RAILROAD REPORT-ROUTE FROM CAMP 36 TO FORT DALLES. 
45 
hended great difficulty in following tlie Middle Fork from the lake to where his trail struck it. 
His notes upon the pass will be found in Chapter IV, under the date September 29. 
From Camp 45 W to the Willamette valley, the railroad would follow the course of the 
Middle Fork. Occasional heavy cutting through lateral spurs would he required, hut no very 
costly work. 
A discussion of the facilities offered for the construction of a railroad in the Willamette 
valley, will be given in connection with my return route from Vancouver to Fort Reading. 
ROUTE FROM CAMP 36, NEAR THE HEAD OF THE DES CHUTES VALLEY, TO FORT DALLES. SURVEYED 
BY LIEUT. ABBOT. 
As the route down the Des Chutes valley to the Columbia river is considered utterly imprac¬ 
ticable for a railroad, it is deemed only necessary to state the grounds upon which this opinion 
is based. The whole difficulty consists in obtaining suitable gradients. The supply of water 
is abundant, and good timber for ties and fuel can always he obtained, at a slight cost, from the 
neighboring mountains, when it is not found near the trail. 
The road could he built at a moderate expense, with a descending grade of 13 feet per mile, 
from the place where we first reached the Des Chutes river, to the point where my party rafted 
it, a distance of about 29 miles. The stream was here about 150 feet wide, and flowed with a 
rapid current over a rocky bed. It could have been forded, hut not without wetting the packs. 
The nature of the banks would render it necessary that a bridge should be at least 200 feet in 
length. A short distance below this point, the river enters the great canon. It is not considered 
practicable, without enormous expense, to construct a railroad from this place to the Dalles, 
either in this canon, or upon the eastern or western side of the valley. The obstacles to be 
encountered on each of these three routes will be briefly stated. 
The canon, which in many places is more than 1,000 feet in depth, extends, without doubt, 
to the mouth of the river ; a distance of about 140 miles. It abounds in rapids and short bends, 
which would render numerous tunnels and deep cuts through a kind of basaltic rock of exceeding 
hardness, indispensable. There would also be constant danger of avalanches of earth and stone, 
from the precipitous sides. The average descent of the river in the canon, is about 25 feet per mile. 
Of the eastern side of the valley below the rafting place, comparatively little is accurately 
known. Much of it appears, when seen from a distance, to be a bare, sterile plateau, some 
portions of which are level, and others broken by rolling hills. As the river undoubtedly 
receives most of its tributaries from the Cascade Range, it is possible that the numerous lateral 
canons, which furrow the western bank and render it impracticable for a railroad, might not be 
encountered on the eastern. But, even if this should prove to be the case, in order to reach the 
navigable portion of the Columbia river, it would be necessary to cross the Des Chutes canon by 
an embankment or bridge, nearly a mile in length and from 500 to 1,000 feet in height, and 
then, before reaching the Dalles, to overcome other obstacles involving equal expense. 
The western side of the valley was thoroughly explored by my party. As insurmountable 
difficulties were subsequently encountered, it is sufficient to state of the section extending from 
the rafting place to Camp S on Why-chus creek, a distance of about 34.4 miles, that the con¬ 
struction of a railroad through it would be rendered very expensive, by the necessity of crossing 
numerous ravines from 100 to 200 feet deep, and of cutting through several high, rocky spurs. 
An average descending grade of 26 feet per mile, would be required. The country north of Why- 
chus creek was very carefully examined, both near the river and near the mountains. The best 
