OREGON TERRITORY. 



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precludes any anchorage, except close to the shore. The bank both 

 above and below water-line is very steep. The distance from Day's 

 Island, at the south opening of the Narrows, to Nisqually Bluff, is 

 10 miles. M'Niel's Island lies above Fox's, to the southwest. It is 

 nearly oval in form, its longest axis being east and west, 3 by 2i 

 miles. Between it and Fox Island is Brackenridge's Passage, 1£ miles 

 wide. This leads to the northwest, into Carr's Inlet, of which it may 

 be said to form a part. Ketron Island is high, rocky, and barren ; it 

 lies north and south ; it is a mile in length and a quarter of a mile wide. 

 Between it and the shore is a tolerable harbor; but when the wind and 

 tide are opposed, a sharp and disagreeable sea prevails. The island af- 

 fords the only protection from the westerly winds, which blow strong. 

 The depth of water and the steepness of the bank, with the strength of 

 tide, does not permit me to recommended it as a good anchoring-place. 

 The sound abreast of Anderson and M'Niel's Islands is 2 miles wide. 

 Wood and water may be easily procured. Three miles to the south of 

 Ketron Island is the landing of Fort Nisqually. From the bank shelving 

 very rapidly, the anchorage is of very limited extent; within a cable's 

 length, a change of from 17 to 44 fathoms takes place. The anchorage 

 of the Vincennes, at Nisqually, was directly opposite a fine stream of 

 water ; we found it very convenient for our purpose, but it is very 

 unsafe in the winter. The steamer of the H. B. C. usually discharges 

 her cargo here, but it is more for the convenience to Fort Nisqually, 

 that it was chosen, than as a safe port. The bank rises abruptly 210 

 feet, at which height there is a plateau extending for many miles to 

 the eastward, forming one of the prairies of Oregon. Fort Nisqually 

 lies li miles from the sound, on the prairie. A mile beyond the anchor- 

 age to the south is the north bluff to the Nisqually River, called Kwaatz 

 Point. Close to it the river empties into the sound; its mouth is upwards 

 of a mile wide, occupied by an extensive mud-flat, which is bare at low 

 water. There is another small and tortuous channel into the river on 

 the southwest side, near Loa Point. From the mouth of the river to 

 Point Moody, the shore trends northwest 6 miles ; thence it turns to 

 the south into Henderson Inlet; thence passing the south end of Hart- 

 stene Island it divides into Budd's, Eld's, Totten, and Hammersly 

 Inlets, all capacious, and affording every facility for vessels of any 

 size. These inlets are separated from that of Case's by Jack's, Hope, 

 and Hartstene Islands ; and Pickering's, Dana's, and Peale's Passages 

 lead into them. Case's Inlet stretches up towards the north, until it 



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