Page:All Over Oregon and Washington.djvu/145

Rh reservation is that which lies on Sprague River—a stream rising about forty miles to the east, in the highlands about Goose Lake, and flowing westwardly into Klamath Lake. This valley, fifteen miles in breadth by forty in length, possesses a quick, fertile soil; although its elevation of four thousand feet above the sea, unfits it as a region for the farming of the tender fruits and vegetables. Wild flax grows abundantly in this region, as it does also in many parts of Eastern Oregon,

Springs of pure, clear, cold water are very numerous; some of them of immense size. There is one bursting out at the base of the mountains about two miles west of Williamson's River, which is a quarter of a mile across in one direction, and twenty-five rods in the other, and which discharges a stream of clear, cold water large enough to be navigable by the steamers that run on the Wallamet River. This water, flowing into Williamson's River, completely changes its character, from warm and turbid to clear and cold; in which trout from twelve to sixteen inches may be plainly seen disporting themselves at a distance of several yards. [A spring of a similar character and dimensions bursts out at the foot of the Cascades, a few miles north of the Three Sisters, discharging itself into the Des Chutes River.] The saw-mill at the Agency is run by the same spring which supplies an irrigating ditch; and has besides a large surplus, a portion of which will be used in running a grist-mill. The lands of the reservation, however, that have been put under cultivation, are too high and too cold ever to produce the farming results to make it self-supporting. Game, fish, and roots, such as the Indians use, are abundant; and on these the Indians can at least