ROUTE NEAR THE FORTY-SEVENTH AND FORTY-NINTH PARALLELS. 
51 
where he was still engaged in the field when the report of Governor Stevens was prepared, 
failed to reach the latter, who thus was not afforded the means of correcting opinions formed 
from those appearances of fertility presented by the growth of grasses, &c., which are liable to 
mislead, especially after traversing a region devoid of such verdure. A ..more thorough 
examination of the country and soil proves that very little, if any, of the eastern slopes of the 
Rocky mountains is suitable for cultivation ; and that the valleys of the streams east of the 
mountains, and those west, are capable of sustaining merely small agricultural settlements. 
The greater portion of these valleys are only suited for grazing lands; and this mountain 
region, described as containing 10,000 square miles of arable land, admirably adapted by 
nature for a grazing country, can never sustain a large agricultural population. 
There must be some numerical error in the estimate of the area of the grassed lands between 
the Bitter Root and the Rocky mountains, since careful measurements in-the office make it 
much less than that given above. 
It is not probable that the area of cultivable soil within the limits mentioned, east and west 
of the Rocky mountains, will exceed one-tenth of the area stated—that is, 1,000 square miles. 
The character of country along the route from St. Paul to Seattle may be summed uq> as 
follows: 
From St. Paul to Little Falls, fertile soil. 109 miles. 
From the Mississippi river at Little Falls to Dead Colt Hillock, the soil is 
fertile—the distance is about. 166 “ 
From that point to the crossing of Reviere a Jacques, near the 99th meridian, 
the change from fertility to an uncultivable condition takes place. 66 “ 
Thence to the crossing of Sun river, a distance of 752 miles, the prairie is uncul¬ 
tivable; the river bottom of the Missouri in part, those of Jacques river, Mouse 
river, and of other streams, possessing a cultivable soil .... 752 “ 
We then have mountain region of 404 miles, a well-wooded district to the Spokane 
river, with mountain valleys of partly cultivable soil, and prairies of the same 
character. 404 t( 
(The sum of the areas of the cultivable soil in the Rocky mountain region being 
about 1,000 square miles.) 
From the Spokane river to the crossing of the Columbia, 10 miles above Fort 
Wallah-Wallah, over the barren plain of the Columbia. 142 “ 
Thence to the Cascades, an uncultivable though grazing district, about. 192 “ 
Thence to Seattle, on Puget sound, over cultivable land, about. 194 “ 
Total. 2,025 “ 
So that of the 2,025 miles from St. Paul to Seattle, on Puget sound, we have only a space of 
about 535 miles of fertile country; the remaining 1,490 miles being over uncultivable prairie 
soil, or mountain-land producing only lumber, with the limited exception of occasional river- 
bottoms, mountain-valleys, or prairie. 
CLIMATE. 
Of the 47 inches of rain that fall yearly at Steilacoom, Puget sound, 15 inches fall during 
the autumn months, and 20.6 inches during the winter months. At Fort Laramie, on the plain 
just east of the Rocky mountains, 23.5 inches rain fall during the year. Ten inches of these 
23.5 fall during the spring, and only 3.4 inches during the winter. At Fort Snelling about 
25 inches fall during the year: of this only 2 inches fall during the winter ; 6.8 inches during 
the spring ; 10.2 inches during the summer ; and 5.7 inches during the autumn. The excessive 
autumn and winter rains of Puget sound are converted into spring rains at the eastern base 
