Page:All Over Oregon and Washington.djvu/244

238 highest and lowest tides, twenty-four feet. Vessels come in on the tide, and lie in the mud to discharge; going out again on the high-tide. The construction of a dock would give them water to lie in of any sufficient depth.

The land adjacent to this inlet is considerably elevated along the shore, and rises yet higher at a little distance back, being level, however, in some places. The same general shape of country surrounds the whole Sound, the land having a general rise back from it for some distance. This, of course, must be the case, where a basin exists of the character of this one. That portion of it which lies adjacent to the Sound possesses a porous, gravelly soil; nevertheless, heavily timbered with trees of immense size. This belt of timber is several miles in width. The roads through it, and across the small prairies which lie on its outskirts, are all that could be desired in the way of natural McAdam, and furnish delightful driving. One thing we observed regarding these beautiful prairie spots, was, that along their edges, where they receive the yearly accession to their soil of the leaf mold of the forest, the orchards and gardens looked very thrifty; and also that wherever there was a piece of bottom-land, on any small stream, the hay-crop was the heaviest we had ever seen.

About ten miles back from the Sound, on the east, the country commences to improve; and from there to the foot-hills of the Cascades furnishes a good grazing region, with many fine locations for farms. The foot-hills themselves furnish extensive clay-loam districts, suitable for grain-raising; and will, when cleared, become very valuable farming lands. Around the base of the Coast or Olympian Range, on the west, there is