That portion of the Columbia, which lies above its junction with the Saptin, latitude forty-six degrees eight minutes north, is navigable for bateaux to the boat encampment at the base of the Rocky Mountains, about the fifty-third degree of north latitude, a distance, by the course of the stream, of about five hundred miles.[37] The current is strong, and interrupted by five considerable and several lesser rapids, at which there are short portages. The country on both sides of the river, from its junction with the Saptin to the mouth of the Spokan, is a dreary waste. The soil is a light yellowish composition of sand and clay, generally destitute of vegetation. In a few nooks, irrigated by mountain streams, are found small patches of the short grass of the plains interspersed with another species which grows in tufts or bunches four or five feet in height. A few shrubs (as the small willow, the sumac, and furze), appear in distant and solitary {230} groups. There are no trees; generally nothing green; a mere brown drifting desert; as far as the Oakanagan River, two hundred and eight miles, a plain, the monotonous desolation of which is relieved only by the noble river running through it, and an occasional cliff of volcanic rocks bursting through its arid surface.
The river Oakanagan is a large, fine stream, originating in a large lake of the same name situate in the mountains, about one hundred miles north of its mouth. The soil in the neighbourhood of this stream is generally worthless. Near its union, however, with the Columbia, there are a number of small plains tolerably well clothed with the wild grasses; and near its lake are found hills covered with small timber. On the point of land between this stream and the Columbia, the Pacific Fur Company in 1811 established a trading post. This in 1814 passed by purchase into the hands of the North-West Fur Company of Canada, and in 1819 by the union of that body with the Hudson Bay Company, passed into the possession of the united company under the name of Hudson Bay Company. It is still occupied by them under its old name of Fort Oakanagan.[38]
{231} From this post, latitude forty-eight degrees six minutes, and longitude one hundred and seventeen degrees west, along the Columbia to the Spokan, the country is as devoid of wood as that below. The banks of the river are bold and rocky, the stream is contracted with narrow limits, and the current strong and vexed with dangerous eddies.
The Spokan river rises among the spurs of the Rocky Mountains east south-east of the mouth of the Oakanagan, and, after a course of about fifty miles, forms the Pointed Heart Lake, twenty-five miles in length, and ten or twelve in width; and running thence in a north-westerly direction about one hundred and twenty miles, empties itself into the Columbia. About sixty miles from its mouth, the Pacific Fur Company erected a trading-post, which they called the “Spokan House.” Their successors are understood to have abandoned it.[39] Above the Pointed Heart Lake, the banks of this river are usually high and bold mountains, sparsely covered with pines and cedars of a fine size. Around the lake are some grass lands, many edible roots, and wild fruits. On all the remaining course of the stream, are found at intervals {232} productive spots capable of yielding moderate crops of the grains and vegetables. There is considerable pine and cedar timber on the neighbouring hills; and near the Columbia are large forests growing on sandy plains. In a word, the Spokan valley can be extensively used as a grazing district; but its agricultural capabilities are limited.
Mr. Spaulding, an American missionary, made a journey across this valley to Fort Colville,[40] in March 1837, in relation to which, he thus writes to Mr. Levi Chamberlain of the Sandwich Islands: “The third day from home we came to snow, and on the fourth, came to what I call quicksands, plains mixed with pine trees and rocks. The body of snow upon the plains was interspersed with bare spots under the standing pines. For these, our poor animals would plunge whenever they came near, after wallowing in the snow and mud until the last nerve seemed almost exhausted, naturally expecting a resting-place for their struggling limbs; but they were no less disappointed and discouraged, doubtless, than I was astonished, to see the noble animals go down by the side of a rock or pine tree, till their bodies struck the surface.”
{233} The same gentleman, in speaking of this valley, and the country generally, lying north of the Columbia, and claimed by the United States and Great Britain, says, “It is probably not worth half the money and time that will be spent in talking about it.”
The country, from the Spokan to Kettle Falls, is broken into hills and mountains thinly covered with wood, and picturesque in appearance, among which there is supposed to be no arable land. A little below Kettle Falls,[41] in latitude 48°, 37′ is a trading post of the Hudson’s Bay Company, called Fort Colville. Mr. Spaulding thus describes it:—“Fort Colville is two hundred miles west of north from this, (his station on the Clear Water), three days below Flatland River, one day above Spokan, one hundred miles above Oakanagan, and three hundred miles above Fort Wallawalla. It stands on a small plain of two thousand or three thousand acres, said to be the only arable land on the Columbia, above Vancouver. There are one or two barns, a blacksmith shop, a good flour mill, several houses for labourers, and good buildings for the gentlemen in charge.”
Mr. McDonald[42] raises this year (1837) {234} about three thousand five hundred bushels of different grains, such as wheat, peas, barley, oats, corn, buckwheat, &c., and as many potatoes; has eighty head of cattle, and one hundred hogs. This post furnishes supplies of provisions for a great many forts north, south and west. The country on both sides of the stream, from Kettle Falls to within four miles of the lower Lake, is covered with dense forests of pine, spruce, and small birch. The northwestern shore is rather low, but the southern high and rocky. In this distance are several tracts of rich bottom land, covered with a kind of creeping red clover, and the white species common to the States. The lower lake of the Columbia is about thirty-five miles in length, and four or five in breadth. Its shores are bold, and clad with a heavy growth of pine, spruce, &c.[43] From these waters the voyager obtains the first view of the snowy heights in the main chain of the Rocky Mountains.
The Flathead River enters into the Columbia a short distance above Fort Colville. It is as long, and discharges nearly as much water as that part of Columbia above their junction. It rises near the {235} sources of the Missouri and Sascatchawine.[44] The ridges which separate them are said to be easy to pass. It falls into the Columbia over a confused heap of immense rocks, just above the place where the latter stream forms the Kettle Falls, in its passage through a spur of the Rocky Mountains. About one hundred miles from its mouth, the Flathead River forms a lake thirty-six miles long and seven or eight wide. It is called Lake Kullerspelm. A rich and beautiful country spreads off from it in all directions, to the bases of lofty mountains covered with perpetual snows. Forty or fifty miles above this lake, is the “Flathead House,” a trading post of the Hudson Bay Company.[45]
McGillivray’s, or Flat Bow River, rises in the Rocky Mountains, and running a tortuous westerly course about three hundred miles, among the snowy heights, and some extensive and somewhat productive valleys, enters the Columbia four miles below the Lower Lake. Its banks are generally mountainous, and in some places covered with pine forests. On this stream also, the indefatigable British fur traders have a post, “Fort Kootania,” situated {236} about one hundred and thirty miles from its mouth.[46] Between the lower and upper lakes of the Columbia, are “the Straits,” a narrow, compressed passage of the river among jutting rocks. It is four or five miles in length, and has a current, swift, whirling, and difficult to stem. The upper lake is of less dimensions than the lower; but, if possible, surrounded by more broken and romantic scenery, forests overhung by lofty tiers of wintry mountains, from which rush a thousand torrents, fed by the melting snows.[47]