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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