Page:All Over Oregon and Washington.djvu/95

Rh at right angles to it, but all very extensive, and forming benches, dotted only with trees, instead of being heavily wooded, as on the western side of the range. The climate, also, is changed, and a dryness and warmth quite different from the western climate are observable.

More and more the basaltic formation constantly becomes visible, protruding from the hills on either side, and often appearing to wall in the river. Frequently it divides for a little space, leaving the prettiest natural slips for boats, and a clean, sandy beach, on which to make a landing; but only in a few instances have they been taken possession of, settlements along the river being rare. Occasionally, however, some hardy settler has taken up a farm on the narrow strip of alluvial land at the foot of the mountains; and doubtless a great many more might find homesteads in eligible situations along the river, where their nearness to market would enhance their value.

On nearing the Dalles the country opens out more and more, the terraced appearance continuing quite to that city, and the basalt here presenting a columnar formation. We come now to the last, and by far the most singular, portion of the gorge of the Columbia—the Dalles of the river. The river here flows for fifteen miles through a narrow channel, cut in solid trap-rock, and more or less tortuous. To eyes accustomed to the broad expanse of the lower Columbia, it is difficult to recognize the same river in the narrow, dark current that flows between walls of black, volcanic rock for so many miles above the Dalles. The river here not being navigable, by reason of its strong, swift current, its whirlpools and sunken rocks, we are forced to make our observations from the windows of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company's car, which makes the