Page:All Over Oregon and Washington.djvu/274

263 . Salmon and other fish of commercial value are found in the Columbia River and Puget Sound; while the mountain streams abound in trout, and the woods in game. The climate of the western portion of the Territory is mild, humid, and remarkably healthy. The mean temperature of the mouth of the Columbia and of Puget Sound varies but two degrees; though the climate of the Sound is much more agreeable, by reason of the absence of the strong winds which in summer prevail along the coast.

"Eastern Washington may be described as a vast rolling plain, traversed in all directions by rivers and creeks, the principal of which is the Columbia, having for its tributaries in this Territory the Snake, Spokane, Walla Walla, Winachee, Okinakane, Yakima, and Klickitat, with many of minor importance. Into the principal of these—Snake River—empties the Pélouze, Clearwater, Tucanon, and other minor streams. The soil is uniform, and a change is the exception and not the rule; being a rich, sandy loam, producing a thick, heavy mat of bunch-grass. On all the streams there is more or less timber; but the mountains have to supply lumber, and rails for fencing."

Prolific in all her productions, her principal grains are wheat, corn, oats, barley, rye, and buckwheat. Her fruits are apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, grapes, and small fruits of all kinds. Cattle remain fat the year round on the bunch-grass. The streams abound in fish. The climate is one which for salubrity may challenge the world; with a dry air and clear sky the greater portion of the year; the mean temperature varying from that of the Sound but three degrees, the greatest difference being in summer, when it is eleven degrees warmer in Walla Walla than at Steilacoom, on