This district of country, which is only about forty miles wide from east to west, is drained by the Umpquah river, and its tributaries, which as in the Willamette valley, are skirted with timber; but back from the streams is a prairie country, beautifully alternated with groves of timber.
At the mouth of the Umpquah, which empties into the Pacific about thirty miles from where it leaves this beautiful district of country, the Hudson's Bay Company have a trading post.[164] If we except this, there is no settlement nor claim made on this river or its tributaries. Passing Rogue's River mountains, the trail enters the valley of the river of that name. This valley is quite similar to that of the Umpquah, but perhaps not quite so large.[165] This valley is bounded on the south by the Klamet mountain, which is a spur of the Cascade and Coast mountains. It is high and somewhat difficult to pass over; but it is believed a route may be found that will admit of an easy passage over. It is heavily timbered; and as in {103} the Coast range, the timber in many places has died, and a thick growth of underbrush sprung up.
South of the Klamet mountains spreads out the beautiful valley watered by the Klamet river. This valley, although not so well known as that of the Willamette, is supposed to be more extensive, and equally susceptible of a high state of cultivation. It is esteemed one of the best portions of Oregon.[166] The land is mostly prairie, but is well diversified with timber, and bountifully supplied with spring branches. The Indians are more numerous here than in the valley further north, and as in the Umpquah and Rogue's river valleys, more hostile. There has been very little trading with them; but they not unfrequently attack persons driving cattle through from California to the settlements in Oregon; and although none of the drivers have been killed for several years, they have lost numbers of their cattle. Before these valleys can be safely settled, posts must be established to protect the inhabitants from the depredations of these merciless savages.[167]
A settlement of about a dozen families has been made upon Clatsop plains. This is a strip of open land, about a mile in width, extending from the south end of Point Adams, or Clatsop Point, at the mouth of the Columbia river, about twenty miles along the margin of the ocean, in the direction of Cape Lookout.[168] It appears to have been formed by the washing of the waters. Ridges resembling the waves of the ocean extend from north to south throughout the entire length of the plains. These ridges are from twelve to twenty-five feet high, and in some places not more than fifty feet, but at other points as much as three hundred yards asunder. That along the coast is the highest and least fertile, as it seems to be of more recent formation. The soil is composed of vegetable matter and sand, and produces grass more abundantly than the valleys above; the spray and dampness of the ocean keeping the grass green all the year. The land is not so good for fall wheat as in the upper country, but the settlers raise twenty-five bushels of spring wheat to the acre. I think it better for root crops than the valleys above. In the rear of the plains, or about a mile from the shore, is a body of land heavily timbered with hemlock and spruce, which is tall and straight, and splits freely. Near the timber a marsh of some two hundred yards in width extends nearly the entire length of the plains. This marsh is covered with the low kind of cranberries.
A stream some ten or twelve yards in width[169] enters the plains {104} at the south end, runs ten or twelve miles north, when it turns to the west, and after passing through two of the ridges, takes a southerly direction and enters the bay that sets up between the Plains and Cape Lookout, not more than ten rods from its entrance into the Plains. Here a dam is built across the stream, and the claimant is erecting a flouring mill.
On these plains the claims are taken half a mile in width on the coast, and extending back two miles; each claimant therefore having a fair proportion of prairie and timber land, besides a glorious cranberry patch.
Some fifteen miles southeast of Cape Lookout, stands a peak of the Coast range, called Saddle Mountain; and the cape is a spur or ridge extending from this mountain some two or three miles out into the ocean.[170] Around the head of the bay, immediately north of Cape Lookout, is a body of several thousand acres of timber land.