No. 1. 
REPORT ON THE BOTANY OF THE ROUTE. 
By J. G. COOPER, M. D. 
THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS. 
The most superficial examination of the natural productions of Washington Territory cannot 
fail to show that it possesses a remarkable variety of botanical and zoological regions, each 
distinguished by more or less peculiar forms of life. A concise and systematic account of 
them, as far as they fell under my observation, seems necessary to complete the scattered notes 
on the distribution of species which I have already given. Reversing the usual order, I com¬ 
mence with the most elevated region, which was one of the first I visited. 
At an elevation of 5,000 feet above the ocean we found the vegetation and animals subalpine 
in character, but still with a preponderance of those belonging to the lower country. On the hills, 
there but partially covered with forests, we found, during our visit in the first week of August, 
a profusion of berries of several kinds, which the Indians were engaged in collecting. Among 
them was a huckleberry not before seen, (V. myrtilloides? Michx.,) with fruit nearly as large 
and as finely flavored as a grape. Two kinds of pine, (P. monticola. Dougl.,) resembling the 
white pine, and (P. ponderosa , Dougl.,) with a magnificent species of mountain spruce, (A. nobilis , 
Dough,) were the characteristic trees, replacing, to some extent, those of the lower regions. 
Blue, purple, red, yellow, and white flowers, in rich profusion, ornamented the surface; and 
the whole region looked more like a garden than a wild mountain summit, covered for nearly 
half the year with snow. 
On the morning of August 9, a rain having extinguished the burning of the forests below 
us, and cleared away the smoke which had for several days obscured the view, there was 
revealed to us a scene probably unsurpassed in magnificence by any in America. Five snowy 
peaks surrounded us, rising many thousand feet above our camp; and we found that we were 
still far below the limits of perpetual snow. From a distant view I supposed that dwarf vege¬ 
tation continued on these peaks for a thousand feet higher, forming the truly alpine region , 
and I much regretted that time did not permit me to explore this. Months might be well 
spent in collecting in this most interesting region, even above the limits of the forest growth. 
It is well known to have even a group of large animals peculiar to it—such as the mountain 
sheep and goat, white grouse, and probably others. A dwarf glaucous juniper, (J. communis,) 
with large berries, spreading like a carpet on the summit of the highest point I ascended, was 
the most characteristic subalpine plant, and seemed to be limited to that region, as none 
occurred lower down. This point was, by the barometer, nearly 5,103 feet above the sea. 
The vegetation of August, at this height, corresponded to that of May at Yancouver, many of 
the same plants occurring in flower, though of a more stunted growth. But spring, summer, 
