616 OREGON. 
named Saddle Hill. The whole region elsewhere is broken with hills 
of little seeming interest, and bristled with evergreens. Near the 
Straits of De Fuca stands the high peak of Mount Olympus, eight 
thousand feet in altitude. 
This range may be traced south beyond San Francisco, nearly 
to the peninsula of California. 'To the north it is continued along the 
coast, and in the islands which border it, to the Russian settlements. 
The Blue Mountains form the western boundary of the Snake River 
region. Immediately to the north of the Columbia, and as far as Fort 
Colville, they are interrupted by an extensive level tract. But to the 
north of Fort Colville there is a range of heights which extends along 
to the west of the Columbia River, and may be considered a part of 
the same general chain. ‘The Peak Mountains, north of 55°, though 
not a continuation of the Blue Mountain chain, may yet be mentioned 
in connexion, as they he in like manner to the west of the summit of 
the Rocky Mountains. From Fort Colville there extends a trans- 
verse range, called the Spokane Mountains, having a course nearly 
east-by-south ; and the Salmon River Mountains a little farther south 
have nearly the same direction. 
The elevation of the Blue Mountains is eight or nine thousand feet ; 
and where crossed on the usual route from the United States to Wal- 
lawalla, five thousand feet. On the east of the summit there is a fine 
circular valley, about fifteen miles in diameter, called the Grand 
Rond. 
The influence of the position of the mountain ranges on the courses 
of the rivers, is worthy of attention. Between the Coast and the 
Cascade Ranges lies one of the great longitudinal depressions of the 
surface. Here the Columbia receives a northern and a southern tri- 
butary, the Cowlitz and the Willammet Rivers, and the latter has a 
length of one hundred and fifty miles. The Bay of San Francisco, in 
the same manner, stretches one arm, the Sacramento, three hundred 
miles to the north in the same great trough, and another river, the 
Joaquin, flows from the south two hundred and fifty miles. In the 
interval separating the Cascade Range and the Blue Mountains, the 
Columbia receives two southern tributaries, the Falls (Chutes) and 
the John Day’s Rivers. 
Between the Blue Mountains and the summit of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, the southern fork of the Columbia (Lewis River) stretches south 
as far as latitude 42°, draining the whole of this part of the interior 
section. ‘The northern fork of the same river has a north-and-south 
