Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 7.pdf/177

Rh right of the California trail it bears a little to the South, and interlocks with the Mountains on the coast. The Northern base is covered with timber; the summit and Southern side, in many places, with large boulders of granite. The distance across is six miles. Going towards the South the ascent is gradual—the descent rather steep, but a very good road might be made across into the Clamuth or Chesty Valley, which lies immediately South of the Chesty Mountain, and has nearly the same course with the Valleys of the Umpqua and Rogue's River. This Valley of the Clamuth is about thirty miles wide where the California trail crosses it. It decreases in width below and increases above. It is traversed by the Clamuth River, a stream still larger than Rogue's River, but full of rocks, rapids, and narrows; and passing through the Mountains of the coast, it appears to run through a narrow canyon, affording no outlet from the Valley to the Pacific. The soil of this Valley is generally of a very inferior quality, but along the streams, and at the foot of the Mountain, it is good. The rest is a kind of dry, light, dusty and sandy land, producing but little vegetation. The surface of the Valley is generally quite level, and a large portion of it is open. There are a few scattering Oaks, in places through it, and some Pine; but the timber is, principally, the Fir growing along at the base, and on the sides of the Mountains. The Clamuth Indians are numerous and quite hostile. Their character and condition is much the same as that of the Rascals. This Valley is situated near the parallel of 42 deg, and we are not quite certain whether it is in Oregon or California.

These Southern Valleys of Oregon, though in their present state of nature so lonely, so wild, and so secluded; though they now threaten the travelers who pass, at intervals of years, with dangers from the rugged mountain path, the swollen torrent, and the savage arrow, though