Umpqua River

“ It led us into a prairie at the base of the main Calapooia chain. Crossing the prairie, we found the little trail where it entered the mountains with dif- ficulty, and being guided by the broken brush, reached at sun- down a little stream on the Umpqua side, where we camped for the night in a beautiful little valley where the grass was good and the ground almost covered with the finest straw- berries I had ever seen. The next morning, June 23, we moved on through the grassy oak hills and narrow valleys to the north Umpqua river. ”

“ The Umpqua River rose until it carried away the whole of lower Scottsburg, with all the mills and improvements on the main river, and the rains destroyed the military road on which had been expended fifty thousand dollars. [33] The weather continued stormy, and toward christmas the rain turned to snow, the cold being unusual. ”

“ The scenery along the route from Coquille to Roseburg possesses all the charms peculiar to the Coast Mountains, and Enchanted Prairie, the name of one of the valleys on the east side of the range, conveys no sense of bombast to the beholder. The river cuts deeply into the mountains from its source in beautiful Camas Valley, the road approaching the edge of perpendicular cliffs of awe-inspiring height. From Camas, the Roseburg road soon emerges into the Umpqua Valley, the distance by this route from Coos Bay being about forty miles. ”

“ Its outlet i s into Tenmile Lake , which i n turn drains into the ocean through Tenmile Creek . The two lakes and other nearby features doubtless received their names from Tenmile Creek , which flows into the Pacific Ocean about ten miles south o f Win chester Bay . See under TENMILE CREEK and also TENMILE LAKE . NORTH UMPQUA RIVER . This i s the correct name o f the northern branch o f Umpqua River , not North Fork . I t rises o n the west
slopes of the Cascade Range north of Diamond Lake , and joins South Umpqua River near Winchester, forming Umpqua River . ”

“ The Umqua River runs through the middle of the Valley, receiving numerous tributaries, from the neighboring Mountains. It is a steam sufficiently large for navigation; but the great rapidity of its current, will probably always prevent it from being useful for that purpose.—The Valley is diversified with woodland and prairies; but the prairies occupy the greater portion, the timber being principally along the water courses and on the bordering Mountains. The prairies have a good soil, and are covered with a most excellent kind of grass. There is a great deal of fall in the smaller streams ”

“ The Umpqua Valley, which we had first seen in its June freshness, was now sere with the long drought of summer, followed by a rainless autumn. Still, it looked beautiful—one so soon learns to admire the soft coloring of these dry countries—the pale, russet hues of the valleys; the neutral tints in rocks and fences; the quiet, dark-green of the forests; and the clear, pale, unclouded blue of the heavens. The expression of these landscapes is that of soft repose. Nature herself seems resting, and it is no reproach to man that he, too, forgets to work, and only dreams. ”

“ The Valley of the Umpqua is divided from that of the Willammette by the Calapooiah Mountains, a single and almost unbroken ridge, the course of which is nearly East and West. Across these Mountains, which are not high, and the ascent and descent of which are very gradual, is a distance of about twelve miles. They are thickly covered with good Fir timber, are not rocky, and have a soil fit for cultivation. The Umpqua Valley is about thirty-five miles wide and its length is not certainly known. ”

“ Omawhaw creek takes its rise from the bluffs in the rear of the village, and discharges into the river at the distance of seven miles below. About two miles from the town it dilates into a large pond, which is filled with luxuriant {182} aquatic plants, amongst which the zizania and nelumbium, are particularly worthy of note both for their beauty and importance for economical purposes. A fertile prairie, of the length of four miles by one mile and three quarters wide, is outspread in front of the village, and is bounded near the river by a narrow line of timber. ”

“ At the mouth of the Umpquah, which empties into the Pacific about thirty miles from where it leaves this beautiful district of country, the Hudson's Bay Company have a trading post. [164] If we except this, there is no settlement nor claim made on this river or its tributaries. Passing Rogue's River mountains, the trail enters the valley of the river of that name. This valley is quite similar to that of the Umpquah, but perhaps not quite so large. [165] This valley is bounded on the south by the Klamet mountain, which is a spur of the Cascade and Coast mountains. ”

“ We look over immense tree-tops, over plains which seem endless beneath the film of evening mist creeping over them, to where the broad Umkomanzi rushes and roars amid great boulders and rocks, leaping every here and there over a crag down to a lower level of its wide and rocky131a bed. In places the fine river widens out into a mere, and then it sleeps tranquilly enough in the moonlight, making great patches of shimmering silver amid the profound shadows cast by hill and forest. ”

“ The oak glades of Umpqua furnish great quantities of food for hogs, at no expense—the acorns seldom failing to be a good crop.
Water-power, of unlimited extent, can be had—the finest being near Winchester, on the Middle Fork of the Umpqua. The site has been offered as a gift to any Company who would erect manufactories at this place. It is an excellent situation for a woolen-mill, being about in the centre of the county.
The road from Roseburg, toward the south, gives us views of very great beauty and grandeur. Every variety of surface is presented, including prairie ”

“ The Umpqua is a beautiful valley in a high state of cultivation; the school-houses, dotting here a hill, and there a valley, betoken that the education of the youth of the country was not being neglected. ”

“ The damming of the lake, and the accumulation, by this means, of a vast reservoir of water, by rendering more certain and expeditious the navigation of the river, was an exceedingly happy thought And when at length orders were received for his embarkation on the 9th of August, his flotilla was not only borne triumphantly along upon the pile of the impatient waters accumulated for the occasion, but the swelling of the torrent beyond its banks caused wide and unexpected destruction to the growing crops of the Indians on their plantations at Oghkwaga and its vicinity. ”

“ The gathered floods swept on down the cañon and formed another great lake in the region now known as the Kittitas Valley.
But the struggle between Wishpoosh and Speelyei did not end, and the former in his mad fury went on thrashing around in this greater lake. For a long time the rocky barriers of the Umtanum restrained the flood, but at last they gave way before the onslaughts of the wrathful beaver, and the loosened waters swept on down and filled the great basin now occupied by the fruit and garden ranches of the Cowiche, Natchees, and Atahnum. ”

“ A brisk wind from the east sprung up early in the morning of the 22d: we then hoisted all sail, and made for the mouth of the Rio Negro. This noble stream, at its junction with the Amazons, seems, from its position, to be a direct continuation of the main river; while the Solimoens, which joins it at an angle, and is somewhat narrower than its tributary, appears to be a branch, instead of the main trunk, of the vast water-system. ”

“ This stream is an important branch of the Grand, entering it at the foot of the great valley, after that river has passed around the end of the Uncompahgre Plateau, and just as it plunges into the course of canons by which it passes the Sierra la Sal.
Traveling along the crest-line of the Uncompahgre Plateau, one is interested in observing how sharply the crest-line serves as a water-parting. The drainage toward the west heads in the crest, without cutting it at all. The bluff-wall is everywhere continuous. ”

“ The Indian guide whom they met on the Sucubti stated that this river was the Chuqunaqua, and that to follow it was a very long route to the Pacific. This, though not literally true, was so in effect, for while it was not the Chuqunaqua, it was a tributary of that river, which certainly did prove to be the most tedious and toilsome route. The river on which they now was the Chuqunaqua, one of the most tortuous known to geographers—in fact, by looking at the map, one will see that it would be almost impossible to double up a stream so as to get more length in the same space. ”

“ It rises, as is said, in the plain east of Mount Madison, and running a westerly course of one hundred and fifty miles, enters the ocean forty or fifty miles south of the Umpqua. The pine and cedar disappear upon this stream; and instead of them are found a myrtaceous tree of small size, which, when shaken by the least breeze, diffuses a delicious fragrance through the groves. The face of the valley is gently undulating, and in every respect desirable for cultivation and grazing. ”

“ By degrees some portions of the bottom come in this way to be filled up to the surface of the river, and wide flat marshy spaces are formed on either side of the main stream. During floods these spaces are overflowed with muddy water, in the same way as in the case of the valley plains just described, and a coating of mud or sand is laid down on them until they slowly rise above the ordinary level of the river, which winds about among them in endless branching streams. Vegetation springs up on these flat swampy lands; animals, too, find food and shelter there ”

“ Between the rapids named and 7° 40′ S. its valley is studded with a chain of small lakes and backwaters. The largest—Upemba—has channels communicating both with the Lualaba and the Lufira. In the rainy season the whole region becomes a marsh; various grasses, especially papyrus, form floating islands, and the conditions generally recall the sudd region of the Nile. In about 8° 20′ S. the Lualaba and Lufira unite in one of these marshy lakes—Kisale—through which there is a navigable channel. The river issuing from Lake Kisale is called Kamolondo; it has a width varying from 300 to 1000 ft. ”

“ Thus the same chain of mountains that fed the Victoria on the east must have a watershed to the west and north that would flow into the Albert Lake. The general drainage of the Nile basin tending from south to north, and the Albert Lake extending much farther north than the Victoria, it receives the river from the latter lake, and thus monopolizes the entire head-waters of the Nile. The Albert is the grand reservoir, while the Victoria is the eastern source. ”

“ From the Mbomu-Welle confluence to the junction of the Ubangi with the Congo the river has a course of fully 700 m., while the Ubangi-Welle combined exceeds 1400 m. From its mouth to Zongo rapids, a distance of 350 m., the stream, is navigable by Steamers drawing 3 ft. of water. In general the Ubangi flows through a fertile and forested region. ”

“ No rivers of any great importance feed the Albert Edward Lake, though there are several which are from twenty to fifty feet wide and two feet deep. The largest is said to be the Mpanga and the Nsongi. This being so, the most important river from the south cannot have a winding course of more than sixty miles, so that the farthest reach of the Albertine sources of the Nile cannot extend further than 1° 10′ south latitude. ”

“ The wonder is where all the water comes from. But the river is fed by more than six thousand square miles of territory. From both sides the little brooks come dashing in with their supply. At intervals a larger stream, reaching away back among the mountains like a hand with many fingers to gather
“The filtered tribute of the rough woodland,” delivers its generous offering to the main current.
The names of the chief tributaries of the Ristigouche are curious. There is the headstrong Metapedia, and the crooked Upsalquitch, and the Patapedia, and the Quatawamkedgwick. ”

“ The next afternoon, being tired of this sort of prison-life, and cramped for lack of exercise, I launched the canoe into the rough water, and crossing to Crow Island found a lee under its shores, which permitted me to ascend the river to the mouth of Atchison Creek, through which I passed, two miles, to the South Santee River.
All these rivers are bordered by rice plantations, many of them having been abandoned to the care of the freedmen. I saw no white men upon them. Buildings and dikes are falling into ruins, and the river freshets frequently inundate the land. ”

“ Fissure springs, from deep faults in the earth’s crust let out small streams of water from sources far remote; sometimes fit to drink; sometimes loaded with salts in solution and sometimes hot. Such a spring is that which gives rise to Willow Creek which rises among the niter hills of the Great Basin and empties into the Amargosa River a short distance below its source. Alas for the name! The Amargosa “River” turns out on examination to be a stream scarce large enough to turn a mill. After a run of less than 25 miles it sinks into the sands to rise no more. ”

“ The actual basin of the Nile is included between about the 22 degree and 39 degree East longitude, and from 3 degrees South to 13 degrees North latitude. The drainage of that vast area is monopolized by the Egyptian river. The Victoria and Albert lakes, the two great equatorial reservoirs, are the recipients of all affluents south of the Equator; the Albert lake being the grand reservoir in which are concentrated the entire waters from the south, in addition to tributaries from the Blue Mountains from the north of the Equator. ”