GEOGRAPHY OF OREGON. 25 



traced about two hundred miles, in a tortuous course, through a narrow 

 but generally fertile valley, to its sources in the Far-West chain of 

 mountains, near the 43d degree of latitude. In this valley were formed 

 the earliest agricultural settlements by citizens of the United States west 

 of the Rocky Mountains ; and, from all accounts, it appears to present 

 greater advantages of soil and climate than any other part of the country 

 drained by the Columbia. 



Descending the Columbia forty miles from the lower mouth of the Wil- 

 lamet, we find a small stream, called the Cowelitz, entering it from the 

 north; and, thirty miles lower down, the great river, which is nowhere 

 above more than a mile wide, expands to the breadth of four, and, in 

 some places, of seven, miles, before mingling its waters with those of the 

 Pacific ; it, however, preserves its character as a river, being rapid in its 

 current, and perfectly fresh and potable, to within a league of the ocean, 

 except during very dry seasons and the prevalence of violent westerly 

 winds. 



The Columbia may generally be ascended, by ships of three or four 

 hundred tons, nearly to the foot of its cascades : the navigation, especially 

 of the lower part, is, however, at all times, difficult and dangerous, in 

 consequence of the number and the variability of the shoals; and it is 

 only in fine weather that vessels can with safety enter or leave its mouth, 

 which is guarded by a line of breakers, extending across from each of the 

 capes. 



The other rivers which drain the parts of this territory near the sea 

 are numerous, but generally small, the majority being merely brooks, 

 which disappear during the dry season. The Umqua, near the 43d degree 

 of latitude, and the Chekelis, which empties into Bulfinch's Harbor, are 

 the principal of those streams ; but neither of them offers any facilities for 

 commercial communication. 



Of the chains of mountains traversing Oregon from north to south, 

 the most remarkable is the westernmost, for which the name of Far- West 

 Mountains has been here proposed, running northward from California 

 at the distance of eighty or a hundred miles from the Pacific coast. 

 Under the 49th parallel, where the base of the chain is washed by the 

 easternmost waters of the Strait of Fuca, it is divided into three 

 distinct ridges, one of which stretches north-east, to the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, separating the waters of the Columbia from those of Fraser's 

 River ; another overhangs the sea-coast north-westward ; and the islands of 

 the North-West Archipelago, which mask the shore of the continent from the 

 49th to the 58th parallels, may be considered as a third ridge, extending 

 through the sea. The principal peaks of this chain, in Oregon, are Mount 

 Baker, near the 49th parallel, Mount Rainier, under the 47th, and Mount 

 St. Helen's, the highest of the range, which rises, probably, not less than 

 fifteen thousand feet above the ocean level, due east of the mouth of the 

 Columbia. South of that river are Mount Hood, near the 45th parallel ; 

 Mount Jefferson, so named by Lewis and Clarke, under the 44th ; Mount 

 Shasty, near the 43d ; and Mount Jackson, a stupendous pinnacle, in the 

 latitude of 41 degrees 40 minutes, which has been also called Mount Pitt 

 by the British traders. Some of these peaks are visible from the ocean, 

 particularly Mount St. Helen's, which serves as a mark for vessels entering 

 the Columbia ; when seen from the highlands farther east, they present 

 one of the grandest spectacles in nature. This chain is entirely of vol- 

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