2J2 



University of California. 



[Vol. 2. 



As the North Fork is the larger stream, the writer has fallen into 

 the habit of calling the southern branch the South Fork. At Day- 

 ville the South Fork divides into two streams, of which the south- 

 ern is known as the South Fork and the other as the main river. 

 To avoid confusion the writer will refer to the northern branch here 

 as the East Fork. The course of the South Fork from Dayville 

 is across the southern range, to the south of which it occupies a 

 small basin which the writer has not visited. 



Excepting the mountain ranges and some of the highest 

 interior ridges, which support a heavy growth of pine timber, the 

 country is only sparingly wooded. A fringe of cottonwoods, 

 birches, and willows along the streams, and a few scattered juni- 

 pers comprise the most important part of its sylva. The basin is 

 mainly an open grass country with a sprinkling of sagebrush 

 on the bottom-lands. Some years ago a rich growth of bunch- 

 grass over a large part of the area supported large herds of cattle. 

 Latterly the sheep industry has overshadowed all others and the 

 grass has been rapidly disappearing. 



HISTORY OF EXPLORATION.* 



The existence of fossil mammalian remains in Eastern Oregon 

 seems to have been first noticed by a company of soldiers which 

 passed through that region in 1861. When the party reached The 

 Dalles on its return journey, a number of the men had with them 

 fragments of bones and teeth obtained from fossil beds in the 

 Crooked River country. The only specimen brought back by this 

 party, of which any definite information is now obtainable, was a 

 fine rhinoceros jaw, which was in the possession of Lieutenant 

 Waymire. 



Prof. Thomas Condon, who was then pastor of the Congrega- 

 tional Church in The Dalles, saw the fossils and obtained from the 

 members of the party considerable information concerning their 



*The writer is indebted to Prof. Thomas Condon for the greater part of his 

 information concerning the discovery of the fields. Mr. L. S. Davis, who has 

 accompanied nearly all of the expeditions, contributed most of the facts con- 

 cerning the later exploration. 



