Polynesian., 1845-03-15
COM Nj u VIC
Remarks on the Interior Of Oregon.
(Concluded.)

After passing up the Snake river several
miles, we cross over and pass up the kus-
kuski a distance of ii miles, when we come
to the valley of a small stream called Lap
wal. In this valley there is a moderate
amount of good, productive, %alluvial bot
tom.
In passing on beyond this place up the
Kuskuski, we leave the river entirely and
pass over the elevated plains, descending
into deep and precipitous %ravincs till we
strike the Kuskuski again at Kamiah, about
100 miles above its junction with the Snake
river. On the way we pass through the
border of the timbered region connected
with the Blue mountain range. These
plains are covered with a heavier growth Of
grass than those previously passed over,
particularly in the vicinity of the woodland.
The timber is a species of pine. The soil
here | should Judge from the appearance,
if cultivated might, in places protected from
the winds, be made to produce moderate
crops of some of the smaller grains.
AT Kamiah and in that region there are a
few small tracts of very good soil, which
produces well; but this is in the vicinity of
the mountainous region, where the streams
are shut up in narrow rocky channels, and
land fit for cultivation ceases to be found.
One remark will make concerning this
whole region. 1t is more or less exposed to
frost in consequence of its lying in the vicin-
ity of the mountains. 1t is also exposed to
droughts, and in order to ensure good crops,
irrigation is necessary.
One more tract of land of considerable in
terest, l will speak of. This is the Grande
Ronde, so called from its circular form. 1t
is situated at a distance Of 80 or 40 miles
from the plain of the Wallawalla, and is
separated from it by the Blue mountains.
These mountains are covered with a
heavy growth Of timber, consisting princi-
pally of pine and fir.
In descending into the Grande Ronde,
one finds himself in the midst of a beautiful
circular plain of 80 miles or more in dame
ter, with considerable indentations where
the several streams enter the plain, and also
at the outlet. The Blue mountains form a
high circular wall around more than half
of its circumference, the remaining distance
being shut up by a bluff several hundred
feet in height. Thus it is pent up on all
sides, having no outlet except a deep chan
mel through the mountains where its waters
flow of into the Snake river.
This plain is evidently an ~alluvial forma-
ton. 1t is covered with a luxuriant growth
of grass, and is susceptible of cultivation,
though from its situation among mountains,
crops here might be ruined by frost.
This plain has the appearance of having
been once the bed of a lake, whose waters
once filled its whole basin, but by the wear
ing away of the channel at its outlet, its
waters were at length drained off, leaving
its present bed of "alluvial soil. More re-
motely, however, it may have been the era
ter OF a great volcano, which may have been
in action at a period immediately subsequent
to the throwing up of that part of the con-
tinent from the bed of the ocean, and this
may account for its present form, and the
character of the walls by which it is sur
rounded.
In proceeding farther into the interior,
along the southern tributaries of the Snake
river, the country becomes more barren aud
desolate, the plains covered with sedge, and
the vcrdurc along the small tsreams dimin-