Page:History of Oregon Literature.djvu/134

 To the north, it extends probably to the latitude of 50°, or the borders of Fraser's river, and although by Decandolle, it is said to extend to Upper California on the south, we did not observe it in the vicinity of Monterey ; and therefore conclude that its utmost boundary in this direction must be to St. Francisco, in about the 38th degree of latitude. This fine species was discovered by Menzies, and afterwards collected by Lewis and Clark. It nowhere presents a more interesting appearance to the traveler than in the immediate vicinity of the falls of the Oregon; its dense shade, due to the great magnitude of its foliage and lofty elevation, as well as the wide extent of its spreading summit, are greatly contrasted with the naked, woodless plains of that river, which continue uninterruptedly to the mountains; a tract over which the traveller seeks in vain for shade or shelter, and where the fuel requisite to cook his scanty meal, has to be collected from the accidental drift wood which has been born down from the distant mountains of its sources.

The largest trunks of this species that we have seen, were on the rich alluvial plains of the Wahlamet, and particularly near to its confluence with the Tlacamas; here we saw trees from 50 to 90 feet in height, with a circumference of 8 to 16 feet. It appears always to affect the drier and more elevated tracts, where the soil is well drained.

The wood, like that of the Sugar Maple, exhibits the most beautiful variety in its texture; some of it being undulated or curled,—other portions present the numerous concentric spots which constitute the Bird's-eye Maple; and so frequent is the structure, that nearly every large tree which was cut down afforded one or other of these varieties of wood. As it, in those remote and unsettled regions, it has only afforded a beautiful and curious material for the gun-stalk of the savage or the hunter. Like the Sugar Maple also, it affords an abundance of saccharine sap, which to an infant settlement, may one day be turned to advantage...