of the two principal
streams which form bays or harbors on the coast of that sea. Having
completed this circuit, and being now about to turn the back upon the
Pacific slope of our continent, and to recross the Rocky Mountains, it
is natural to look back upon our footsteps, and take some brief view
of the leading features and general structure of the country we have
traversed. These are peculiar and striking, and differ essentially
from the Atlantic side of our country. The mountains all are higher,
more numerous, and more distinctly defined in their ranges and
directions; and, what is so contrary to the natural order of such
formations, one of these, ranges, which is near the coast (the Sierra
Nevada and the Coast Range), presents higher elevations and peaks than
any which are to be found in the Rocky Mountains themselves. In our
eight months' circuit, we were never out, of sight of snow; and the
Sierra Nevada, where we crossed it, was near 2,000 feet higher than
the South Pass in the Rocky Mountains. In height, these mountains
greatly exceed those of the Atlantic side, constantly presenting peaks
which enter the region of eternal snow; and some of them volcanic, and
in a frequent state of activity. They are seen at great distances and
guide the traveler in his courses.

"The course and elevation of these ranges give direction to the
rivers, and character to the coast. No great river does, or can, take
its rise below the Cascade and Sierra Nevada Range; the distance to
the sea is too short to admit of it. The rivers of the San Francisco
Bay, which are the largest after the Columbia, are local to that bay,
and lateral to the coast, having their sources about on a line with
the Dalles of the Columbia, and running each in a valley of its own,
between the Coast Range and the Cascade and Sierra Nevada Range. The
Columbia is the only river which traverses the whole breadth of
the country, breaking through all the ranges, and entering the sea.
Drawing its waters from a section of ten degrees of latitude in the
Rocky Mountains, which are collected into one stream by three main
forks (Lewis's, Clark's, and the North Fork), near the centre of the
Oregon valley, this great river thence proceeds by a single channel to
the sea, while its three forks lead each to a pass in the mountains,
which opens the way into the interior of the continent. This fact in
relation to the rivers of this region gives an immense value to the
Columbia.