covered with fields of drift ice, which renders its navigation 
dangerous and unreliable. The following citations from the 
Oregonian will demonstrate this fact: 
Dec. 20, 1870. — The Columbia closed. The steamers from the Co¬ 
lumbia river report that slush ice is running heavily, but as yet they are 
able to mate their way through. 
Dec. 22, 1870. — The Columbia river being closed, preventing the 
transportation of the mails below the Dalis, Mr. Underwood tele¬ 
graphed on Tuesday to Ogden, directing that all mails be sent to Sacra¬ 
mento and San Francisco till further orders. 
The steamer ‘Fanny Troop* arrived last evening from the Lower 
Columbia, she reports the running ice very heavy. No further trips 
below will be attempted for the present. 
Dec. 23, 1870. —Yesterday morning the river opposite Stark street 
was frozen almost across, and ice remains far out in the river from the 
eastern bank till late in the day. It will require but few degrees of in¬ 
crease of cold to close the Wallamet against steamboat navigation. 
The steamer ‘ Okanagan ’ succeeded in getting up yesterday from 
Astoria via the Wallamet slough. At St. Helen’s the Columbia was 
very full of ice, and for most of the width of the river it was stationary. 
Dec. 26, 1870. —The ‘Geo. S. Wright’ did not succeed in getting 
down the Columbia river Friday night. The ice blockade was found to 
be so heavy that the ship could not be forced through; she returned and 
is now laying at the steamboat dock. The barque ‘ Lydia,’ ready to 
sail, is also at her moorings at the dock. The steamer ‘ Rescue ’ went 
down as far as St. Helen’s, and returned on account of the ice. 
Dec. 28, 1870. — Owing to the block of ice in the Columbia, the 
steamer * Oraflame ’ was unable to come nearer than St. Helen’s. 
Puget Sound. The approaches into the Strait De Fuca are 
wide and clean, the soundings are regular, and the actions of 
the tides are well ascertained. The long, narrow inland sea, 
known by the general name of Puget Sound, is accessible in all 
winds, and affords secure shelter for the navies of the world. 
In “ a life on the mountain wave,” we have sailed on several 
seas, sounds and straits, but have not witnessed any sheet of 
water presenting so many elements of sublimity and usefulness 
as those comprising the Strait De Fuca, Admiralty Inlet, Hood’s 
Canal and Puget Sound, save and excepting the waters border¬ 
ing on British Columbia. 
Lieut. Wilkes, commanding the U. S. Exploring Expedition, 
visited those waters in 1841, and made general surveys of the 
principal channels and harbors. In describing this labyrinth 
of waters, he states :—“ The Strait De Fuca may be safely nav¬ 
igated ; the wind will for the greater part of the year be found 
