A glance at the map will shew how considerable a district of British
Oregon is watered by the Upper Columbia and its tributary, the
McGillivray or Flat Bow river. It is estimated above at 20,000 square
miles, and has been described in enthusiastic terms, by the Bishop of
Oregon--De Smet--in his "Oregon Missions." The territory of the
Kootonais Indians would seem, from his glowing description, to be
divided in favourable proportion between forests and prairies. Of
timber, he names birch, pine of different species, cedar, and cypress.
He remarked specimens of coal, and "great quantities of lead,"
apparently mixed with silver. The source of the Columbia seemed to
impress him as "a very important point." He observes that "the climate
is delightful"--that the extremes of heat and cold are seldom known, the
snow disappearing as it falls. He reiterates the opinion "that the
advantages nature seemed to have bestowed on the Columbia, will render
its geographical position very important at some future day, and that
the hand of civilised man would transform it into a terrestrial
paradise."
It is an interesting coincidence that Bishop De Smet published in a
Saint Louis paper, a few months since, a similar description of this
region, adding that it could be reached from Salt Lake City along the
western base of the Rocky Mountains with waggons, and that Brigham Young
proposed to lead his next Mormon exodus to the sources of the Columbia
River. Such a movement is not improbable, and would exhibit far greater
sagacity than an emigration to Sonora.