One of the largest sheets of fresh water in the West, Lake Pend
d'Oreille will certainly yield to none in the beauty and variety of its
scenery. Fifty-five miles in extreme length, and from three to twelve
miles in width, it has an irregular shore line of probably 250 miles,
richly diversified with rock and foliage, and surmounted by lofty ranges
of hills. The railroad follows the north shore of the lake for about
twenty-five miles, passing several little settlements, among which are
Hope, Kootenai and Sand Point. Such accommodations as have hitherto been
available to the visitor have been provided by respectable residents of
Sand Point; but for the season of 1886 arrangements will be made that
will constitute Hope the more convenient halting place. That, also, will
be the point of arrival and departure for steamers making the tour of
the lake.
While the view from the car windows is not to be compared with the
scenery at the southern end of the lake, it must, nevertheless, be
pronounced superb. In the immediate foreground, the green waters break
soothingly upon a pebbly beach, or fall in crested waves. On the right
and left recede into distance the deeply indented shores, here clothed
with luxuriant forests, there bare and precipitous. Yonder, nineteen
miles away, is Granite Point, rising perpendicularly from the water 724
feet, with Granite Mountain behind it, towering 5,300 feet above the
level of the lake, itself surmounted by the snowy peaks of Pack Saddle
Mountain, and they, in turn, by the great purple range of the C[oe]ur
d'Alenes.
Not a few Eastern travelers passing over the Northern Pacific Railroad
have remarked upon the resemblance borne by the scenery of Lake Pend
d'Oreille to that of their own famous Lake George. It is, however, if
possible, even finer, the mountains being loftier, and the forests more
luxuriant, than those inclosing the hitherto unrivaled lake in Northern
New York.
To fully set forth the attractions of this region for the sportsman, or
to do anything like justice to its waters as fishing grounds, would
require more space than is devoted in this pamphlet to the entire
country between the Great Lakes and Puget Sound. Nowhere, probably, in
the United States, is there such an abundance of large game as in the
forests of Northwestern Montana and Northern Idaho. Within a few miles
of any of the stations on Lake Pend d'Oreille may be found mule deer,
white-tailed deer, elk, caribou and moose, black and cinnamon bear, and
mountain sheep. Of winged game, geese, ducks and partridge are
plentiful, and they may be shot at any season of the year. Various
applications have been made to the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, by
local hunters, for special rates for the shipment of game East; but the
Company has steadfastly refused to encourage the wholesale destruction
of game for commercial purposes, preferring that it should be reserved
for legitimate sport.
[Illustration: LAKE PEND D'OREILLE, IDAHO.]
The true sportsman will immensely enjoy an excursion into the Kootenai
country. The best route is from Kootenai station to Bonner's Ferry, on
the Kootenai river, a distance of thirty-three miles by wagon road, and
thence by boat, either down to the lake, a further distance of ninety
miles, or up into the mountains. Complete camping outfits may be
obtained from Spokane Falls, the nearest town on the line of the
railroad.
That the waters of Clark's Fork and Lake Pend d'Oreille are full of fine
fish of many varieties, is established by overwhelming testimony. The
want of a common nomenclature, however, is somewhat embarrassing to one
whose opportunities for personal observation have been limited. Perhaps,
therefore, it will be best to allow the local anglers to tell their own
stories. Beginning with the town of Thompson's Falls, to which reference
has already been made, we find a recent correspondent of the _American
Angler_ claiming for Clark's Fork an abundance of salmon trout, of a
species of large lake trout, and a species of whitefish, known locally
as "squaw fish." Salmon trout are, he says, caught at all times of the
year, except in midwinter and during high water in the month of June.
They average from one-half to two pounds each, and the fishing is best
during early spring and late fall. Lake trout have been caught weighing
as much as eighteen pounds each; but the average is about six pounds.
The "squaw fish" is said to be gamey, but of comparatively little value
for the table. The same correspondent says that the mountain streams
emptying into Clark's Fork in the vicinity of Thompson's Falls, afford
excellent mountain trout fishing, and he quotes large scores made by
local anglers. At Heron, which, by the way, is a divisional terminus of
the railroad, with a first-class hotel operated in connection with the
dining car department, trout is said to be so abundant as to be thought
nothing of; "grayling," sometimes reaching ten pounds in weight, are
almost as plentiful; and it is said to be no uncommon thing to see them
jumping out of the water, pursued by large whitefish. Bull River, eight
miles distant, yields salmon trout weighing up to twelve pounds. The
waters of Lake Pend d'Oreille contain, in addition to the common lake
trout, a species weighing from five to ten pounds each, and occasionally
caught weighing as much as twenty pounds, speckled on both back and
sides, and generally resembling Mackinac trout. They are a fine table
fish, being much superior to lake trout. The "squaw fish" of this lake
are said to resemble the pike. They weigh from one pound to five pounds
each. From about the middle of August until the snow flies, the trout
fishing is "the best in the world." There is also a fish resembling the
herring, found in one part of the lake in immense shoals.
Soon after leaving Lake Pend d'Oreille, the line enters a dense forest
containing few settlements, and little that is interesting or
picturesque, beyond the beautiful Lake Cocolala, a long but narrow sheet
of water on the north side of the track. On the borders of the forest
the train pauses a moment at Rathdrum, the nearest point on the railroad
to Fort C[oe]ur d'Alene, on the lake of the same name. This lake even
rivals, in the beauty of its waters and the grandeur of its mountain
scenery, its more accessible neighbor, Lake Pend d'Oreille, while its
conveniences for boating and fishing are equally good.
At the station of Idaho Line, the train enters the Territory of
Washington, pursuing its way in a southwesterly direction across the
great Spokane Plain.
A short run, and we are at Spokane Falls, a bright and busy little city,
charmingly situated on the Spokane river, near the celebrated falls from
which it takes its name. Built upon a gravelly plateau, sloping gently
toward the river, overlooked by beautiful pine-clad hills, and with
lofty mountain ranges in the far distance, Spokane Falls can not but
produce a favorable impression upon the passing traveler. Its falls,
which are its chief natural attraction, and will be the secret of the
great commercial and manufacturing importance that undoubtedly awaits
it, are situated on the north side of the town. The river is divided by
basaltic islands into three great streams, curving toward each other,
and pouring their floods into a common basin, from which the united
waters come surging and foaming to make their final plunge of sixty-five
feet into the deep chasm below. The tremendous force with which the
river tears through its rocky channels, and hurls itself over the falls,
is perhaps best illustrated by a comparison with the Falls of St.
Anthony, at Minneapolis. While the latter represent a force of 135,000
horse power, the former represents one of 216,000 horse power,
utilizable with equal facility. Several extensive flouring mills, as
well as saw mills, are already in operation; and there is no doubt that,
with the development of the rich wheat country of Eastern Washington,
there will come an immense extension of the manufacturing industries of
Spokane Falls.
It is probable that the town will soon have two important feeders in
branch lines of railway, extending, the one northward to the Colville
mining region,--the other southward to the Palouse wheat country. These
lines will open railway communication with two of the richest sections
of country west of the Rocky Mountains.
Until within the last year or two, the settlements of the Colville
valley have been confined to the scattered homes of ranchmen. But
recently the tide of immigration that has been flowing into the
Territory has reached this remote region, and agricultural operations of
a general character are being engaged in. The valley is as fertile as it
is beautiful, and not only fine wheat, but fruit of excellent quality,
is being raised there.
In the Chewelah district there have recently been found so many rich
veins of silver that Mr. E. V. Smalley, who visited it in November,
1885, declares that it is almost certain to become, within a few years,
the greatest silver camp on the continent.
Sixteen and forty-one miles respectively westward from Spokane Falls,
are Cheney and Sprague, in a good agricultural country, whose rapid
development is building them up as solid and substantial towns. Cheney
has a large hotel, and is, moreover, the nearest railway station to
Medical Lake, a large sheet of water possessing remarkable curative
properties, and situated nine miles west. Good hotels and bathing
establishments having been erected, Medical Lake is now an exceedingly
pleasant resort, the surrounding country being very attractive.
From Palouse Junction, sixty-nine miles west of Sprague, a line extends
eastward into the Palouse country. So far as regards scenery, a ride
over this line to Colfax and Moscow is as uninteresting a railroad
journey as could well be found, the line following a series of valleys
that have the appearance of having once formed the rocky bed of some
considerable stream.
Colfax is a busy little city in the Palouse river valley, hemmed in so
closely on both sides that one of its rivals recently suggested that it
might find it an advantage to be roofed over. But it does a considerable
business for so small a place, shipping a large proportion of the
agricultural produce of the valley, estimated, in 1885, at two million
bushels of grain. The agricultural methods of Eastern Washington will
strike most visitors as somewhat peculiar. It is not in every State of
the Union, nor in every Territory, that the farmer can plow and sow
"just when he gets ready." But here plowing and seeding may be seen in
progress ten months out of every twelve, and instances have even been
known of winter wheat being sown every month in the year, and all coming
to harvest in its proper turn. And such crops! Thirty, forty and fifty
bushels to the acre are raised so easily, that, had the farmer a nearer
market, he would soon get rich. The construction of the proposed branch
southward from Spokane Falls will, however, give him facilities for
shipping east over the Northern Pacific Railroad that will certainly pay
him better than exporting to England by way of Portland, as he does at
present. The self-binding harvester, so familiar an object in many other
parts of the country, is here unknown, the grain being cut by immense
"headers," propelled by from four to eight horses each. This
strange-looking machine, an exemplification of the old saying, "the cart
before the horse," is better adapted than any other to the peculiar
conditions of the country, straw being of no value, and threshing
usually going on simultaneously with the cutting of the grain, although
the wheat may, after cutting, lie in the fields for many weeks without
detriment.
The climate of Eastern Washington, to which alone this remarkable state
of things is due, differs entirely from that of the western half of the
Territory, from which it is divided by the Cascade range of mountains.
It is a mistake to suppose that the humidity which characterizes that
portion of the Territory bordering on the Pacific Ocean, distinguishes
it as a whole. On the contrary, the eastern half is remarkably dry, and
that, too, without those extremes of temperature that usually accompany
a dry climate. Should there be a spell of severe cold during the brief
winter season, it is invariably cut short by the "Kuro-Siwo," or
Japanese current, which, striking the coasts of British Columbia and
Washington Territory, sends a warm wave over the entire Northwestern
country, sometimes extending even to the valleys of Montana.
Continuing westward from Palouse Junction, a run of little more than an
hour brings us to Pasco, the eastern terminus of the Cascade division of
the railroad. This important division, intended to establish direct
communication between the magnificent harbors on Puget Sound and the
Eastern States, is already operated to the extent of 122 miles, or
ninety miles westward from Pasco, and thirty-two miles eastward from
Tacoma. Its eastern section has given a great impetus to the development
of the agricultural capabilities of the Yakima, Klickitat and Kittitas
valleys, which are well adapted, not only to stock raising, but also to
the cultivation of fruits and cereals. In this section wool growing is
also engaged in with great success. This industry is one of considerable
importance both in Washington and Oregon, the entire clip for 1885 being
no less than 13,000,000 pounds.
There are few revelations more surprising to an Eastern tourist than
that of the magnitude of some of the great Western rivers. The Snake
river, for example, is known to him, if at all, merely as one of the
various tributaries of the Columbia; and, when he finds himself crossing
its mighty flood by a bridge 1,672 feet in length, and learns that its
force and volume are such that it drives itself like a solid wedge into
the waters of the Columbia, he is apt to wonder that he knows so little
about it. Future tourists will not regard this tributary stream with any
the less interest for being told beforehand that it is longer than the
Rhine, more than three times the length of the Hudson, and that,
straightened out, it would reach from the Missouri valley to the
Atlantic ocean. It is, moreover, a great commercial highway, being
navigated by steamers of considerable tonnage for 150 miles. It flows
for a long distance in a deep canon, the sides of which are so
precipitous as to render the river almost inaccessible. Immense shutes
have therefore been constructed for the transfer of the wheat that forms
the staple product of the country from the warehouses on the high banks
to the boats and barges anchored below.
Another section of the famous wheat country of Southeastern Washington,
identified with the unmusical name of Walla Walla, borne by the oldest
and best town east of the Cascade Mountains, is reached by a branch line
extending from Wallula Junction. With 100,000 acres of land cultivated
to cereals, with 800,000 apple trees, 100,000 pear, plum and peach
trees, 25,000 grape-vines, large herds of cattle, and still larger
flocks of sheep, the county of which Walla Walla is the judicial seat
may be taken as fairly illustrating the varied capabilities of Eastern
Washington. Scarcely less prosperous is the adjoining county of
Columbia. These counties, however, being well settled, reference is made
to them only as foreshadowing the future condition of those younger
counties, adjacent to the Northern Pacific Railroad, which are now in
course of settlement. In many of the latter the cultivation of the soil
presents even fewer difficulties than in these older settled regions, in
many parts of which there is scarcely an acre of level land to be found.
Returning to Wallula Junction, and there resuming our westward journey,
we at once enter a region of surpassing interest, none other than the
famous land--
"=Where rolls the Oregon.="
Its navigable waters within 450 miles of those of the Missouri river,
the great Columbia drains an area almost equal in extent to the united
area of France and Germany. Excluding the portages at the Cascades and
Dalles, with several less important rapids, the river is navigable to
Kettle Falls, 725 miles from its mouth. These falls, on the upper river,
are not accessible by rail, being a considerable distance above the
point at which the railroad enters its valley. They are said to be more
impressive even than the famous Cascades on the lower river, there being
a perpendicular fall of twenty feet, and then swift rapids between rocky
banks of quartz and porphyry. It is on the upper river, also, that there
occur the Little Dalles, where the waters tear through a contracted
channel with terrific force, constituting, at least at high water, an
impassable barrier to navigation.
[Illustration: MOUNT HOOD--FROM THE HEAD OF THE DALLES, COLUMBIA RIVER,
OREGON.]
From Wallula to within a few miles of Portland, a twelve hours' ride,
the tourist enjoys an uninterrupted succession of views of that superb
scenery which has given the Columbia river its world-wide reputation.
Never for more than a few moments does he lose sight of its mighty
flood,--now flowing onward with all the majesty of the lower
Mississippi, and now surging through the rocky barriers that impede its
course; here confined within lofty basaltic walls, there inclosing
numerous beautifully wooded islands; and here again marked by long
stretches of bare white sand driven continually by the unceasing winds.
For some miles west of Wallula the banks of the river are low, and
possess no special object of interest. It is not, indeed, until he
reaches the Great Dalles that the tourist sees any indication of the
magnificent scenery he is approaching. There, however, he has his first
glimpse of the queenly Mount Hood, whose snowy peak, soaring 11,225 feet
above the sea, stands out sharply against the sky at a distance of
thirty-five miles. The Dalles themselves, scarcely noticeable, except
when the river is at flood, constitute one of the most curious and
interesting sights in the world,--nothing less than that of the mighty
Columbia turned on edge. Here, within a gorge so narrow that a child may
fling a pebble from bank to bank, is confined the greatest river of the
Northwest. The chasm through which it flows has never been fathomed, and
can only be approximately determined by an inversion of the grand
proportions of the river where it flows through its ordinary channel.
At Dalles City, the eastern terminus of navigation on the middle river,
the tourist finds himself in an attractive town of nearly forty years'
growth. Here he may with advantage make a brief stay, resuming his
journey either by train or by steamer, the fine boats of the Oregon
Railway & Navigation Company plying daily between this city and
Portland. From the heights commanding the town, magnificent views are to
be obtained, Mount Hood looming up in the southwest, and Mount Adams,
another of the great peaks of the Cascade Range, in the north.
We have now left behind the low-lying shores that extend for so many
miles between the Dalles and Wallula. Henceforward the scenery increases
in interest every mile, the mountains becoming loftier and more
precipitous, the rocky shores more rugged, and the intervening foliage
more luxuriant.
It should be stated that the scenery, especially on the south side of
the river, appears to much greater advantage when viewed from the deck
of a steamer than when seen from the train. In consideration of this
fact, railway tickets are available by steamer without extra charge. The
boat leaving the Dalles early in the morning, there is a loss of one day
involved in taking the steamer on the westward journey; but, returning
from Portland, the tourist is able to reach the Dalles in time for that
day's east-bound train.
Forty-three miles from the Dalles are the Cascades, where the river
changes from a placid lake to swift rapids and a foaming torrent. Before
the completion of the railroad every pound of freight had to be
transferred, at this point, from a steamer navigating the river above
this insurmountable barrier to one navigating it below, or _vice versa_.
The railway portage of six miles on the Washington side of the river is
still operated, and the transfer of such passengers as choose to
complete their journey by water is made so speedily and conveniently as
to enhance, rather than otherwise, the pleasure and interest of the
river trip.
In view of the importance of the river as a free commercial highway,
Congress has made several appropriations for the construction, at the
Cascades, of a system of locks. It is certainly a gigantic undertaking,
and many years will probably elapse before its completion.
To a great convulsion of nature, of whose occurrence there is abundant
evidence, may be traced a singular Indian tradition, that Mount Hood and
Mount Adams formerly stood close to the river, connected by a natural
bridge. The mountains, so goes the story, becoming angry with each
other, threw out fire, ashes and stones, and so demolished the bridge,
choking the river, which had previously been navigable. The present
remoteness of the mountains is attributed to the anger of the Great
Spirit, who hurled them thus far asunder. Both, in common with other
peaks of the Cascade Range, are extinct volcanoes; and the Indian
tradition may have its origin either in some great eruption, or in some
sudden movement of what is known as the sliding mountain, an immense
mass of basaltic rock gradually wearing its way toward the river.
After gazing in admiration at the fine scenery surrounding the Cascades,
the tourist will scarcely be prepared for the announcement that the
grandest of all is yet to come. But, after leaving Bonneville, not only
is the general effect grander and more imposing, but the objects of
special interest are more numerous. Here it is that the advantage of
making the trip by steamer is most apparent; for, let the train travel
ever so slowly, it is impossible for even the most quick-sighted
traveler to take in all the points of interest that crowd one upon
another.
On the north side is Castle Rock, rising abruptly from the water's edge
a thousand feet or more. Farther down the river, also on the north side,
is Cape Horn, an imposing basaltic cliff projecting into the water. On
the south side there descend from the lofty perpendicular walls that
frown upon the river for many miles, numerous waterfalls, of
indescribable beauty. Here is the lovely Oneonta, 600 feet of silver
ribbon, floating from the dizzy height. A few moments more, and we are
opposite the still more beautiful Multnomah Fall, which has a descent of
no less than 820 feet. At this point the train stops fifteen minutes to
enable passengers to ascend to the rustic bridge, there to enjoy the
best possible view of this incomparable fall, and its wondrously
beautiful setting, contrasting so strikingly with the wild scenery
around it.
At the Pillars of Hercules, two gigantic columns of rock, one on either
side the track, and forming, as it were, the western gateway to this
marvelous region, the railroad leaves the river, and runs right on to
Portland. The steamer continues its course, past the beautiful city of
Vancouver, to the mouth of the Willamette river, by which great
tributary of the Columbia, it soon reaches