Page:Route Across the Rocky Mountains with a Description of Oregon and California.djvu/42

 which, are the Walawala, Umatila, John Days, and De Chutes Rivers. Almost the whole of the valley, is covered with a superior quality of grass; which springs up in the Fall, is green through the Winter and Spring, becomes cured in the latter part of Summer; and affords sufficient food for animals throughout the year. It grows in detached bunches; the blades are eight or nine inches long; and it is generally considered almost as nutritious as grain. With the exception of a few Cotton wood trees on some of the streams, there is not timber in the valley; but there is an abundance on the neighboring Mountains. Lead has been found on the Umatila; but not, as yet, in any considerable quantitites. This is the country of the Walawala Indians. They own a great many horses; some of them have as many as two thousand—and they are the finest Indian horses we have ever seen. Thirty miles from the Umatilla, we came to Whitman's Mission, situated on the Walawala River, twenty-five miles from its junction with the Columbia. The buildings are of unburnt brick, and are neatly and comfortably finished. The Missionaries have a Mill, and cultivate a small piece of ground. We were told by Mr. Spaulding, the Superintendent of the Mission on Clear Water, distant about one hundred and fifty miles from Dr. Whitman's, and on the North side of Snake River; that, in the neighborhood of his Mission, as far as he was acquainted with the country, it contained many rich valleys, of considerable extent; and, from what we have been able to learn, from all the different sources of information with