PARTIAL RESULTS OF EXPLORATION. 
451 
2. I herewith send the profile of the railroad route via the Bitter Root river and the pass of 
the lower Columbia. The other profiles are nearly ready to be transmitted. I also transmit the 
barometrical heights on the trail of the main train. The barometrical observations have been all 
lost on the isthmus by Lieutenant Donelson. 
3. The soil is excellent from the Mississippi river to the Bois de Sioux, in the Mouse River 
valley, and in the valleys of the several streams flowing into the Missouri. Much of the land is 
good on Milk river, and on the banks of the Missouri itself. It is excellent in the valleys of the 
Marias, Teton, Medicine, Dearborn, and the several tributaries at the forks of the Missouri. It 
is also excellent on the Missouri in the vicinity of Fort Benton, on the Highwood creek, on 
the Judith river, on the Muscle Shell, and on Smith’s river. The valleys of the Hell Gate, 
Blackfoot, St. Mary’s, Jocko, and the several tributaries flowing into the Flathead lake, furnish 
excellent soil. The soil is good on the several prairies on Clark’s fork, in the vicinity of the 
Coeur d’Alene lake, the several tributaries flowing into that lake, and good for the most part on 
the banks of the Spokane, and on the western slope of the Coeur d’Alene mountains; and it is 
good also much of the distance on the railroad route over the Great Plain of the Columbia, and 
on the Wallah-Wallah river and its tributaries. In the immediate vicinity of Fort Wallah-Wal¬ 
lah the soil is poor. Below Fort Wallah-Wallah, on both banks of the Columbia, the soil for the 
most part is good, and the grazing excellent. Below the Cascades the soil is rich, and is so for 
the most part to the mouth of the Cowlitz, and thence to Puget sound. On the southern shore of 
Puget sound a portion of the prairies is gravelly, although the great portion furnishes fair arable land. 
In the Yakima valley there is some good land, and by irrigation a considerable quantity of land 
could be made available for crops. Crossing the mountains by the Snoqualme Pass, the soil im¬ 
proves, and for some forty miles before reaching the Sound the quality is excellent. This is 
especially the case back of Seattle. 
The grazing is good on the whole route, and between the Bois de Sioux and the Mouse River 
valley, and between this valley and the Big Muddy river. Between the several river valleys 
from the Big Muddy to the Medicine river there are many small streams, and valleys furnishing 
excellent farming locations. 
The timber is abundant as far as the Bois de Sioux, and on the route thence to the Grand 
Couteau heading the Mouse River valley the road can be supplied from the Shayenne, the Mini- 
wakan lake, the coulees and main valley of Mouse river, and various lakes not far from the line 
of the route. From the Grand Couteau to the Big Muddy river there is little or no timber, and 
the supply must be furnished from the Missouri and Yellowstone. The same from the Big 
Muddy to Milk river. From the mouth of Milk river to the mountains temporary arrangements 
can be made with the cotton-wood, to be replaced, on a through communication being estab¬ 
lished, by the excellent pines of the Bear’s Paw, the Three Buttes, and the Rocky mountains, 
though it will be practicable, from the Missouri, to extend the track along Milk river by the red 
cedar and the pines of the Missouri and Yellowstone, and by the use of a branch road to open a 
new section where the route passes between the Bear’s Paw and the Three Buttes. The supply 
from the mountains to beyond the crossing of the Spokane is inexhaustible; thence for some one 
hundred miles, to the crossing of the Columbia, there is a scarcity of timber; but inexhaustible 
supplies can be floated down the Columbia. From the crossing of the Columbia, down its valley 
to the Cowlitz, and thence to the Sound, the supply is inexhaustible, though from the crossing to 
the Dalles the reliance must be on the woods of the Columbia, above the mouth of the Wenat- 
shapam. By the route of the Yakima and the Snoqualme Pass there will be ample supplies of 
timber. Not much is found the first ninety-four miles; but the route being in the valley of the 
Yakima, there will be no difficulty in rafting down to points where timber is wanted, from its 
headwaters. 
In the timbered region are found pine, larch, spruce, cedar, and fir. East of the Bois de Sioux 
the growth is principally oak, elm, ash, &c. 
