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

TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT ON WESTERN DIVISION.
hundred yards in width, and has no valley. The high basaltic terraced range of hills which
has been following the Wallah-Wallah for some distance above its mouth, turns down the
Columbia at this point, and follows it to the Dalles in an almost uninterrupted chain. This
chain varies in height, and is only broken for a short distance between the Umatilla and Hokespam.
A similar terraced chain commences in an abrupt bluff on the northern bank, two miles above
Wallah-Wallah, and continues uninterruptedly to the ULnatilla, opposite the mouth of which
it suddenly terminates in an abrupt bluff: From this bluff a high chain runs off from the river
range to the northeast. The river chain soon commences again on this side of the river, and
then is continuous to the Dalles, and increases in altitude in that direction, and runs bluff up to
the river throughout. There is no timber along the Columbia, or on its branches, except a few
clumps of willow scrub, and but little grass. The basalt ceases about a mile above the Umatilla,
and commences again one and a half mile above the mouth of the Hokespam, below which the
river-chain is high and continuous. The trail finds its way over high terraces, the side-slopes of
the river ranges, and over the low plateaus, frequently crossing over rocky spurs running down to
the water's edge. Above the Umatilla, and between the Wanwawwie and the Dalles, it leaves
-the river altogether, and passes back over the hills on the left to avoid the rocky and more difficult places along the river. This high table-land above the Umatilla is very sandy and barren,
and produces nothing but stunted wild sage bushes. The sand is light and drifting. Between
this river and the Hokespam the country rises gradually back; a light line of sand-hills rus
parallel to the river about a mile back, and this country is very sterile, sandy, and barren. The
Umatilla is fifty feet wide and two feet deep, bottom sandy, and ford good. The Hokespam is
twenty-five feet wide and eighteen inches deep, with a stony bottom. The Mahhah is sixty feet
wide, two and a half feet deep, gravelly bottom, and fine, good crossing. The Wanwawwie is
not fordable; it is thirty yards wide, and very rough and rapid. The Hokespam has a very
narrow valley. Between the Wanwawwie and the Dalles, the trail passes back from the river
and crosses two ranges-one between the WVanwawwie and the Waiyum, and the second
between this stream and the Columbia at the Dalles. The trail crosses the Waiyum nine and
a half miles from the Dalles; the river then runs towards the Columbia for one mile, and then
turns down parallel to it and empties above Fort Dalles. It receives a branch from the southeast, a few miles above Fort Dalles. This country is high, rolling table-land, covered with
good bunch-grass. At the Dalles, the Columbia makes a bend like a horse-shoe towards the
south, and the river runs through a basaltic trough. Walls of trough about twenty fet high;
river 200 yards wide; rapid current, but not rough. The river chain on the northern side
continues westward, without following this bend in the river; thus leaving a few miles of comparatively level country, but very rough and broken, and rocky. There is a low valley, four
miles long and one mile wide, along this bend on the southern side, but it overflows at high
water. Besides the Waiyum, a second small stream enters the Columbia at the bend, from the
southwest. A third comes into it from the northern side. The distance from the Dalles to Fort
Vancouver was made by water. The river is generally rapid. At the Cascades it is too rocky,
rough and rapid to be navigated; a short portage, therefore, is necessary, and a railroad has been
constructed for the purpose on the northern bank. The mountains between the Dalles and the
Cascades are timnbered, in some places heavily so, and become higher and rougher. Below the
Cascades the river-range falls offinto low spurs and hills, which terminate a short distance below
Cape Horn. The country thence is level on both sides of the river to Vancouver, and is heavily
timbered. The highest mountains along the river are at the Cascades, and at the mouths of the
White Salmoii and Klikatat rivers. These points, therefore, are the points on the Columbia
from which spring the main Cascade ranges, which run to the north up to Mlount St. Helenls
and Mount Adams, and centre in Mount Rainier. Thence one main chain connects with Mount
Baker, and another runs off to the northeast. These principal chains throw out innumerable spurs;
the western one filling up With high mountain table-land, and low hilly ranges most of the country
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