76 Explorations and Surveys for the Pacific Railroad. 



river and that of the Yakima, sometimes erroneously called the 

 Snoqualme. 



The Yakima Pass gives the most direct route to Puget sound, 

 the distance by it being 150 or 160 miles shorter than by the 

 Columbia Eiver Pass. It requires a tunnel through rock, (sili- 

 ceous conglomerate,) either 4,000 yards long, 3,000 feet above 

 the sea, or a tunnel 11,840 yards long, 2,400 feet above the sea. 

 The reconnoissance did not extend westward from the summit 

 more than three miles. The evidence respecting the amount of 

 snow found on the summit of the pass at the close of winter, 

 makes it probable that it is then 20 feet deep there. This ques- 

 tion should be satisfactorily settled, and the reconnoissance 

 completed, before the practicability of the pass can be consid- 

 ered established. In the opinion of the officer making the re- 

 connoissance — Captain McClellan, Corps of Engineers — the pass 

 is barely practicable, and only at a great cost of time, labor, and 

 money. Under every favorable condition of position the con- 

 struction of either of the proposed tunnels would be seriously 

 objectionable; but where the position itself is so unfavorable, 

 the final advantages should be very great to determine the selec- 

 tion of this route. The information now possessed is sufficient 

 to decide against this route. 



The route by the pass of the Columbia follows that river from 

 the Great Plain, being generally located, as far as the Dalles, in 

 bottom-lands which present no difficulties. From the Dalles to 

 near Vancouver, 90 miles, the rocky bluffs close upon the river, 

 and the work required will be similar to that of the Hudson 

 Eiver railroad along the mountain region. In the opinion of 

 Mr. Lander, " the high floods to which the Columbia river is 

 subject, are serious obstacles to obtaining the best location for 

 cheap construction offered by its valley." In 1854, the rise of 

 the river during the flood was 10 feet above spring level, and 17 

 feet above summer level. 



The Columbia river is navigable for sea-going vessels to Van- 

 couver, the point now reached ; but the unfavorable character 

 of the entrance to that river, and the great superiority of the 

 ports on Puget sound, seemed to render it expedient to adopt 

 some one of the latter as the Pacific terminus of this route. 

 Continuing down the Columbia, therefore, through bottom-lands, 

 to the mouth of the Cowlitz, the route enters the wide and com- 

 paratively flat and wooded valley of that river, ascends it, and, 

 crossing over the wooded and prairie plains, which, " though not 

 fully explored, are sufficiently well known to insure the unusually 

 favorable character of the country for the construction of a rail- 

 way," reaches Seattle, the best port on the east side of Puget 

 sound. * * * * 



The information upon the character of the soil upon the route 

 does not admit of satisfactory conclusions to be deduced. It is 



