Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 7.pdf/170

164 side, extending down from the Falls several hundred yards, and back from the water five hundred and fifty feet, there is a perpendicular wall one hundred and fifty feet high; further down the space between the hills and the River increases in width until there is sufficient room for a town of considerable size.

The Valley of the Willammette, which has generally been considered the best portion of Oregon, is situated on the South side of the Columbia River, between the Cascade Mountains, a lofty range running nearly parallel with the coast, at a distance from it of about one hundred and twenty-five miles, and the Calapooiah Mountains, a range of considerable height, which rise immediately on the coast, and extend along it so as to form an entire rock bound shore. The Valley has an average width of about seventy-five miles, and extends South one hundred and fifty miles. It is traversed from South to North by the Willammette River, a large and beautiful stream, which is navigable to the Falls, within two miles of which the tide reaches. The Falls overcome, and navigation reaches fifty miles further up the River. This valley is divided into several portions, by ranges of high lands running in different directions, generally following the course of the streams. The principal tributaries of the Willammette are the Clackamus, which rises in the Cascade Mountains and empties one and a half miles above [below] the Falls; the Twalita, which rises in the Calapooiah Mountains, flows through the Twalita Plains, and empties two miles above the Falls; and, eight miles above the Falls, the Moolally or Pudding River, which rises in the Cascade Mountains and empties into the Willammette from the East: fifteen miles above the Moolally, the Yamhill River, which empties from the West; and above the Yamhill, the Sandy Yam, which empties from the East. The streams emptying from either side have their sources in the bordering