the head of navigation. Kennewick and Pasco are located just beyond the
mouth of the Snake River, ready to derive full benefit from the improved
navigation conditions of the future. Between these larger towns is many
a tiny hamlet, while isolated farms and orchards surrounding pretty
dwellings slope gently towards the river and tend to make the traveler
dissatisfied with his own home.

At times is visible a beautiful waterfall, a palisade of wonderful
basalt, and occasionally some island draped with verdure of many tints.
Further away a murmuring brook or crystal streamlet may be heard
hurrying down a rocky hillside or winding between towering cliffs,
adding its share to the tuneful sound of the powerful orchestra that
seems everywhere to be heard. Constantly shifting color and shade
attract the eye and tones of varying quality please the ear.

When the mouth of the Cowlitz is neared there appear, stretching toward
the north, broad areas where man has mingled his skill with Nature's
works. Green fields, sometimes fringed with willows, near the
waterfront, and dotted with orchards, farm houses, and dairies, are
visible as far as the eye can see. These evidences of man's
encroachments are noted all the way to Vancouver (and beyond), at which
city, the oldest in the state, a tourist should linger long enough to
appreciate the region which arrested the attention of our earliest
settlers and inspired the beginning of the first city in Washington. A
bridge, costing nearly two million dollars, will soon connect it with
the beautiful city of Portland.

[Illustration: READY FOR MARKET

SALMON FISHER'S RETREAT--MOUTH OF COLUMBIA

50,000 AT THE CANNERY

"LIFTING THE BRAIL", PUGET SOUND

THE SALMON FISHING INDUSTRY.]

Cultivated lands are seen on either side as the river is ascended, until
the mountainous region is reached and the roar of the cascades is
distinctly heard. These cascades, according to Indian lore, were created
by the falling of the "Bridge of the Gods," which once extended from
shore to shore and formed the great highway connecting the mountains on
the north and their extension to the south, while beneath a mighty river
peacefully pursued its course to the sea. The perpendicular buttresses
on either hand, the forest areas that apparently fell from above, trees
growing out of the water, petrified logs up in the reddish cliffs within
the vicinity of Stevenson, and many other freaks of nature all seem to
stre