206 
TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT ON WESTERN DIVISION. 
Cathlapoot’l, and five or six miles back from it. There are many craters of extinct volcanoes 
found in this field, and wide and deep fissures, formed by the bursting of lava bubbles by cool¬ 
ing too suddenly. A great many large masses and small detached angular fragments of lava 
are scattered over the surface, and it is rough, barren, and desolate. There are traces, however, 
of timber (spruce) having grown on it at some time since the eruption which formed it; but 
fire has nearly removed them, a few charred stumps and logs only remaining. This field is 
narrowed towards the mouth of the Noomptnamie by the mountain chain on the north. These 
mountains are also basaltic in structure. The Noomptnamie is forty feet wide, and from three and 
a half to four feet deep—bottom rough and stony. This is one of the boldest of mountain streams, 
with a great fall and very rapid current. The Cathlapoot’l has also a greater fall and more rapidity 
of current for two miles below the mouth of the Noomptnamie. Between the Noomptnamie and 
Wininepat the trail passes over quite a level country ; two spurs from the range on the right bank 
come down to the river, the one along the eastern bank of the Noomptnamie, and the other two miles 
beyond. The trail crosses over the first, and avoids the second by crossing to the left bank of the 
Cathlapoot’l, and returning to the right bank again above this spur. The chain on the south bank 
of the Cathlapoot’l is very high and continuous, and abrupt and broken on the water declivity, 
coming down to the water’s edge. One mile below, where the river makes the great bend to the 
north at Weninepat, this range leaves the river and runs off'slightly to the south of east. Another 
cross chain, however, runs along nearly parallel to the river, and soon runs into it. The Cathla¬ 
poot’l has no valley: cotton-wood and balm of Gilead grow in the low places along its banks. 
The country is well timbered with spruce and pine ; between Lakas and Wininepat, with spruce, 
fir, pine, and cedar. The trail crosses the river Cathlapoot’l at Wininepat for the last time, and 
then leaves this river. The last crossings of the Cathlapoot’l are diagonal, and all its-fords are 
difficult for animals, on account of the rapidity of the current and the immense quantities of 
large water-worn pebbles on the bottom. The breadth of stream is about seventy-five to eighty 
feet, and that of the bed, between banks, from seventy-five to one hundred yards. It cannot 
be forded at high water. Leaving the Cathlapoot’l, the trail bears to the southeast across the river 
chain, which has been running on the left bank of the river, but lying back from it at this point. 
This chain is not sharp or very rocky, but earthy and soft, and rounded in outline, and very high. 
The ascent for the first part is over five plateaux; ascent to plateaux abrupt, but not very high. 
The last part of this ascent is made by a long winding stretch over the side slope of the main 
range, and is remarkably abrupt. The descent to the Wahamis, on high rolling table-land, eight 
miles from the Cathlapoot’l, is gentle and gradual. Here is fine grass, worthy of note, as it is the 
first which occurs between Spilyeb plain and this point. These mountains have been burned 
over, so that their appearance is bald and barren, and the timber, where it occurs, is young 
growth of pine and hemlock. They are remarkable for the quantity of berries growing on them. 
Strawberries and four varieties of whortleberries were noted. Berries are generally found on any 
tract of country visited by fire, but they are mostly found in the mountains, and seem to flourish 
best near the summit. From Wahamis the trail bears south of east for twenty miles, to Chequoss, 
a point on the high mountain table-land of the chain running from the mouth of the White Salmon 
to Mount Adams. The immediate country is high rolling, and sometimes broken, and high 
ranges run off to the right and left of trail, with bald, isolated peaks occurring here and there 
in them. The descent from the high table-land to the Chequoss is gradual, and there are several 
very high peaks in the vicinity of this place. The Wahamis creek runs to the right and left of 
trail, generally some distance from it, and is crossed two or three times ; it soon bears off to the 
southeast, and is one of the principal branches of the-. Eleven and a half miles from 
Wahamis there are some low, wet prairies on left of trail Yawakamis, and are drained by small 
streams crossing the trail in basaltic ravines, and emptying into the Wahamis; there are two 
fine brooks between Yawakamis and Chequoss, also branches of the White Salmon. There are 
lakes on the table-land near Chequoss. The country between Yawakamis and Chequoss is more 
