The whole country abounds in trap-rock and granite, singularly mingled with basalt. Near the mouth of Spokan River is found a splendid variety of marble; some sections of it are of a pure white, while others are beautifully clouded with blue, brown, and green. The face of the country is not so uneven as that further south.
Some sixty miles south of the forty-ninth parallel, we come to the mouth of the Okanagon River, which is the outlet of a chain of lakes in British Columbia, from which it takes its name; it has an extensive and rich valley for settlement.
At Colville, in the vicinity of the Kettle Falls, on the Columbia, are a United States military post, the Hudson’s Bay Company’s post, and a considerable settlement. Some fifteen miles from the mouth of the Spokan, and sixty from Kettle Falls, was located the Cimakain—or Rev. Messrs. Walker and Eells’—Mission. About sixty miles in a southeasterly direction is the Cœur d’Alêne Italian Jesuit Mission.
Turning to the north, east, and southeast, we enter the gold and silver mountains of the Pacific Slope; this range is cut through by the Snake River, or south branch of the Columbia. Millions of dollars’ worth of treasure is taken out of the mines within these desolate and barren-looking regions, and untold millions still await the miner’s toil. The reader will remember that we are now traveling east. This range is, on the north of Snake River, called Salmon River Mountains, and on the south, the Blue Mountains; thence, on to the southern portions of Oregon, it joins the Sierra Nevada and Cascade ranges, bends to the west, and, near the forty-second parallel, runs into those vast promontories that jut into the Pacific Ocean.
Passing through this range of Salmon River and Blue Mountains, which are not as high as the Cascade range, we descend into the great basin of the Rocky Mountains, which is intersected by high, broken ranges running east and west for about three hundred miles, to what is usually called the top of the Rocky Mountains, and the eastern boundary of this vast basin. The principal rivers which flow into and through this immense plain, are the Boise, Snake, Portneuf, Owyhee, and their tributaries. On the north is Clarke’s or Flathead River, which runs northwest into the Columbia, near the northern boundary of the United States.
In all the northern portion of this great inland mountain plain there is an extensive placer and quartz mining country, besides numerous rich farming valleys, with an abundance of timber for all practical uses; most of the rough, rocky ranges of mountains being covered about half-way up their sides with timber, till you reach the open prairies along the main valley.
To the south, and along Snake River, are the high barren sage plains, extending from the Rocky Mountains on the east to the Blue Mountains on the west.
There are large tracts of arable land in the region just described, though to the weary traveler coming from the green plains of Kansas or the valley of the Wallamet, every thing looks forbidding and desolate, especially during the dry season. But remove the sage from any of these dry, barren places, and the rich bunch-grass takes its place. As well might the farmer expect his wheat to grow in a hemlock wood or cedar swamp, as for any thing but sage to grow on these plains till that is destroyed. Hence, from the experiments we have made on the soils of which we have been speaking, we are confident that the greater portion of the country now and for years past pronounced barren and useless, will be found, with intelligent and proper cultivation, to rank among as good lands as any we have, and probably more desirable. As to timber, that must be cultivated till it becomes accustomed to the soil. Cotton-wood is found in small quantities all over this plain, in the vicinity of streams and springs. The northeastern part of this basin is Montana; the southwestern is Idaho. The mineral wealth of this country, especially that of north Idaho and Montana, is inexhaustible. Gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, cinnabar, and tin, are found in abundance in these Territories, and in eastern and middle Oregon.
“Owyhee Bullion.—John A. Post, internal revenue collector, furnishes the following resumé of the bullion product from January 1 to November 1, 1866, as assayed by different parties. The figures are greenback valuation:—
January $36,632 81 February 62,874 00 March 15,640 85 April 11,959 25 May 34,570 34 June 46,224 44 July 46,456 26 August 177,704 15 September 293,921 53 October 371,173 13 —————— Total $1,073,256 78 “During the early part of the year, Mr. Post says, there was a great amount of treasure sent out in various shapes, of which he could get no account. To the foregoing must still be added the many tons of ruby, silver, polybasite, etc., shipped just as it came from the Poorman mine,—enough, at a rough estimate, to increase the total to fifteen hundred thousand, at least. It is safe to say that the product of the present year will be two millions, and that of next year go beyond five millions.”[22]
| January | $36,632 81 | |
| February | 62,874 00 | |
| March | 15,640 85 | |
| April | 11,959 25 | |
| May | 34,570 34 | |
| June | 46,224 44 | |
| July | 46,456 26 | |
| August | 177,704 15 | |
| September | 293,921 53 | |
| October | 371,173 13 | |
| —————— | ||
| Total | $1,073,256 78 |