VOYAGE IN A CANOE FROM FORT OWEN TO VANCOUVER. 
299 
except during the coldest winters. The old trappers thought that these noises were produced by 
the bursting of silver mines. Their opinion in such a matter is of but little importance, to my 
mind. There are three or four explanations concerning the manner in which these sounds may 
have been produced. They may be simply volcanic detonations. These are frequently heard 
at great distances. Humboldt mentions having heard volcanic detonations in the Andes from 
Chillo, near Quito, a distance of eighty-eight miles. But the fact that these noises in the Rocky 
mountains are only heard during the most severe winters , seems to render this explanation improb¬ 
able. Similar reports, attending the opening of cracks or chasms, are said to be common in the 
Polar regions. They may be caused by the detachment of heavy masses of ice, or more prob¬ 
ably by land-slides. On the main Columbia, a short distance above Fort Colville, the black pipe- 
stone is found. There is no red pipestone west of the mountains, except that which is already 
fabricated into pipes. The natives have a few among them, which originally came from the Sioux 
country, and which they have obtained either as presents, by barter, or as war trophies. I left 
the mission on the 10th of November, and arrived at Fort Colville on the 13th. Here I was 
kindly entertained by Mr. Angus McDonald, the officer in charge of the post. Near the fort is 
the mission of St. Paul, established among the Kettle Fall Indians, on the left bank of the Colum¬ 
bia, about one mile from the Kettle Falls. I visited the mission establishment three times during 
my stay at Fort Colville. It is superintended by the Rev. Father Joset, assisted by one other 
priest and a lay brother. Father Joset received me very kindly. He is a Swiss, and very gen¬ 
tlemanly and agreeable in his manners. To him I am indebted for much valuable information 
concerning this part of the country. The mission establishment consists of a chapel, a dwelling- 
house, and several other buildings. There is no farm atiached to it. The Indians have sufficient 
to eat, which they obtain from other sources. There is, consequently, no necessity requiring the 
missionaries to cultivate land, as they can obtain all they want for their own use from the Hud¬ 
son’s Bay Company. The Kettle Falls Indians call themselves Squeer-yer-pe. The chief of this 
tribe is called Pierre Jean. He, with most of his followers, live in their lodges around the mis¬ 
sion. The number of souls in this band is about three hundred and fifty. During the summer 
season the Indians from all the surrounding country congregate at this place to catch salmon. 
There are then about one thousand at the falls. The Squeer-yer-pe name for the Kettle Falls is 
Schwan-ate-koo, or deep-sounding water. Here the Columbia pitches over a ledge of rocks, 
making a fall of about fifteen feet perpendicular. The Indians sow a little wheat and plant some 
potatoes, of which they are very fond; but their principal subsistence is the everlasting salmon. 
These come up annually in great numbers, on their way to the headwaters of the Columbia. 
The Indians, as before stated, all collect in the neighborhood of these and other falls, where they 
riot in feasting on their captured prey. They kill hundreds of thousands of these fish by spear¬ 
ing them. The myriads of salmon that ascend the rivers of the Pacific coast are almost incred¬ 
ible. In many places the water appears alive with them, and the shores are thickly lined with 
the dead and dying fish. This, according to De Smet, is particularly noticed on the small lakes 
of the upper Columbia, in the vicinity of Martin’s rapids. The salmon ascend the Clark river to 
a point about twenty-five miles above its mouth. Here the great falls prevent their further as¬ 
cent. The question has often occurred to me whether it would not be a good plan to blast out a 
raceway or gradual ascent over these falls, and thus allow a passage of the fish to the whole 
back country, from which arise the sources of the Clark. This certainly would be providing 
food for the Indians and others at a very trifling expense. The salmon of these waters, unlike 
those of other parts of the world, do not take the hook; and, strange as it seems, they are said 
never to stop searching after the source of the stream they are in. Their march is always ahead 
until they spawn and die ; they never return to the sea. This seems to be the general opinion of 
the people with whom I have conversed. 
The subject, however, will never be thoroughly understood until a number of careful, judicious 
experiments have been instituted. Salmon are taken on the hook by trolling in the salt water of 
