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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1889)
THE WEST SHORE. fertile soil of Lewis and Chehalis; and after passing the Chehalis river is a mass of fine clay, extending from Montezuma toward Shoalwater bay. It is from this faot that one is able to tell whether the surface for some miles east of him on Paget sound is level or not by examining the glaoial drift deposits. If it is clay on the surface he can walk for many miles be fore reaching rocky, mountainous ground, to the northeast of such deposits. The chain of voloanoes on the west flank of the Cascade range, from Mount St. Elias, in Alaska, to Mount Shasta, in California, all began to raise their heads about the close of the glaoial period. The vol canio forces of the coast were concentrated at such points, and while they were coming up the coast was settling. The mountains cooled internally, contract ed in length, the gorge of the Columbia and the can yon of the Fraser made a passageway through the mountains for those rivers to the ocean. But the Columbia came not into existence until lorjg after the glacier had disappeared and Baker and Rainier and these other volcanoes had been actively at work. North of the Chehalis river and west of Hood's canal is a region very little known. Here is a moun tain parallelogram about fifty miles square. All around it are to be seen the old Coast range with its rounded summits worn down about one-third of the way to their base, while the sharp, well-defined, Jag ged peaks of the Olympio mountains show no trace of other than local glacial action. This difference is plain to be seen from the east, south and west sides, but on the north an older range, running parallol to the straits, hides those newer, wilder, sharper and more jagged peaks from view. While the whole coast was settling, these volca- noes, by the amount of matter they were throwing to the surface, were still further hastening the final ca taBtrophe that took place. Earthquake fissures hun dreds of miles in length and of unknown depth rent the sound country. The San Juan mouutain chain was broken north and south, east and weal The mountain range that had crossed the souud country in the vicinity of the narrows west of Taooma, and had perished in battling with the glaoior, although worn to its base, yot presented such obstacles to the earthquake that the channel of the sound, where it cuts through this old mountain base, is only about a milo wide, about one-fifth or one-sixth its average width. It is probable that Vancouver's island was separated from the mainland. Gray's harbor, Shoal water bay, the valley of the Lower Chehalis, the val ley of the Columbia west of tlio Cascades, the Wil lamette valley and San Frauoisoo harbor, with the valleys of the San Joaquin and Sacramento, were all formed by sinking of the, surface and immense fis sures in tho earth, at about the same time the sound country was formed. Mount Bakor, Mount Rainier and the Olympio mountains form three angles of a nearly equiangu lar triangle. The main Cascade range between Ba ker and Rainier was quiet. These two mountains acted and reacted on each other, and the surplus forco not being able to go east, was driven to the other angle of tho triangle. Uence tho Olympio mountains came up, not a range, not one well-defined peak, but a doon or moro sharp, jugged peaks, aoh distinct, but together occupying the whole ground, and presenting a surface so rough, so broken and so diflioult to travol over that few have ever ventured to explore them. A'in'ifjfl Mow, in Smhomiih Kyr.