THE WEST SHORE.
iecember, 1880
3'6
TIIKOl'i.ll CKNTKA1. OKK;ON ON
IIORSKIIACK.
W. It, I.VMAK.
The great tide of emigration at the
present time set northeastward. Land
hunter turn their face toward the
loamy hill of tlic Spokan ami Pulousc.
Hence the traveller who him followed
the crowd uj the river to the Dulles
and then turn south finds at once that
he had diverged from the iniiin current.
The Dalle in a whirlpool in this
great flood of emigration, and it bring
to the surface n motley throng ol
trader, liiud-huutcrH, cow-loy, specu
lator, Miloon-keeK.'rH, Indians, China
men mid ciiyusc Minieii.
An eddy of this whirlpool land us,
together with a I'ayuse and the ac
coutrement nea-ssury for hesl riding
the .ime, iijxtn the " bluff" with face
turned toward the blazing July sun.
What we ec in the live hundred
mile of travel which lollows i a most
ingular combination of the beautiful,
wierd, fantastic and altogether uncx-jH-cted.
Central Oregon extend something
over two hundred mile from north to
koiilh, hut lie mainly within the two
counties of Wasco anil Lake. It i en
closed within the abrupt anil shin ply
defined Cascade Range on the west and
the Mraggling, many-spurred lllue
Range on the east.
The northern two-third of this
region contain the basins of the I)e
Shulet and John Day river. The De
Sliute i much the larger of the two,
kincc it i led by the H'rjH-tuul snow of
Mt. Jcfl'emon, the Three Sister, and
Diamond I'eak, Ixsides numerous lesser
height which have not received a
mime.
The general elevation of Central
Oregon i almut twelve hundred feet
alxive the sea.
The river have cut their way almost
down to ea-level. Hence there are
many tremendous canyon. Throughout
the entire region, it i evident that there
ha leen wild sputtering and bubbling
among the rock.
The Volcanic fury of tome past lime
i khown by the basaltic cliff which
have split the soil asunder, a well as
by the remain of great lava-flow and
volcanic ashe here and there.
In fact the entire northwest coast ha
tieeu the kcvnc of volcanic convulsions
which mukt have made the whole earth
teeter, hut in this region the method of
its formation is more plainly manifest
than anywhere else.
The scam of the earth are not hidden
here by a deep loam as in the Spokan,
nor by the foliage of dense forests as
in the Willamette.
The old battle-ground of the ele
mental forces of nature has been left
unswept.
As we proceed on our journey south
ward we find that thi is a country of
magnificent distances. The account
Mark Twain gives of a place in Ore
gon which had only one disadvantage,
which was, that it was five hundred
mile from any settlement, seems
rather more probable to us as wc gallop
across the vast plains of Wasco county.
We find, however, that for some dis
tance south of the Dalles, the rolling
prairie, formerly thought to be almost
a desert, is Insing rapidly occupied, and
in many places fine farms have alrcad)
emerged from the solitudes of bunch
grass. Nevertheless the soil has not
the depth nor strength of that of the
Umatilla or Walla Walla or Spokan
countries, and aside from some advan
tage of location and perhaps of climate,
this region is not so desirable for emi
grants as those. Sand and rocks very
frequently appear, and when wc reach
the Tigh, twenty-five miles south of
The Dalles, we see the first good speci
men of the singular formation called
the rim-rock.
Thi foi mation is common through
out the valley of the Des Shutcs. Wc
arc crossing what seems a boundless
plain, when suddenly, we find ourselves
iiMn the edge of a precipice two or
three hundred feet deep. This prcci
pice is the rim-rock. Right opposite
it, perhaps a quarter of a mile distant,
is it exact counterpart. Beyond this
second rim-rock, the great plain con
tinue of exactly the same elevation as
on the side of the canyon by which wc
came. The plain is, in short, cut in two
by a canyon in the form of an enormous
ditch, a quarter of a mile wide and sev
end hundred feet deep. It is evident
that the l reams age ago ran on the
urfacc of these great plains. Year by
year, century by century, and age by
age, they have cut through the solid
rock, and their bank have by crumb
ting hrcn separated farther ami farther,
until now they are enclosed by rocky
wall w hich in many case cannot hi
calcd for mile.
The portion of Wasco county toward
the south, interesting to the farmer, is
passed at Cottage Grove, forty miles
from The Dalles, and from there on the
narrow valleys, most of which are al
ready occupied, furnish about all the
land that seems likely to permit of
profitable farming. The stock-man,
however, will find abundant evidence
of profit in his business by the immense
herds of sheep and cattle as well as
horses which are found along the John
Day and its tributaries. On the bunch-
grass plains of Antelope, eighty miles
from The Dalles, we find a band of cow
boys " rounding up." To " round up," '
a dozen or more stock-raisers with their
help, each provided with "horses, com
bine together at a stated time in the
summer and scour the range for several
days until they arc sure that (he cattle
are all in. They then proceed to brand
the youthful bovines, which are, of
course, as wild as deer, and sometimes
almost kill themselves in their vain
struggles to escape.
Once in awhile a vicious cow makes
a descent upon the branders, and the
zeal with which they make for the high
corrall-fence is very instructive. So
much for the stock business, which is
so extensive that the last Spring's drive
from the middle John Day alone was
over twenty thousand head, whilst the
entire season's drive netted $1400,000
to the Upper country. I was informed
by a stock-man on Willow Creek so
called because there are no willows or
other trees within fifty miles that his
investments in cattle yielded forty per
cent, per annum.
The John Day valley is a paradise to
the geologist. There is a section of
country in that valley of perhaps fifty
by twenty miles in extent in which the
leaves of Nature's book are completely
covered with the inscriptions written by
the fingers of glaciers and volcanoes,
and are crowded with illustrations of
the plant and animal life of remote
time. When we reach the high Ante
lope hill on the Canyon City stage road,
we hx)k down upon a region which
was once the home of the Rhinoceros,
the Oreadon, the Ilipparion, and many
other animals now extinct or found only
in other continents than this.
Fro.n that hill, we survey a wilder
ness of rocky hills of all sizes, shapes,
and structures. Many arc almost per
fect cones and pyramids, varying from