Page:Route Across the Rocky Mountains with a Description of Oregon and California.djvu/51

Rh Valley and Yamhill district, with the upper Willammette Valley, the plains are more extensive, and in some places, there is a scarcity of timber; but the soil is fine, and frequently we meet with small spots of clover, growing wild, over many parts of the country.-Seventy-five miles above the mouth of the Sandy Yam, the Willammette Valley rapidly decreases in width, until it is nothing more than a narrow defile, between the Mountains. No one has ever traced the River to its source, and but little is known of it, beyond the head of the Valley. It has generally been thought to rise in Mount McLaughlin, one of the highest peaks in the Cascade range, and it is so marked, on the best maps that have been made of the country; but the information we have received, from the Company which went across, form Fort Boise to California, convinces us to the contrary. They stated, that, after leaving the water of Snake River, and ascending a high Mountain, they came upon an extensive level table land, which they supposed to be about eighty miles across, having a good soil, and being diversified with forest and plain; and that, having obtained an Indian pilot, whose language they could not understand, it was with much difficulty, they persuaded him, that they wished to go to the South West. The Indian showing them a small stream, and pointing to the North West, informed them that is led to a settlement of people, similar to themselves, and they were convinced that their guide alluded to the settlement on the Willammette, and that this was its source. — They finally succeeded in getting him to understand that they were aware of the location of the settlement, to which he alluded and that they did not wish to go to it. After reflecting some time, the Indian seemed to recollect, like a dream, of there being white people to the South West, and accordingly conducted them to the head waters of the Sacramento, which has its sources, as they informed us, in the Southern part of this same table land.

The country on the Eastern Side of the Willamette, is very similar to that on the West, excepting that is rather more level, and not so high, or uneven, near the river, and is not separated from the Columbia, by any high range of hills, as it is on the Western side. There is an abundance of excellent timber in this valley, the greatest portion of which is Fir. There are, also, in different parts, considerable quantities of Oak, Pine, and Cedar; and besides these, there is Hemlock, Yew, Balm, Maple, Alder, Laurel, Dogwood, Cherry, and Ash, with a great variety of shrubs, and plants; and many such as we have never seen in any other country. Besides