Page:The Overland Monthly, Jan-June 1894.djvu/211

1894.] here to summer, make this beach populous from the Cape to Sealand several months of the year. I n addition to those features of the peninsula which make it a comfortable residence at any time, it offers, as does Clatsop, the attractions of good fishing and hunting in the vicinity. Porgies and rock-cod are taken in salt water,and brook and salmon trout in the small rivers debouching into Shoalwater Bay, while elk and bear furnish good sport for huntsmen on the head-waters of these streams. In the late autumn months ducks, geese, and snipe, resort in great numbers to the marshes about t he bay. Deer are no longer numerous, but are occasionally taken away from the vicinity of the settlements, while pigeons and other game birds are plentiful in their seasons.

These are some of the most prominent characteristics of the coast country and seaside resorts near the mouth of the Columbia. South of these, on the Oregon coast, are several points where the inhabitants of the Wallamet Valley repair for an outing during the warm weather, namely, Tillamook Bay, Nestucca and Salmon Rivers, Yaquina Bay, and Siletz River. Of these, Nestucca and Yaquina are the principal resorts. The latter, a seaport of some consequence since the advent of a transcontinental railroad and steamship lines, takes the lead. The initial point of the railroad is at Yaquina City, four miles inside the bay, but Newport is the watering place. It is a pleasant little town, on a plateau elevated some distance above the beach. A comfortable steamer plies between the two towns, and a roomy hotel crowns the cliff at Newport. The name Yaquina is said to signify "smoky water," and was given to the bay several generations ago by the Indians who were witnesses of a great forest fire, which denuded the