ver until they reached the
point where it enters the grand canon; there they left the river,
and climbing over the Blue Mountains, entered the fertile valleys
about the present city of Walla Walla. From this place the emigrants
followed the Columbia River to The Dalles, whence they proceeded
either by boat or raft until Fort Vancouver and the mouth of the
Willamette were finally gained. Wagons were taken through on this
route, and it was not dangerous, although accidents sometimes happened
at the Cascades, where locks were built at a later day.

[Illustration: FIG. 94.--THE OLD SANTA FE TRAIL

Over this thousands of freight and emigrant wagons have passed]

The emigrants for California, who were the most numerous, turned
southwest at South Pass, and after crossing the Wasatch Range through
Emigration Canon, came out upon the plain of Great Salt Lake. Then,
traversing desert plains, they reached the Humboldt River, which
they followed until it sank into the sands.

Several routes had been opened across the Sierra Nevada mountains
into California, but those through the Carson and Donner passes
were most used. Several high ranges of mountains lay between the
Willamette Valley of Oregon and the Great Valley of California,
so that in the early days there was very little travel between
these two territories. The overland trip required so long a time,
and involved such dangers and hardships, that many preferred the
water route, in spite of the fact that its ships were crowded,
and the voyagers must cross the fever-infected Isthmus.

It is very interesting to note how widely different the rivers
are upon the opposite sides of the Rocky Mountains. Those upon
the east, with the exception of the Missouri at the Great Falls,
are not marked by waterfalls after leaving the mountains. There are
few canons of importance. The streams generally flow in channels
only slightly sunken below the general level of the Great Plains.
The streams upon the west, on the contrary, are broken by rapids
and waterfalls, and are generally buried in canons so deep and
precipitous that in places a man might die of thirst in sight of
water.

No other great migration of people over the surface of the earth
ever encountered such difficulties as that which pressed westward
after the discovery of gold. It was at first thought that railroads
could not be constructed through the mountains and deserts, and
until the mineral wealth of the West became known