COUNTRY UPON SHOAL WATER BAY AND PUGET SOUND. 
471 
as an average. The immediate banks are generally low, skirted with willow, alder, and vine- 
maple, and a few cotton-woods and white maple, of large size, intermixed. Back from the 
stream the timber is fir, spruce, and cedar, the last becoming more prevalent in receding from 
the salt water. The soil is unquestionably good, but the extent of the bottom could not be ascer¬ 
tained from the river. It is said to be considerable. Claims are being rapidly taken up along 
its margin, and it promises to become one of the most important districts on the Sound. The 
Indians report numerous small prairies of good land lying at the foot of the mountains, between 
the heads of this and the adjacent rivers. 
The Sinahomish, which is next north of the D’Wamish, empties at Port Gardner, opposite the 
upper end of Whidby’s island. Of its several forks, the southern or Snoqualme heads in the 
Cascades, a short distance north of the main Yakima Pass; another, the Skywhamish, probably 
interlocking with the sources of Chelann lake, and the Winatshapam. A more particular de¬ 
scription is unnecessary here, as it already enters into another report of the expedition. 
Beyond the Sinahomish very little is known of the rivers beyond a few miles from their mouths, 
except what has been learned from Indians. The next in order—the Stoluckwamish, or, as it is 
more commonly called, Steilaquamish—empties into the shallow sound above Port Susan, and 
opposite the head of McDonough’s island. It has two main forks, one of which approaches so 
near the Skywhamish that the Indians carry their canoes across. Below this is the Skagit, of 
which the Kikiallis is only one mouth. It is a considerable stream, and, as is ascertained, heads 
in the main range of the Cascades, cutting through that which follows more nearly the coast 
of the Sound, and empties opposite the northern or lower end of Whidby’s island. Beyond this 
are the Sina-ah-mish, opposite Perry’s island, and the Sa-mish, nearly opposite Hornet’s harbor. 
A considerable stream, the outlet of a lake, falls into Bellingham bay. This, which is called 
Whatcom lake, is said by Mr. Kelly, a citizen who explored it, to be from twelve to fifteen 
miles in length, lying northeast and southwest, and is very deep. Two streams, of no great size, 
enter it. Its level is supposed to be one hundred and fifty feet above the bay, and there are 
numerous falls in the outlet, the highest about thirty feet. Its mouth affords a very fine water¬ 
power, on which a saw-mill has been erected. The lake is bounded on the east and west by 
high hills, but a valley extends northward towards the Nooksahk and Frazer’s river, and but a 
low divide separates it from the Samish on the south. 
The Lummi river falls into the northern end of Bellingham bay. Of this the main branch, 
called the Nooksahk, is said to head east and south of Mount Baker, and almost to encircle it. 
Dr. R. M. Bigelow, of Seattle, informs me that he ascended this river to a considerable distance, 
and that it is a deep and rapid stream, about double the size of the D’Wamish. There is a delta 
of low land where it and the Lummi unite. 
It appears from a sketch of the country between the Okinakane lake and Frazer’s river, ob¬ 
tained from Mr. Alexander C. Anderson, formerly of the Hudson’s Bay Company, since the 
construction of the survey map, that this river heads with the Mila-kite-kwu branch of the Okin¬ 
akane, in the main divide of the Cascades. Mr. Anderson was the first to explore the Hudson’s 
Bay Company’s trail from the Okinakane to Fort Langley, and he crossed from that branch on 
to the Nooksahk, and thence over to a southerly branch of Frazer’s river. I have already for¬ 
warded his map, which will add much to the geography of the northern part of the Cascade 
mountains, and which it is to be regretted was not sooner received. Another stream, the entrance 
of which is said to be accessible to vessels, enters the Gulf of Georgia above Birch bay. It can¬ 
not be of great lengih, as it is cut off by others from the mountains. 
None of these rivers, it would appear, run directly from the mountains towards the Sound ; 
but in every instance, so far as known, from northeast to southwest, forming oblique valleys, 
much longer and with a more gradual descent than would otherwise have been the case ; while 
those on the opposite side of the range run from northwest to southeast. Most of them bring 
down considerable bodies of water throughout the year, and all, as may be supposed, swell greatly 
