Warre and Vavasour, 1845-6. 91 tracking with a line, it, however, is navigable at all seasons for flat bottomed boats, in which the H. B. Company transport the produce of the Cowlitz farm to Fort Vancouver. The farm establishment is situated on a large plain about 500 yards from the river, and about one mile from the land- ing place ; there is a small settlement of about 19 families, and a Roman Catholic church in the immediate neighborhood. There are large herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, and bands of horses at this point. At the Cowlitz we procured horses and rode to Nesqually, a distance of about 60 miles. This route, or portage, as it is usually called, passes through small plains, traversing the in- tervening points of woods, crossing the Quinze Sous, Vassals, Chute and Nesqually Rivers, all of which are fordable in the summer, but become deep and rapid in the winter and spring. Nesqually is also an agricultural and sheep farm, the build- ings are of wood situated at the end of a large plain, close to a fine stream of fresh water, and about one mile from the shores of Puget's Sound. This appears the best place for landing troops in the coun- try. The Straits of Juan de Fuca and Puget's Sound being accessible to vessels of any tonnage and at all seasons with safe and commodious harbors. There being large herds of cattle and flocks of sheep at the Nesqually establishment, pro- visions could easily be procured, and troops forwarded from Puget's Sound to the Columbia by the Portage and Cowlitz River. Light baggage, etc., can be forwarded from the head of Puget's Sound, making a portage of five miles through a thickly wooded country to the head of the Satchal or Black River, which can be descended in flat bottomed boats or rafts for 25 miles, to the Chehalis River, ascending which for 30 miles, from whence there is a portage of 15 miles, to the Cow- litz Farm. This latter portage can be traveled by carts, the road having been opened by the few settlers on the plains.
The Satchal and Chehalis Rivers are rapid and the latter is----
