24 GEOGRAPHY OF OREGON. 



the south, and the Okinagan from the north, and, from the mouth of the 

 latter, it pursues a southward course for one hundred and sixty miles, to 

 its junction with the great southern branch, near the 47th degree of 

 latitude. 



Of the Sahaptin, or Lewis, or Snake River, the great southern branch 

 of the Columbia, the farthermost sources are situated in the deep valleys 

 or holes of the Rocky Mountains, near the 42d degree of latitude, within 

 short distances of those of the Yellowstone, the Platte, and the Colorado. 

 The most eastern of these head-waters, considered as the main river, 

 issues from Pierre's Hole, between the Rocky Mountains and a parallel 

 range called the Tetons, from three remarkable peaks, resembling teats, 

 which rise to a great height above the others. Running westward, this 

 stream unites successively with Henry's Fork from the north, and the 

 Portneuf from the south. Some distance below its junction with the 

 latter, the Lewis enters the defile between the Blue Mountains on the 

 west, and another rocky chain, called the Salmon River Mountains, on the 

 east, and takes its course north-westward, for about six hundred miles, to 

 its union with the northern branch, receiving many large streams from 

 each side. The principal of these influent streams are the Malade or 

 Sickly River, the Boise or Reed's River, the Salmon River, and the 

 Kooskooskee, from the east, and the Malheur and Powder River, from the 

 Blue Mountains, on the west. 



Of these two great branches of the Columbia, and the streams which 

 fall into them, scarcely any portion is navigable by the smallest vessels for 

 more than thirty or forty miles continuously. The northern branch is 

 much used by the British traders for the conveyance of their furs and 

 merchandise, by means of light canoes, which, as well as their cargoes, 

 are carried by the boatmen around the falls and rapids so frequently inter- 

 rupting their voyage. The Lewis River and its streams offer few ad- 

 vantages in this way ; as they nearly all rush, in their whole course, through 

 deep and narrow chasms, between perpendicular rocks, against which a 

 boat would be momentarily in danger of being dashed by the current. 



From the point of junction of these two great branches, the course of 

 the Columbia is generally westward to the ocean. A little below that 

 point, it receives the Walla-Walla, and then, in succession, the Umatalla, 

 John Day's River, and the Chutes or Falls River, all flowing from the 

 south, and some others, of less size, from the north. Near the mouth of 

 the Falls River, eighty miles below the Walla-Walla, are situated the 

 Falls, or Chutes, as they are called, of the Columbia, where the great 

 stream enters a gap in the Far-West range of mountains. Four miles 

 farther down are the Dalles, or rapids formed by the passage of the 

 waters between vast masses of rock ; and thirty miles below these are the 

 Cascades, a series of falls and rapids extending more than half a mile, 

 at the foot of which the tides are observable at the distance of a hundred 

 and twenty miles from the Pacific. 



A few miles below the Cascades, a large river, called the Willamet, 

 (the Multonomah of Lewis and Clarke,) enters the Columbia from the 

 south, by two branches, between which is an extensive island, named 

 Wappatoo Island, from an edible root, so called, found growing in abun- 

 dance upon it. Twenty-five miles from the mouth of this river are its 

 falls, where all its waters are precipitated over a ledge of rocks more 

 than forty feet in height. Beyond this point, the Willamet has been 



