Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 7.pdf/182

176 About twenty miles above Astoria there is a large cluster of low Islands, called the Catalammet Islands, several miles in extent; which are covered with Cotton Wood and Willows, and are overflowed by high tide. They are several hundred in number, and are separated by as many shallow channels, some of which are as wide as the main channel, and into which persons who were not acquainted with the River have frequently run, and have been lost among the shallows for many hours. A few miles below these Islands, on the North side, there is a singular Rock, standing immediately in the channel, and rising above high water about twenty feet. It appears at a distance, like an artificial Pillar, and has been called Pillar Rock. A few miles below this Pillar, the River is fifteen miles wide; and the channel, leaving the North side, bears across in nearly a straight line, to Tongue Point, which is several hundred feet high, extending out into the River, in the shape of a tongue, about half a mile, and commanding, most perfectly, the channel which washes its base.

Astoria, situated on the South side of the Columbia, twelve miles above its mouth, is generally known as being the first place which was settled on that River. It contains only a few houses, and is occupied as a Trading Post by the Hudson's Bay Company, and now called by them Fort George. Some of the hearthstones of the old Trading House of Mr. Astor may still be seen. This will probably eventually be the principal commercial place in Oregon; as it is the best situation between Tongue Point and the mouth of River, and as there are on the bar, at Tongue Point, only three fathoms water, while on the bar at the mouth there are five. The River, at the mouth, is four miles wide, and the entrance is obstructed by a large bar, upon which the waves of the Ocean, (excepting in the channel,) break with great violence. The flying sheets of foam may be seen from Astoria, and the roaring