214 
TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT ON WESTERN DIVISION. 
miles long. A low range of basaltic hills limits it on the east, and runs nearly north, until it ends 
in an abrupt bluff on the Okinakane. The other sides are limited by the Okinakane and Columbia 
rivers. The soil is almost worthless. A long strip of plateau, similar in character, is found 
on the right bank of the Okinakane. Fort Okinakane is on the tongue between the Columbia 
and Okinakane rivers, near the former, and two miles from the mouth of the latter. The site 
of Astor’s old fort is very near the junction of these two streams. Thence the trail follows up 
the banks of the Okinakane, crossing from one bank to the other, for eighty-seven miles, to the 
lakes beyond the forty-ninth parallel. For three miles the trail is over the low, sandy plateau 
spoken of, and then crosses to the left, to avoid the bluffs. After fording the river, the trail runs 
back over the high ground, and returns to it again thirteen miles beyond. There is a salt lake 
on each side of the trail, three miles above the ford; the largest, three-quarters or one mile long, 
being on the left. A carbonate, or some similar salt of soda, is found as impalpable powder on the 
shores of these lakes. From the river to these lakes the country is rough and basaltic, and a 
great deal of loose, broken lava is on the surface. A high ridge or chain runs nearly east and 
west, just beyond the lakes, intersecting the river at right angles. The trail crosses this range, 
the ascent being gradual through the gorge of a small stream entering the larger lake; and the 
descent is over successive terraces, the last descent being abrupt and stony. There is a small 
salt lake on the north of the top of the divide, from which the water runs into the Okinakane. 
Aspen grows on this lake, and cotton-wood on the small streams leading from it, and a few 
scattering pines are on the ridge. The Okinakane throughout its length has no continuous valley. 
Low ranges of bald, barren mountains coast it, but not continuously ; sometimes running close 
to the water’s edge, at others lying back from the river and sending out spurs to it. These 
sometimes are terraced like those on the Methow, but not to the same degree. By running into 
the river and out from it, these river ranges form plateau valleys, varying from a simple gorge 
to one or two miles in width. The Okinakane receives four branches from the west, between 
the mouth and the forks. The largest of these branches is the Nistepehtsam, twenty miles above 
the mouth of the river, and it is twenty feet wide and eighteen inches deep ; they are all fine, 
rapid mountain brooks. There is a fine fall in the Okinakane river thirty-three miles above its 
mouth. These falls are horse-shoe shaped, the convexity being up stream; fall of water five feet. 
The trail crosses to the left bank five miles above the falls, and three streams come in on this 
side, at distances of one, two, and four and a half miles, respectively, above the ford. These 
streams have all rapid currents, and are from fifteen to twenty feet wide. The country is very 
gravelly, and the soil poor, between the ford and the forks, ten miles above it. There is more 
timber along this portion of the river than heretofore, cotton-wood, &c., and a few scattering 
pines. The mainstream, Sahtlilkwu, runs nearly north above the forks; the other fork, the 
Millaldtekwa, bearing to the northwest. On the latter river there is a fall of ten feet about 
four miles above the junction. The trail follows up the right bank of the Sahtlilkwu, along which 
the country has much the same character as before. The mountains, however, become higher, 
and have a growth of open pine upon them. There are four large lakes on this river above the 
forks. The first, the Osoyoos, commences one mile above the forks, and is ten miles long, and 
over a mile wide ; the second is five and a half miles long; the third is eight miles long. These 
lakes are very deep ; but two sand-bars project from about the middle of Osoyoos from either 
bank, and a fording is practicable at this point. The trail goes up as far as Lake Okinakane, 
thirty-seven miles above the forks. This is the largest and longest of these lakes, and stretches 
off to the northward into British territory for many miles. The country up to this lake is as 
heretofore, the soil very sandy and gravelly. Three small streams come into Lake Osoyoos on its 
eastern side. Leaving Lake Osoyoos, the trail passes up through the gorge of one of these streams, 
coming in near the lower end of the lake, and bears eastward to the Siyakan, a branch of the 
Nehoialpitkwu river, and follows down this stream to its mouth. Thence the trail keeps down the 
banks of the Nehoialpitkwu (crossing from bank to bank, as necessity requires, to avoid the high 
