108 
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE GREAT PLAIN OF THE COLUMBIA. 
Tou-chet river to the Snake, twenty-eight miles; yet, by a slight deflection to the east, water can 
be got at shorter intervals than twenty miles. 
Lewis or Snake river, after cutting out a corner of Washington Territory, turns southward into 
Oregon, leaving, however, a tributary to the eastward—the Little Salmon or Kooskooskia river— 
which, passing through the Nez Perces country, forks and affords two trails through the Coeur 
d’Alene mountains, called the northern and southern Nez Perces trails. 
In the re-entering formed by the Snake, whilst most of the country between the Snake and 
the Wallah-Wallah, along the Columbia, and for some twenty miles back, has but little arable 
land, there is good though somewhat scant bunch-grass over nearly the whole surface, and the 
Wallah-Wallah itself, with its numerous tributaries, affords excellent arable and grazing land. It 
has already attracted the attention of emigrants, and if the Indian title were ever extinguished, it 
would be rapidly filled up. 
The Spokane river, and its principal tributary, the Coeur d’Alene river, and Clark’s fork, 
furnish the other two trails through the Coeur d’Alene range. 
These four trails have already been described, and the route of Clark’s fork indicated as the 
most practicable one for a railroad route. On this river is the Pend d’Oreille lake, forty-five 
miles long, and on the Coeur d’Alene tributary of the Spokane river, the Coeur d’Alene lake. 
Between the Pend d’Oreille lake and the country from the Coeur d’Alene lake to the falls of the 
Spokane, the country is favorable, the divide low, and feasible routes are afforded for passing from 
Clark’s fork to the Spokane plain, and across the Columbia. This gives a southwestern direction 
to the railroad route. Westward, however, of this favorable region of country, a high range of 
mountains extends across Clark’s fork, and presents obstacles to the construction of the road 
either towards the mouth of Clark’s fork or Colville, though, as will be seen by reference to the 
report of Lieutenant Arnold, accompanying that of Lieutenant Donelson, a practicable route 
probably exists, and could be made use of did the connexion west require it. Westward of the 
Columbia river, at these points, the country is very rugged, indeed impracticable, and leads to 
the abandonment of all plans of reaching the passes of the Cascades in this direction. 
From the Coeur d’Alene mission, some miles above the Coeur d’Alene lake, there is a good 
wagon trail to Wallah-Wallah. There is also said to be a good wagon trail from the Pend 
d’Oreille lake, keeping on its eastern and southern shore, to the Coeur d’Alene mission and to 
the Coeur d’Alene river, and an excellent railroad route, which is marked on the sketch. 
As regards the great features of the country west of the mountains in reference to its practi¬ 
cability for a railroad, viz : the Bitter Root, Clark’s Fork, and Columbia rivers, I will state that 
Dr. Suckley, the surgeon and naturalist of the eastern division of the exploration, left St. Mary’s 
village on the 15tli of October, and, proceeding down the Bitter Root and Clark’s fork, reached 
Columbia barracks on the 6lh of December, making the whole distance, except about sixty miles 
from the Pend d’Oreille mission to Colville, by water. The distance was 1,049 miles, (esti¬ 
mated,) the running time 2S5J hours, made in fifty-three days, or 3.67 miles per hour. But three 
portages of magnitude were made—one of thirteen hundred paces on Clark’s Fork river, above 
the Pend d’Oreille lake, one on the Columbia, at the Dalles, of eight hundred paces, and one at 
the Cascades, one and a half mile in length. 
From Horse Plain, at the confluence of Clark’s foi’k and the Bitter Root river, the whole dis¬ 
tance to the mouth of the Columbia readily admits the rafting of lumber, and it is probable that 
logs can be run to Horse Plain from the upper valley of the Bitter Root in the freshets of spring, 
and from and above the Flathead lake, on Clark’s fork. 
The forest growth on the banks of the Columbia above the mouth of the Wenatshapam can be 
transported down to any point of the river where it may be needed for fuel, for buildings, and 
for constructions. Thus, for all practical purposes of railroad construction, the Columbia through¬ 
out its entire length may be considered as bountifully supplied with wood. 
With reference to the growth along its banks, I will quote from the report of Dr. Suckley: 
