And the second is, that no one of them is united in any one point with the Blue Mountains. They cannot therefore be considered a part of the Blue Mountain chain, and should not be known by the same name. The mountains which lie between the Wapicakoos river and the upper waters of the Saptin, will be described by saying that they are a vast cluster of dark naked heights, descending from the average elevation of fifteen thousand feet—the altitude of the {224} great western ridge—to about eight thousand feet—the elevation of the eastern wall of the valley of the Saptin. The only qualifying fact that should be attached to this description is, that there are a few small hollows among these mountains, called “holes;” which in general appearance resemble Brown’s hole, mentioned in a previous chapter; but unlike the latter, they are too cold to allow of cultivation.
The last spur that deserves notice in this place is that which is called the “Snowy Mountains.” It has already been described in this work; and it can only be necessary here to repeat that it branches off from the Wind river peak in latitude 41° north, and runs in an irregular broken line to Cape Mendocino, in Upper California.
The Blue Mountains are a range of heights which commence at the Saptin, about twenty miles above its junction with the Columbia, near the 46° of north latitude, and run south-westerly about two hundred miles, and terminate in a barren, rolling plain. They are separated from the Rocky Mountains by the valley of the Saptin, and are unconnected with any other range. Some of their loftiest peaks are more than ten thousand feet above the level of the sea. Many beautiful valleys, many hills covered {225} with bunch grass, and very many extensive swells covered with heavy yellow pine forests, are found among them.
The President’s range is in every respect the most interesting in Oregon. It is a part of a chain of highlands, which commences at Mount St. Elias, and gently diverging from the coast, terminates in the arid hills about the head of the Gulf of California. It is a line of extinct volcanoes, where the fires, the evidences of whose intense power are seen over the whole surface of Oregon, found their principal vents. It has twelve lofty peaks; two of which, Mount St. Elias and Mount Fairweather, lie near latitude 55° north;[26] and ten of which lie south of latitude 49° north. Five of these latter have received names from British navigators and traders.
The other five have received from American travellers, and Mr. Kelly, the names of deceased Presidents of the Republic. Mr. Kelly, I believe, was the first individual who suggested a name for the whole range. For convenience in description I have adopted it.[27] And although it is a matter in which no one can find reasons for being very much interested, yet if there is any propriety in adopting Mr. Kelly’s name for the whole {226} chain, there might seem to be as much in following his suggestion, that all the principal peaks should bear the names of those distinguished men, whom the suffrages of the people that own Oregon[28] have from time to time called to administer their national government. I have adopted this course.
Mount Tyler is situated near latitude forty-nine degrees north, and about twenty miles from the eastern shore of those waters between Vancouver’s Island, and the continent. It is clad with perpetual snow.[29] Mount Harrison is situated a little more than a degree south of Mount Tyler, and about thirty miles east by north of Puget’s Sound. It is covered with perpetual snow.[30] Mount Van Buren stands on the isthmus between Puget’s Sound and the Pacific. It is a lofty, wintry peak, seen in clear weather eighty miles at sea.[31] Mount Adams lies under the parallel of forty-five degrees, about twenty-five miles north of the cascades of the Columbia. This is one of the finest peaks of the chain, clad with eternal snows, five thousand feet down its sides. Mount Washington lies a little north of the forty-fourth degree north, and about twenty miles {227} south of the Cascades.[32] It is a perfect cone, and is said to rise seventeen thousand or eighteen thousand feet above the level of the sea. More than half its height is covered with perpetual snows. Mount Jefferson is an immense peak under latitude forty-one and a half degrees north. It received its name from Lewis and Clark.[33] Mount Madison is the Mount McLaughlin of the British fur-traders. Mount Monroe is in latitude forty-three degrees twenty minutes north, and Mount John Quincy Adams is in forty-two degrees ten minutes; both covered with perpetual snow.[34]
Mount Jackson is in latitude forty-one degrees ten minutes. It is the largest and highest pinnacle of the President’s range.[35] This chain of mountains runs parallel with the Rocky Mountains, between three hundred and four hundred miles from them. Its average distance from the coast of the Pacific, south of latitude forty-nine degrees, is about one hundred miles. The spaces between the peaks are occupied by elevated heights, covered with an enormous growth of the several species of pines, and firs, and the red cedar, many of which rise two hundred feet without a limb; and are five, six, seven, eight, and even nine fathoms in circumference at the ground.
{228} On the south side of the Columbia, at the Cascades, a range of low mountains puts off from the President’s range, and running down parallel to the river, terminates in a point of land on which Astoria was built. Its average height is about one thousand five hundred feet above the river. Near the Cascades the tops are higher; and in some instances are beautifully castellated. They are generally covered with dense pine and fir forests. From the north side of the Cascades, a similar range runs down to the sea, and terminates in Cape Disappointment.[36] This range also is covered with forests. Another range runs on the brink of the coast, from Cape Mendocino in Upper California to the Straits de Fuca. This is generally bare of trees; mere masses of dark stratified rocks, piled many hundred feet in height. It rises immediately from the borders of the sea, and preserves nearly a right line course, during their entire length. The lower portion of the eastern sides is clothed with heavy pine and spruce, fir and cedar forests.
I have described in previous pages the great southern branch of the Columbia, called Saptin by the natives who live on its banks, and the valley of volcanic deserts, through which it runs, as well as the Columbia {229} and its cavernous vale, from its junction with the Saptin to Fort Vancouver, ninety miles from the sea. I shall therefore in the following notice of the rivers of Oregon, speak only of those parts of this and other streams, and their valleys about them, which remain undescribed.