Thence to the ocean, one hundred and twenty miles, it is navigable for vessels of twelve feet draught of water at the lowest state of the river, though obstructed by many sand-bars.
In this part it receives the Willamette from the south, and the Cowelitz from the north. The former is navigable for small vessels twenty miles, to the mouth of the Klackamus, three miles below its falls; the latter cannot be called navigable except for a small part of the year, during the floods, and then only for canoes and barges.[100]
The width of the Columbia, within twenty miles of its mouth, is much increased, and it joins the ocean between Cape Disappointment and Point Adams, forming a sand-pit from each by deposit, and causing a dangerous bar, which greatly impedes its navigation and entrance.
Frazer’s river next claims attention. It {286} takes its rise in the Rocky mountain, near the source of Canoe river, taking a north-western course of eighty miles; it then turns to the southward, receiving the waters of Stuart’s river, which rises in a chain of lakes near the northern boundary of the Territory.[101]
It then pursues a southerly course, receiving the waters of the Chilcotin, Pinkslitsa, and several smaller streams, from the west, and those of Thompson’s river, Quisnell’s[102] and other streams, from the east, (these take their rise in lakes, and are navigable in canoes, by making portages); and under the parallel of 49° it breaks through the Cascade range in a succession of falls and rapids, and, after a westerly course of seventy miles it empties itself into the gulf of Georgia, in the latitude of 49° 07′ north. This latter portion is navigable for vessels that can pass its bar drawing twelve feet water; its whole length being three hundred and fifty miles.
The Chikeelis is next in importance. It has three sources among the range of hills that intersect the country north of the Columbia river. After a very tortuous course, and receiving some small streams issuing from the lakes in the high ground near the {287} headquarters of Hood’s canal and Puget’s Sound, it disembogues in Grey’s harbour;[103] it is not navigable except for canoes; its current is rapid, and the stream much obstructed.
To the south of the Columbia there are many small streams, three of which only deserve the name of rivers: the Umpqua, Too-too-tut-na, or Rogues’ river, and the Klamet, which latter empties itself into the ocean south of the parallel of 42°.[104] None of these form harbours capable of receiving a vessel of more than eight feet draught of water, and the bars for most part of the year are impassable from the surf that sets in on the coast. The character of the great rivers is peculiar—rapid and sunken much below the level of the country, with perpendicular banks; indeed they are, as it were, in trenches, it being extremely difficult to get at the water in many places, owing to the steep basaltic walls; and during the rise they are in many places confined by dalles, which back the water some distance, submerging islands and tracts of low prairie, giving the appearance of extensive lakes.
Lakes.—There are in the various sections of the country many lakes. The Okanagan, Stuart’s, Quisnell’s, and Kamloop’s are the largest in the northern section.[105]