Reports of explorations and surveys, to ascertain the most practicable and economical route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean: Vol. 1, Pt. 2

TOPOGRAPHY OF' ROUTE FROM THE MISSISSIPPI TO THE COLUMBIA.
From the Spokane to where the Peluse joins the Snake river in a direct course across the
plain is about ninety miles southwest, during which the route crosses numerous small streams,
and through such bleak country as has been shortly noticed; thence about fifty miles southwest
to Fort Wallah-Wallah, some ten miles below the confluence of the Great forks of the Columbia,
and another important stage-of our journey has been accomplished. It should be stated here,
that the longest march without water on the nearest route to Wallah-Wallah was twenty-seven
miles; but by taking a longer route, water can be bad by much shorter marches.
The Columbia river from Wallah-Wallah down, its canons, rapids, the Dalles, Cascades, &c.,
are too well known to require much notice here; they have long since received the polished touch
of one of the most eminent and favorite of living writers, and, in connexion with the northern
Cascade mountains, have just been thoroughly handled by the gentlemen of the western division.
It will be sufficient to observe that the prairies south of the Columbia, over which the odometer
survey was carried, are extremely hilly and sandy, with some artemisia, which, however? is not
seen beyond the Umatilla; an occasional house being a cheering sign that our labors (ere
drawing to a close. From this route the majestic outlines of the principal peaks of the Cascade
range, north and south, are almost constantly in view, from incredible distances, glistening
through the pure air in their mnantles of eternal snow. Near the Cascades, as the principal
rapids of the ColumLbia are called, the odometer gave out, as well as some of the animals, and
the winter was too far advanced to renew the attempt to carry the survey to Puget sound.
However, it is satisfactory to know that the survey, as it was first plotted, independent of correction by astronomical points, but connected by those of Captaini Wilkes and Professor Niollet,
was only ten miles in error; being in excess, in a line of nearly two thousand miles, an error of
only one in two hundred, while in latitude there was no error whatever.*
Going, down the Columbia, the reason of the Cascade mountains being so named becomes
apparent from the steep sides of that tremendous chasm through which the gathered waters seek
the ocean. Foremost among the wonders that attract the admiring gaze of travellers are the
numerous and beautiful little falls which pour from every crevice, at every height, and frequently
from the very mountain top. The grand proportions of the mountains and the noble river deceive
the eye with respect to distance, and surprise ensues that there should be heard no " sound of falling waters." As many as twelve of these fairy cascades can be counted within view in a single
reach of the river. Some, descending from hanging rocks, are dissolved in spray less than
half way down the fall; others steal down the crooked crannies of the mountain, never actually
leaving their steep channels, in which they glisten like a snow-wreath; and not a few seen as
though they were frozen on the mountain side, so regular and imperceptible is the motion of the
water, and a telescope is necessary to prove that they really are what they barely seem to be.
Most of them are but tiny threads of foam; but on turning a projecting and sheltering elif, there
is found another little beauty in a nook adorned by groups of evergreens, where the water pours
over a broader ledge, and spreads into a veil such as Undine might have worn: gently waving
with the undulations of the air, every drop yet appears so distinctly to the eye that we pause,
though vainly, to hear it plashing on the rocks beneath.
From the Cascades down the Columbia in a steamer, and up the Cowlitz, it may be, in the
mail canoe; finding little towns on the banks, and sleeping in houses every night, so that we
believe we are getting into settlements once more. It is scarely necessary to make more than a
few closing remarks on a Territory where already nearly all the appliances of industry are
actively at work amid a quickly-growing population, and whose productions begin to vie with
those of any country in the temperate zone. It has no doubt been told in many different ways
that the country west of the Cascade range and north of the Columbia, particularly around Puget
sound, abounds in all the resources that contribute to the growth of States; that its dense pine
* Subsequently, by comparison with CaptainWilkes's revised longitude of Wallah-Wallah, the odometer survey was foundto be
4/ in excess, or about three statute miles.
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