The Valley of the Umpqua is divided from that of the Willamette by the Calapooya 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. Its general character is very similar to the Willamette Valley, excepting that its surface is more undulating. The Umpqua River runs through the middle of the valley, receiving numerous tributaries from the neighboring mountains. It is a stream 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 watercourses 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; and, having their sources in the mountains, they are constant, and afford numerous fine water privileges. There is some granite in this valley; but the prevailing rock is basaltic. The Umpqua Indians are quite numerous. They are not openly hostile to the whites; but yet it is not considered entirely safe for a few persons to travel through their country. No settlement has yet been made in the valley, and no person has yet visited it, except those passing through, to or from California. The Hudson's Bay Company have a trading post near the mouth of the river. Supplies are taken to it overland, from Vancouver, on pack animals. There is a small bay at the mouth of the Umpqua; but the depth of water at the entrance is sufficient only for small vessels. It affords a tolerable harbor; but the intervening mountains, extending along the coast, separate the valley from the ocean, and the river passing through them, probably contains falls, rapids, and canyons that will prevent vessels from passing any considerable distance up the river. This valley, although it is separated by the surrounding mountains, not only from all other portions of the country, but also from the seaboard; nevertheless offers sufficient inducements to ensure its speedy settlement. The Calapooya Mountains are so gradual and unbroken that a good wagon road can easily be made across them into the Willamette Valley, and a railroad can be made to connect it with the navigable waters of the Willamette, whenever the necessities of the country require it, and its wealth is sufficient to construct it.
    South of the Valley of the Umpqua are the Umpqua Mountains, running nearly parallel with the Calapooya Mountains, and separating this valley from the Valley of Rogue's River. The distance across them is fourteen miles. They are high, very steep, and somewhat broken; but not rocky, and covered with forests of fir, so dense that they entirely prevent the growth of grass.
    South of this range is the Valley of Rogue's River, having the same course with the Valley of the Umpqua, and being about twenty-five miles wide. Its general character is much like that of the Umpqua; but it is more level, has a soil of a rather better quality, and is also covered with good grass. On the north side, where the California trail crosses the valley, it is principally wooded; on the south, prairie. Immediately above, the proportion of prairie and timber is very good. Here,as in the Umpqua Valley, the timber is on the streams, and the prairies are between them. There is, in the valley, quite a considerable quantity of granite; but basaltic is the most prevalent rock. The valley appears to widen above; its length is not known. It is traversed by Rogue's River; a stream somewhat larger than the Umpqua, and not so rapid but that it might probably be made useful for transportation. Salmon ascend the river in great numbers; and so do they, indeed, most of the streams throughout the whole territory of Oregon. Water power is not wanting in the Valley of Rogue's River. A few miles below the California trail, the river appears to enter a canyon, and the mountains along the coast are high and rugged, so as to prevent advantageous communication with the seaboard. The Indians who inhabit this valley are numerous, and almost in a state of nature. They are of small stature, but well proportioned--slender, active, and sensible. They have never had any intercourse, of consequence, with the whites, and have, therefore, but few of the articles manufactured by a civilized people. From their extreme hostility and treachery, and from the great amount of damage they have done to the white man, they have been almost universally called the rascals. They seldom allow a company to pass without molestation. They attack from ambuscades made in defiles, chasms, and thickets. They have no firearms; their principal weapons being the bow and arrow. Their bows are made of the wood of the yew tree; short, and covered on the back with the sinews from the loins of the elk, which are fastened on with glue, and neatly and securely wrapped at the ends with the same material. Their arrows are feathered, and pointed with small, delicate, uniform and very sharp heads of flint. These arrows they shoot with great force and precision, They seldom have horses, and if they take or kill an animal in their attacks (which they endeavor to do as much as to take the lives of the men) they afterwards cook and eat it, making a great feast.
    South of the Rogue's River Valley is the Shasta Mountain, a single and almost bald and barren ridge. To the right of the California trail, it bears a little to the south, and interlocks with the mountains on the coast. The northern base is covered with timber; the summit and southern side, in many places, with large boulders of granite. The distance across is six miles. Going towards the south, the ascent is gradual--the descent rather steep; but a very good road might be made across, into the Klamath or Shasta Valley, which lies immediately south of the Shasta Mountain, and has nearly the same course with the valleys of the Umpqua and Rogue's River. This Valley of the Klamath is about thirty miles wide where the California trail crosses it. It decreases in width below, and increases above. It is traversed by the Klamath River; a stream still larger than Rogue's River, but full of rocks, rapids, and narrows; and passing through the mountains of the coast, it appears to run through a narrow canyon, affording no outlet from the valley to the Pacific. The soil of this valley is generally of a very inferior quality; but along the streams, and at the foot of the mountains, it is good. The rest is a kind of dry, light, dusty and sandy land, producing but little vegetation. The surface of the valley is generally quite level, and a large portion of it is open. There are a few scattering oaks in places through it, and some pine; but the timber is, principally, the fir growing along at the base, and on the sides of the mountains. The Klamath Indians are numerous, and quite hostile. Their character and condition is much the same as that of the rascals. This valley is situated near the parallel of 42 deg., and we are not certain whether it is in Oregon, or California.
    These southern valleys of Oregon, though in their present state of nature, so lonely, so wild, and so secluded; though they now threaten the travelers who pass, at intervals of years, with dangers from the rugged mountain path, the swollen torrent, and the savage arrow; though many a gloomy glen, and rocky gorge, and dark and tangled wood, which have been stained with conflict, or storied by some savage ambuscade, still stand to awaken terror in the passerby; yet, these valleys, notwithstanding their wildness and dangers, offer inducements (deadly to the fated native) for which, ere long, the stronger hand of the white man will beat back the present wild and implacable inhabitants, and make them the homes of civilization. Each of these valleys is probably of sufficient extent to make several large counties; and, but for their detached position, and their being so separated from the seaboard as they are, or appear to be, they would doubtless be the most desirable part of the Oregon Territory. The general fertility of the soil is favorable to the agriculturist; the richness of the grasses to the stock raiser; the vast beds and piles of stone, and the broad forests of the giant fir to the mechanic; while the unfailing abundance of water in the rivers and creeks, pouring over numerous falls and rapids, present inducements highly favorable to the manufacturer. Occupying a position between where the winter rains of Oregon, and the summer droughts of California, are occasionally severe; they possess a climate, which, mingling these two opposite evils, destroys them, and thus renders these secluded valleys, in this respect, the most desirable portion of these most desirable climes. But they are so much as nature made them, and so wild, that many portions of them have never been trodden by the foot of the white man; and it may be, when time, and the bold enterprise of our Western adventurers, shall develop more fully the character and resources of these mountain-wrapped solitudes, that there may be found a pass which nature has provided as a way for commerce through her barriers; and from the sides of the mountains, and from the bosom of the plains may be drawn additional materials to add to the necessaries and comforts of man, and to aid the march of civilization. It is possible that this portion of Oregon, will be acquired from the natives, in the same manner that portions of the United States have already been acquired--by force. And should it be so acquired, and when judgment comes upon the conqueror for conquest, there will be none upon whom it will fall more lightly; for there are no people who deserve more justly punishment for "all manner of wickedness," than the natives of the Rogue's River and Klamath valleys.
Overton Johnson and William H. Winter, Route Across the Rocky Mountains, Lafayette, Indiana, 1846, pages 44-48


Last revised July 8, 2025