sts
that fill the ravines and cover the heights of the Cascade
Mountains, with the exception of the snow peaks, even to
the valley of the Clackamas. We had been traveling over
monotonous prairie land —through wild, wide, sandy wastes,
with their prolific growth of the somber-looking Artemisia,
with nothing to relieve the eye, or dissipate that sense of
sickening sameness that day after day weighed upon our
spirits. How gladly then did we hail the change, and gallop
into the bosom of the majestic woods! The breath of the
forest was laden with the scent of agreeable odors. What a
feeling of freshness was diffused into our whole being, as we
enjoyed the "pleasure of the pathless woods."
In every
glimpse we could catch of the open day, there, above and
beyond us, were the towering heights, with their immense
array of sky-piercing shafts.
Up, up, to an altitude fearfully astonishing —the ascent is
steep and difficult, but there are many such ridges of the
mountains to be crossed before you can descend into the
flourishing valley of the Willamette. Down, down, into the
deep, dark, and silent ravine, and when you have reached the
bottom o...
...
its precipitous descent, you may be able to
form an idea of the great elevation which you had previou...
attained. The crossing of the Rocky Mountains, the Bear
River range, and the "big hill" of the "Burlies," with the
Blue Mountains, was insignifican...
comparison to the pass
age of the "Cascades." Her...
no natural pass—you breast
the lofty hills and climb them—ther...
no way around them
—
no avoiding them, and each succeeding one you fanc...
the dividing ridge of the range. How profoun...
the soli
tude of those old and far surrounding woods, whic...
only
invaded by the dash of the mountain torrent, a...
plunges
downward to its more tranquil cours...
the distant valley.
The sun had sunk to the horizon, and was arraying itsel...
a
magnificent drapery of crimson colored clouds as we
emerged from the forest into
a
beautiful little glen, even
upon the breast of snowy Mount Hood. Here was the foun
tain-head of rivers; and the foaming waters were rushi
