484 APPENDIX. 
has an average width of two miles, never less than one or 
more than four, and a depth never less than eight fathoms, 
runs one hundred miles inland in a southward direction from 
the Straits of Fuca; and Hood’s canal, twelve miles farther west, 
with half the width, runs in the same general direction about 
sixty miles. These two great estuaries or arms of tidewater 
have depth sufficient for the largest vessels, and numerous 
bends and corners where the most perfect protection may 
be found against the winds. Captain Wilkes, in the report 
of his exploring expedition, says: “I venture nothing in 
saying there is no country in the world that possesses waters 
equal to these.” Between the mouth of Puget Sound (latitude 
48°) and latitude 49° there are a number of islands and bays 
which supply harbors almost numberless. Bellingham Bay 
deserves special mention. The tide rises twenty feet. On the 
shore of the Straits of Fuca, eighty miles from Cape Flattery, 
is New Dungeness, which has a secure anchorage and room 
for a large fleet. To the east seven miles is Port Discovery, 
which is seven miles long, one and a half wide, and twenty- 
seven fathoms deep, with excellent protection against the winds. 
its great depth makes it inconvenient for anchorage. ‘ An 
island in the middle of the mouth of the harbor offers an 
excellent site for a fort that will completely command the 
entrance. It has been proposed that a navy-yard should 
be established here. Gray’s Harbor, in latitude 46° 55‘, has 
a mouth four miles wide, and in shape resembles an equilat- 
eral triangle twelve miles long on each side. The entrance 
is two and a half fathoms deep at low water, with a surf 
extending entirely across the mouth. Inside there is secure 
anchorage, though the greater part of the bay is shallow. 
Shoalwater Bay, the mouth of which is in 46° 40‘, is about 
six miles wide and twenty-five long, extending down to 
within three miles of the waters of the Columbia River. 
The entrance has the same depth and surf as Gray’s Harbor, 
and much of the bay is bare at low water. The appearance 
of the land between Shoalwater Bay and the Columbia 
