Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 11.djvu/53

 History of the Counties of Oregon 47 In Hall J. Kelley's "Geographical Sketch," published in 1830, there is a map of Oregon, showing the Multnomah River, substantially the same as on the map in Harmon's Jour- nal, excepting a larger lake in Nevada, as its source, and show- ing more tributaries, especially near its source. None of these tributaries is named. On page 35, Kelley says: "Multnomah river receives its name, as do many others, from the Indians. Its origin is from the union of two branches : one springing from a spur of the Rocky Mountains, in lat. 41 N. The other issuing from Lake Timpanogos. It traverses about 500 miles through a country of extreme fertility, and empties itself into the Columbia, opposite Wappatoo island. The first part of the country through which it runs, is level and open ; but the last, and much the greater part, is covered with the thickest and loftiest forests on the globe. This river is 500 yards wide, and furnishes five or six fathoms of water at its mouth. Excepting a sand bar, immediately at its entrance, it is free of all obstructions to navigation, 70 miles, to a place, where there are rapids, and considerable falls. This navigable section of the river furnishes a number of delightful islands, and widens into bays, where shipmasters from the ocean might find secure and commodious harbours. There are nine branches to the Multnomah. 1. Clackamus. 4. Callalipoewah. 8. Tim- panogos." Hall J. Kelley was a Boston school teacher who was an Oregon enthusiast. From the year 181 5, for many years, he wrote and published pamphlets, some of which may be called books, on Oregon and its advantages. He came to Oregon, in 1834, from California, where he arrived, in 1833, by the way of Mexico. He stayed in Oregon several months and returned home by sailing vessel by way of Cape Horn. His "Geo- graphical Sketch," which I have mentioned, is a mixture of information taken from early books and from that which he had obtained from other sources, but not from personal observ- ation. In his description of the Multnomah River he evi- dently relied on House Report number 213, dated May 15,