106 
NARRATIVE ARD ITINERARY-WILLAMETTE VALLEY. 
ROUTE FROM VANCOUVER TO FORT READING, WEST OF THE CASCADE MOUNTAINS. 
October 22.—To-day we left Oregon City, travelled about eighteen miles over an excellent 
road, and encamped on Pudding river. The country was level or gently undulating, and much 
of it covered with timber. We found the ford of the Molalle river rather deep. A ferry-hoat 
is required at this crossing during the season of high water. Numerous houses and fine farms 
were passed on the way; and the land appeared fertile and valuable. 
October 23.—This morning we crossed Pudding river by a toll-bridge, and then travelled 
about twenty-four miles to Salem. Our course lay through a level country called French Prairie, 
the fertility and thickly settled character of which strongly contrasted with the barrenness and 
solitude of most of the Des Chutes plateau. At Salem I saw the surveyor general of the 
Territory, and Mr. H. Gordon, deputy surveyor. To both of these gentlemen I am indebted 
for much valuable information and personal kindness. 
October 24.—This morning it rained. We passed over the Willamette river at Rice’s ferry, 
where the stream is deep and wide and the current rapid. One of our mules was drowned in 
attempting to swim across. We found difficulty in keeping our proper course to-day, on ac¬ 
count of numerous forks in the road. There is also a very annoying custom, in this part of the 
valley, of enclosing by fences portions of the road, with the land on each side ; thus rendering 
large circuits unavoidable. Soon after leaving Salem, we passed through a small collection of 
houses named Cincinnati, and crossed a little stream called La Creole river. The country was 
level or slightly undulating for the whole of the day’s march. We encamped on Lackimute 
creek, having travelled about seventeen miles. 
October 25.—The route to-day, which was in some places well timbered with oak, cedar, fir, 
and spruce, lay over a narrow and nearly level plain, bordered by high hills. We passed 
through Corvallis, a little town, consisting principally of one street lined by several stores and 
dwelling houses. It is built on a small stream called Mary’s river, which rises near a peak of 
the Coast Range, bearing the same name, and discharges itself into the Willamette. We 
travelled 32 miles, and encamped on Long Tom creek. 
October 26. —To-day we continued our course through the same narrow, level prairie, for 24 
miles, to Eugene City, a small village near the junction of the Coast and Middle forks of the Wil¬ 
lamette. A short distance north of the town, a line of low rolling hills, the principal peak of 
which is called Spencer’s Butte, crosses the valley, and connects the Cascade and Coast Ranges. 
October 27.—Our road to-day followed up the Coast fork of the Willamette, and we encamped 
near its head-waters, after a day’s march of about 25 miles. The valley had become narrow 
and we occasionally crossed low hills. The soil was very fertile, and much of it cultivated. 
We experienced no little difficulty, however, in obtaining forage for our animals, as the Indian 
war in Rogue River valley had caused it to be in great demand. 
October 28.-^To-day we crossed, by the Pass creek road, the Calapooya mountains, which 
separate the Willamette and Umpqua valleys. Pass creek rises in a little meadow, which is 
also the source of a tributary of the Coast fork of the Willamette, and flows through the 
Calapooya mountains to Elk creek, a branch of the Umpqua river. This pass had only been 
known for a short time, and the wagon road was not fully completed when my party travelled 
over the route. Nothing but a few short bridges and a little grading, however, was wanting 
to make it a good and level road through the mountains. Having reached the Umpqua valley, 
we crossed a small divide between Pass and Elk creeks, and travelled towards the south through 
a narrow prairie bordered by rolling hills. The soil was fertile, and the neatly painted houses, 
