COLUMBIA OR OREGON. 



379 



series of ridges are mostly covered with perpetual snows, and must have a general eleva- 

 tion of above 10,000 feet, but many peaks tower up to a much greater height. The Three 

 Tetons or Paps, at the head of Lewis's River, and other points less known, are thought to be 

 from L5,000 to 13,000 feet in height, and according to some there are peaks further north, 

 which reach an elevation of 24,000 or 25,000 feet. The great valley of Lewis's River is 

 bound in on the north and south by snow-capped ridges, stretching westward to the main Co- 

 lumbia, and similar ridges surround Clarke's River, and fill the region between the Columbia 

 and the Oakinagan. The rocks appear to be mostly of igneous origin, granite, basalt, &c. ; 

 and craters of extinct volcanoes are said to bo met with. The awful precipices, rugged crags, 

 yawning chasms, and serrated outlines, which characterize mountains of this formation, here 

 present themselves in all their terrors. The high plain of Lewis's River is covered with vol- 

 canic glass and sharp broken stones, of similar origin ; and hot springs, of the temperature of 

 100 degrees and upwards, abound. From 400 to 500 miles lurther west, and about 150 miles 

 from the sea, is the littoral chain or prolongation of the CaHJornian J]Iountains, in which are 

 Mounts Baker, Rainier, St. Helen''s, and Hood, the last on the south, the others on the north 

 of the Columbia, and skirting the shores of Puget's Sound, Admiralty Inlet, and the Gulf of 

 Georgia ; Mount St Helen's is about 14,400 feet, and Mount Hood 16,000 feet in height. Jn 

 the same range, further south, are Jllount Jejferson, JMount jMeLaughlin, Himpsonh Peak, 

 Smithes Peak, and other points not much inferior in elevation. Still further west, the country 

 is traversed by lofty hills, which line the shores of the ocean. 



The lofty plains or table-lands interspersed among the mountains, are often of great extent ; 

 that through which Lewis's River takes its course, being about 120 miles in breadth, and sev- 

 eral hundred in length. They are generally sandy, and often destitute of vegetation, or beset 

 with cactuses, or covered with a scanty herbage during only a short time ; in many cases, how- 

 ever, they produce nutritious grasses, which fit them admirably for ihe raising of horses and 

 black cattle. Scarcely any rain falls above the littoral chain of mountains, and the unwooded 

 surface is exposed to the parching heats of a burning sun. This region is in fact a prolongation 

 of the great Californian desert, and although its horrors are here somewhat mitigated by running 

 streams and occasional fertility, yet the features of that vast steppe may be traced far north on 

 the Upper Columbia. There are several salt-lakes in this great desert, of which the principal 

 is the Lake Bonneville, of Irving, probably the Timpanogos of Humboldt ; it is about 120 

 miles long by 70 or 80 broad. To the south are 2 smaller lakes, and to the southwest anoth- 

 er of considerable size, which receives Mary's or Ogden's River, a laige stream on the route 

 of the hunters from St. Louis to Monterey. 



Below the coast chain the country is in general fertile, and admirably adapted for agri- 

 cultural purposes, and there are tracts here of great beauty and luxuriance of vegetation. 

 On the west side of the mountains, the forests, nourished by the kindly influence of the 

 moisture, present specimens of some of the most majestic trees known, and the mildness 

 of the climate, the fertility of the soil, and the ready communication with the largest of 

 the oceans, will one day make this region the seat of a populous and opulent community. 

 Seven or 8 species of pine, some of which are of gigantic size, abound here ; the ijed pine is 

 250 feet high, and the Pinus Lambertiana attains the same height, with a diameter of nearly 

 3 feet 58 feet from the ground, a perfectly straight stem, and no branches for 160 feet. The 

 wood of this tree is of excellent quality, and yields a large portion of rosin ; the cones are 

 from 15 to 18 inches long by 3 in diameter, and the seeds, when dried and pounded, are made 

 into a sort of cake. Growing trees, that have been burned, yield a substance closely resem- 

 bhng sugar, and used as such by the natives. The quamash or kamas-roots {SciUa esculenta) 

 are sweet and palatable when roasted, and are the chief source of subsistence to some of the 

 tribes ; the roots of the somuchtan {Lupinus littoralis), mentioned by Lewis and Clarke as a 

 sort of liquorice, are also roasted, and contain much farinaceous matter ; the wappatoo and 

 other edible roots are extensively consumed as food, and an indigenous species of tobacco of 

 good quality, is likewise found here. 



3. Rivers. Bays. Nearly the whole region is drained by the River C'olimibia, and its wide- 

 spreading and numerous branches. It takes its name from the ship which first entered the riv- 

 er. The Columbia, or as it is also called, the Oregon, rises in the most rugged steeps of the 

 Rocky Mountains, the sources of the northernmost branch being near the heads of Frazer's 

 River, in about 54° north latitude ; in about 52° this branch is joined by another of greater 

 length from the south, which flows from the vicinity of the fountains of the Saskatchawan, in 

 latitude 50°. Its length is about 1,200 miles ; the tide flows up about 170 n'.ilps to the foot 



