GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE REGIONS EXAMINED. 
33 
failed, on account of the immense expense of the undertaking. The northern hank is favorable, 
and a portage, four and a half miles in length, has been constructed by the company owning 
the line of steamboats plying between the Dalles and Portland. Since my visit, this has been 
greatly improved by Lieut. Gr. H. Derby, United States Topographical Engineers, who has had 
charge of the construction of a military road from Vancouver to Fort Dalles. 
Want of time compelled me to return to the Dalles without examining the river below the 
Cascades. 
The following information relating to the navigation of the Columbia, I received from Captain 
W. B. Wells, the chief proprietor of the line of steamboats plying upon the river ; a gentleman 
whose business has afforded him ample opportunity for observation. The river is at its lowest 
stage about the first of April, when it has a depth of between 9 and 10 feet up to the Cascades, 
and 9 feet thence to the Dalles. Above that point it is so much interrupted by rapids as 
to be unnavigable. It is highest about the first of July, when it has a depth of about 18 feet 
up to the Cascades, and of 39 feet thence to the Dalles. The disproportionate rise in the latter 
section is due to the stoppage of the water at the Cascades. There are no troublesome snags or 
floating timber at any time in the river, but often the shifting sand occasions trouble. The river 
very rarely freezes, and never for more than a day or two at a time. 
As the Columbia has succeeded in forcing its way through the Cascade Range by this pass, it 
has naturally been supposed that a wagon road or a railroad could be constructed, at a moderate 
expense, upon its banks, and an appropriation of $25,000 was made for the former purpose by 
Congress. The officer in charge of the work, Lieut. Gr. H. Derby, United States Topographical 
Engineers, made a careful examination of the route, subsequent to my reconnaissance, and he 
has reported the road impracticable, without enormous expense. I think that a careful survey 
would show the same to be true with reference to a railroad. At present, the only land com¬ 
munication down the river is by two pack trails, which leave the Dalles on the southern bank. 
Both are generally well supplied with grass. I was informed that one, which can only be used 
when the river is low, is tolerably good ; but that the other continually crosses rough spurs, and 
winds along the face of precipices, by paths so narrow, that even mules sometimes lose their 
foothold. By both trails it is necessary to cross to the northern bank of the river, above the 
Cascades, where the current is strong and the river wide. 
WILLAMETTE VALLEY. 
This valley, which forms the richest and most populous portion of Oregon, lies between the 
Cascade mountains and the Coast Range. 'It is about one hundred and fifty miles in length, and 
fifty in breadth. Its general elevation above the sea level is from two to eight hundred feet. 
Some parts of it are well timbered with oak, maple, cedar, fir, spruce, arbor vitae, and other valu¬ 
able kinds of trees; other portions are open and fertile prairies. The soil is generally very rich, 
and produces in abundance wheat, oats, barley, potatoes, and other products of the eastern States. 
Indian corn, however, cannot be cultivated to advantage. The Willamette river, flowing 
through the valley, receives many tributaries from the east and west, which furnish an abundant 
supply of water. The navigation of this river is interrupted by rapids, near Oregon city, about 
twenty-five miles from its mouth. At the season of high water, however, it is navigable for small 
steamboats, from the upper end of these rapids to (Corvallis, a distance of about one hundred miles 
by the course of the river. Numerous flourishing towns, and a few cities, are located upon its 
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