Polynesian., 1845-01-25
Columbia, a distance of about 10 miles

The upper mouth discharges its water about
g miles below Fort Vancouver and is the
chief entrance for shipping and will admit
merchant vessels Of all sizes during the high
water In the summer season. The high wa
ter is occasioned by the back-water of the
Columbia which rises from the melting of
the snow of the Rocky Mountains sc.
The tide from the Pacific sets up the
Walamet to the Klackamas river, a distance
of nearly thirty miles from the mouth of the
Walamet, and within one mile of the falls.
above which no vessel can pass, as the wa
ter falls perpendicularly over a precipice of
rocks a height of about 90 feet. Above
these falls boats and canoes pass up the riv-
er to the interior portion Of the valley, and
will afford navigation for a steamboat to
bring the produce of the country to mar
ket.
There are several small rivers emptying
into the Walamet, the principle of which are
the klackamas, Quality, Yamhill, Hanch-
euch, Santa, besides a few smaller ones of
little Importance.
The country in this valley consists mostly
of flat and rolling p%rairies, cleared by the
annual fires, which until recently passed
over all the country, clearing every thing
in its way except the timber on the streams,
which is protected by a luxurious growth of
under-brush, kept green by springs of wa
ter and heavy dews. The timber is of sufti-
cient size, quality and quantity to meet all
the wants of the settlers of the soil for farm
ing and building.
The soil being clayey, as before MENTION
ed, and deep, and as the land does not wash
away, it will be likely to endure for many
years without impairing its fertility. Sever
al crops of wheat have been raised in sue
cesslon from the same fields, and so far each
successive crop has proved better than the
proceeding.
The valley is extensive, and has but little
waste land. Many persons who have visit
ed it, think that the Walamet valley alone
is capable of sustaining as large a popula-
ton as the six New-England states.
The better portions of the country is still
unsettled. The upper Walamet affords bet
ter soil and timber than the lower. The
country is inhabited by white men, mostly
from the United States and England, there
being but a few Indians remaining in the
lower country, and they are degraded and
will soon be extinct.
The principle settlement is at the falls of
the Walamet, which has grown up within
the two past years.
The water privileges at this place are per-
haps equal to any in the world. The whole
river can be made to bear upon any and ev-
cry kind of machinery, and can be taken in
canals on either bank for the distance of one
mile. This place will be the Rochester and
ALBANY Of Oregon.
There is another settlement on a small
stream, about fifty miles above the falls,
where the methodist mission formerly built a
saw and flour mill. The country here is
well situated for inland trade, and probably
will be densely populated on account of its
commercial advantages and water privileg-
es.
Several small villages have been COM
menced in different parts of the valley
Some settlers have preferred to settle as
farmers near the mouth of the Columbia and
are scattered along its banks all the way up
the II. b. Company's Fort of Vancouver,
ninety miles from its mouth.