Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/412

Rh 386 WASHINGTON [TERRITORY. as the Walla Walla country, and that between the Snake and the Spokane, known as the Palouse and Spokane countries, are noted for their fertility. This is also the case with the regions along the eastern foot-hills of the Cascades known generally as the Yakima and Kittitass countries. In these regions there is sufficient rainfall to enable the agriculturist to raise almost every product of the temperate zone of the finest quality and in the greatest abundance. Besides the cereals, such as wheat, oats, barley, flax, &c., there are grown grapes, apples, cherries, peaches, prunes, potatoes, both white and sweet, tobacco, cotton, broom corn, sorghum, peanuts, egg plants, ifcc. Over a large part of this eastern section, however, the rainfall is not sufficient, and irrigation must be resorted to. With irrigation properly conducted it is safe to say that nearly every foot of land now classed as desert will be found to be as productive as the regions more favoured by rain. That part of eastern Washington Territory north of the Columbia and Spokane rivers is a region of low-timbered mountains and fertile valleys. This is mostly given up to the Indians, there being the two large reservations called the Columbia and Colville reservations stretching from the Cascade Mountains eastward to the southward-flowing portion of the Columbia, and embracing 7880 square miles of land. North of the Spokane river is the Colville country, which is open to settlement, and in which are much good land and large quantities of valuable timber. The most important feature of eastern Washington is the Columbia river, which enters the Territory from British Columbia at about 117 30 W. long., and pursues nearly a southerly course to the &quot;Big Bend,&quot; a distance of 110 miles, where it takes a westerly course, which it keeps for 93 miles until it receives the waters of the Okinakane, where it changes its course again to the south, keeping it for 224 miles, until it unites with its greatest tributary, the Snake river; from this point it keeps a westerly course, breaking through the Cascades, and entering the Pacific in lat. 46 15. It forms the boundary between Washington Territory and Oregon for this latter part of its course. The lower portion of the Columbia is described under OREGON (q.v). The upper part may be briefly described as a deeply cailoned river with numerous rapids and falls, which make it unnavigable and in all probability incapable of improvement. The Kettle Falls, near the northern boundary, are the most marked on the river, being about 25 feet at low water. Here each year the Indians from all directions gather on neutral ground to take salmon for their next year s subsistence. A salmon chief is elected, whose duties are to keep order and to divide equitably all the fish taken. The fish are taken in baskets as they try to jump the falls, those that fail falling back into the baskets. That part of the Columbia from the northern boundary-line to the &quot;Big Bend&quot; is the most beautiful portion of the river within the Territory, except where it breaks through the Cascades. Throughout this portion there is consider able bottom-land, and this and the neighbouring hills and mountains are well covered with fine open timber, with charming little grassy prairies scattered here and there. Below the Big Bend the canon of the Columbia becomes more prominent, the timber recedes from the banks, and the channel narrows between basalt rocks, and in places is highly dangerous to anyone who entrusts himself upon the waters. The general depth of the canon is about 2000 feet. Much gold is found in the sand bars and low terraces along the river. The principal tributaries of the Columbia within the Territory are Clarke s Fork, the outlet of Lake Pend d Oreille, an unnavigable stream flowing through a deep canon, which enters the Columbia just above the northern boundary of the Territory. The Spokane river, one of the most important tributaries, is the outlet of Lake Co3ur d Alene, which drains a large extent of the Bitter Root Mountains. The Spokane, from the lake to Spokane Falls, a distance of about 30 miles, flows just below the level of a lovely prairie country ; at the falls the river takes a plunge of 156 feet, and from there to the Columbia it flows through a deep canon. These falls of the Spokane furnish one of the linest, most accessible, and most easily controlled water-powers in the world, and already they are util ized to a considerable extent for manufacturing purposes. The Okinakane is the next important tributary ; it rises in British Columbia and flows southward through Lakes Okinakane and Oso- yoos, and enters the Territory in 119 30 W. long. Its course lies through a rich and inviting country. At its mouth was one of the most important of the old Hudson s Bay Company s trading posts. The Methow river, Lake Chelan and its outlet, and the Wenatchee are rivers of considerable magnitude, draining the eastern slopes of the Cascades. They are in a mountainous country presenting few attractions to the settler. The Yakima, which also comes from the Cascades, is of far greater importance, as about its headwaters is a large amount of fine agricultural land, and the river itself and its tributaries will ultimately furnish the water for irrigating an enormous extent of very fine land now virtually desert. Already large irrigating canals, having a total length of 325 miles, are pro jected, and work on them has been commenced. The largest tributary of the Columbia, the Snake, joins it about 8 miles below the mouth of the Yakima. The Snake is navigable for the whole 150 miles of its course through the Territory, but has some difficult rapids. It flows through a canon 1000 to 2000 feet deep, which it has cut for itself through the lava deposits. An area nearly encircled by the Columbia, below the Big Bend, and the Snake, in the last 50 miles of its course, is known as the Great Plain of the Columbia. Its southern part is an alkaline nearly waterless desert, the principal vegetation being sage brush ; the northern part is somewhat more elevated, and is for the most part a rich rolling grassy country intersected here and there by coules, or deep and almost vertical cuts, through the basalt rock underlying the soil. They indicate the former presence of large streams of water. Forests. Very valuable forests exist in every part of western Washington and in the northern part of eastern Washington. The sawmills on Puget Sound have a capacity of 350,000,000 feet per year, and the total capacity of the mills of the Territory is over 650,000,000 feet per year. The principal timber is yellow and red fir, ordinarily known as &quot;Oregon pine,&quot; which constitutes the bulk of the forests ; white and red cedar, spruce, and larch also abound. White pine of magnificent size grows on the upper benches of the Cascade Mountains ; white fir and hemlock are also found. Alder, maple, ash, oak, and cottonwood occur in abundance on the bottom-lands of western Washington, but are not equal to timber of the same names in the east. Bull pine, yellow pine, and tamarack grow on the eastern slopes of the Cascade range, and constitute the bulk of the forests of eastern Washington. They make a fair quality of lumber, but greatly inferior to the products of the western slopes and the Pacific coast regions. Fisheries. The salmon fisheries of the Columbia river, Shoal- water Bay, Gray s Harbour, and Puget Sound form one of the leading industries of the Territory. The preservation of salmon in cans was commenced in 1866 on the Columbia river, and the business rapidly increased, so that now the annual value of the pack is from 2 to 2i million dollars. Mines and, Mining. The mineral resources of the Territory are very great upon both sides of the Cascade Mountains. There are large tracts of valuable coal-lauds between Puget Sound and the Cascades, stretching all the way from Bellingham Bay on the north to the Chehalis valley on the south. The veins at present worked vary from 5 to 12 feet in thickness, and in quality from lignite to bituminous coal, some of which produces gas and coke of superior excellence. Mines are also worked on the eastern slope of the Cascades about the head of the Yakima river. The present known area of coal-lands in the Territory is about 180,000 acres, and the total shipments for the year ending June 30, 1887, amounted to 525,705 tons. The supply of coal for the Pacific coast is mainly drawn from the beds in Washington Territory and their continua tion in British Columbia. There are large deposits of valuable iron ore in the western part of the Territory and in the Snoqualmie Pass. Brown haematite iron ore is found in Skagit county, magnetic ore in King county, and bog iron ore of the best quality in several counties, notably Jeffer son, King, and Pierce ; but these deposits have not yet been worked to any great extent. There can be no question, however, that the existence of coal, iron, and timber in the near vicinity of Puget Sound must make this a great manufacturing and ship building centre. Limestone is found in great abundance on San Juan Island, in the Puyallup valley, and in the north-eastern part of the Territory. Copper and lead are feund in different localities. The northern part of eastern Washington abounds in mines of the precious metals, and these are now being worked on quite an extensive scale. In the Colville district (between the Columbia, Clarke s Fork, and Spokane rivers) the prevailing country rock is limestone, and the prevailing mineral is argentiferous galena ; at some points grey copper ore is found carrying both silver and lead, and in others silver chlorides are found. The development of these mines has been delayed by lack of railway facilities, but this will be remedied in a short time by lines now projected and incorporated. The Kettle river district lies to the west of the Columbia, and in regions about the headwaters of the river. The mines are very varied in their character, comprising placer gold, gold quartz, copper, and galena with carbonates. Some of the placer mines have yielded heavily, the gold being coarse and obtained by ground sluicing.