wallula, we 

 have in its environment a great difference from the low, damp, temperate climate of 

 Western Oregon, and these differences are sufficient to account for the difference be- 

 tween the normal form of Atlanis and the Wallula variety.* 



At the Dalles no locusts of any sort, except a small grasshopper belonging to an un" 

 known genus, were detected, as the hills and plains about the town were very dry and 

 parched. The sage-bush and grease-wood are frequent on the hills, and it is evident 

 that the flora and fauna of the Plains of the Columbia extend up to the foothills of 

 the Cascade Range, and there is apparently no physical reason why the Rocky Moun- 

 tain locust may not, under favorable conditions of winds and other circumstances, fly- 

 quite to the foothills of the Cascade Range, although I was unable to obtain any evi- 

 dence that it h^ ever been seen west of Walla Walla. 



I met here several persons who gave me important information regarding the inva- 

 sion, last month, of the Rocky Mountain locust in eastern Oregon. Mr. Frank Loughs 

 erty, of Clarksville, a settlement about 20 miles southeast of Baker City, told me that 

 locusts appeared in swarms in the settlements in the Burnt River Valley. This settle- 

 ment lies a few miles southeast of Baker City, in latitude 44° 45', and about 20 miles 

 west of the Snake River, which here forms a great bend to the westward. The locusts 

 appeared in swarms in this region about the middle of August, coming from an east- 

 erly direction. They were very annoying, eating off the tops of onions and gnawing 

 the bark of fruit-trees, especially the peach. Mr. Lougherty thought that the locusts 

 would not advance much further west, as there was a barrier of mountains west of the 

 settlements, forming a divide between Burnt and Powder Rivers. Mr. W. F. Gwinn, 

 of Walla Walla, told me that the stage-driver on the route from Baker City to Walla 

 Walla informed him that a swarm of locusts appeared in the Burnt River country 

 about the 10th of July; that they " ate out three ranches," devouring the beet-tops 

 and other vegetables. When seen they were traveling in the direction of Walla 

 Walla, namely, in a northwest direction and from the southeast. This fact would 

 indicate that these swarms of locusts came from Snake River Valley, about Boise City, 

 where they are known to have hatched in large numbers. 



Septemler 6. — Arrived at Victoria, Vancouver Island, en route for San Francisco. On 

 one of the Columbia River steamers I met Mr. J. K. Lum, of Skookumchuck, Wash., 

 who gave me the only information I was able to obtain relative to the ravages of 

 locusts in Washington Territory, west of the Cascade Range. He tells me that in 

 August, 1856, grasshoppers were very abundant at Skookumchuck,t eating the heads of 

 wheat, blackening the grain. He thinks the species was larger than the Rocky Moun- 

 tain locust. It did no damage elsewhere. 



At Victoria, Vancouver Island, a peculiar variety of Caloptenus atlanis occurred in 

 abundance on the dry open fields about the shores of the Straits of Fuca, associated 

 with (Edipoda pellucida (atrox),t which was equally abundant ; but in the damper fields 



* This caae may be parallel in some respect to that of Colaptes Mexicanus and G. auratus, the western 

 and eastern yellow-hammer woodpecker. 



t Skookumchuck is situated in Lewis County, "Washington Territory, between Kalama and Olympia, 

 the country being level and well wooded. "" 



I I noticed that this species, which has been placed in a separate genus (Camnnla). does not make a 

 crackling noise like the species of (Edipoda. Along the shores of the Straits of Fuca (Edipoda Carolina 

 was common. I also captured it at Salt Lake City. Utah : Eeno, Nov. ; Shasta Yalley, Cal. It is a 

 common Pacific Coast form, and varies there much as in the Eastern States. 



