SOUTHERN OREGON. 
245 
in sight of the Prairie Butes, a regular collection of hills, rising out of 
the level plain like islands from the water. These are very deceptive 
in height, and may be seen from a great distance. The party encamped 
on a small creek, called by the trappers the Little Fork of the Butes. 
The hunters said that the party employed by the Hudson Bay Com¬ 
pany last year caught more than one hundred beavers during their 
sojourn in this neighbourhood with their cattle. 
On the 16th, they passed towards the Butes, and encamped, after an 
ineffectual search for water, at a place that had been occupied for the 
same purpose by Michel, in the valley or “ Kraal” of the Butes. Here 
they found two deep holes of stagnant water, the remains of a rivulet 
that was now dried up. The ground around and near the Butes is 
covered with a great quantity of the bones of animals that resort 
hither for safety during the season of the freshets which flood the 
whole of this extensive plain. The soil is quite loose and crusted over 
with the deposit left by the water, through which the horses broke to 
the depth of four or five inches; nearer the Butes, the soil is harder 
and strewed with fragments of volcanic rocks. There is little doubt 
that each of the Butes was once a volcano. They are grouped within 
an oval space, which has a circumference of about thirty miles: the 
longest diameter of the oval figure lies in a northeast and southwest 
direction. The valley passes through the southern part, and opens out 
on the eastern: it is about seven miles in length; and here the party 
found water. This valley may be considered almost as a prolongation 
of the exterior plain, though parts of it are somewhat higher, as ap¬ 
peared by its not having been overflowed. The highest of the Butes 
was made, by a triangulation executed by Lieutenant Emmons and 
Mr. Eld, seventeen hundred and ninety-four feet. They have the 
appearance of having once been much higher and more extended than 
they now are. The volcanic rock, according to Mr. Dana, is a tra- 
chytic porphyry, of a purplish colour, which contains hornblend and 
six-sided tables of mica, with glassy feldspar, in crystals from a 
quarter to half an inch in size, disseminated through it; some of the 
rocks have a porcelain aspect, but this variety only constitutes a few 
of the peaks. The rock is found either in horizontal or vertical layers 
or curved in all directions, and is thickly sprinkled with mica. The 
Butes were ascertained to be in the latitude of 39° 08' N.; yet it has 
been generally believed that these were on the dividing line between 
Oregon and California. 
On the 17th, they proceeded, and in about fifteen miles they found 
themselves on the banks of the Feather river. There is a difficulty in 
fording this stream, on account of the quicksands; and the first time 
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