Page:All Over Oregon and Washington.djvu/47

Rh The view from the embankment is extensive, commanding the entrance to the river, the opposite fortifications, and the handsome highlands of the north side, as well as a portion of Young's Bay. A system of signals is established between the two forts, and signal-practice is made a portion of the daily duty of the officers. Standing on this eminence, our curiosity is excited, to know why a certain small sailing-craft keeps anchored out near the bar, and are told that it belongs to the United States Surveying Service, and that its business is to observe the tides and currents on this station.

Point Adams is the northern projection of a sandy peninsula, formed by the Pacific Ocean and Young's Bay. It is a narrow neck of sand-ridges, or irregular sand-hills, interspersed with ponds and swamps, and thickly overgrown with spruce, hemlock, and other trees of similar species. Where the trees have been cleared away, thickets of wild roses, willows, and spiræa have sprung up, covering the ground.

Below this swampy point, the sand-ridges continue for sixteen miles to Tillamook Head, a promontory four or five hundred feet in height. A species of wild clover grows in the sand, flourishing until midsummer, when it is succeeded by a good crop of grass. The wild strawberry grows finely here; and, wherever cultivated, vegetables do well. This narrow sand-belt is known by the name of Clatsop Plains, and is nowhere more than a mile in width. Back of it, toward Young's Bay and Skippanon Creek, the land is heavily timbered, the timber extending back to the Coast Mountains.

Clatsop Plains, and all the level country between