The distance is five hundred miles; and in four days we sailed into the mouth of the Columbia River. The river is very wide and deep here, and the current is very strong; but we steamed up to where the Willamette empties in from the south, and then cast anchor and in boats sailed down to Portland, and to Salem, the capital of the state. The Willamette valley is a rich and beautiful country, and, I suppose, the greatest wheat-field on the continent. Much other grain is also raised. Low mountains hem the valley on either side, and the slopes are covered with the most beautiful large timber. Portland and Salem are both pretty cities; and though small now, the rich Willamette soil promises to make them large and active cities in the future. We now sailed back to the Columbia and up to Walla Walla, a little town on the Columbia shore in the eastern part of Washington Territory, where the Snake River brings in its waters. Here is also a beautiful, level, valley country, and settlers are rearing their cabins in every direction. Walla Walla has as glittering a prospect as any other upon the Pacific slope, though its day may be far in the future. We had seen heavy forests, but Washington Territory beats anything on this score that we ever saw. The very richest soil is covered with trees from three to six feet over, and standing so closely together that a ray of sunshine scarcely ever gets through the tangled branches. What has been cleared proves to be very productive; but, oh, my! the clearing. Why, it would take a man nearly a life-time to clear himself a farm; for even when the trees are felled and burned, the great rooty stumps are so thick that no farming can be done until they are grubbed and blasted out. This will necessarily be slow work; but I prophesy for this country a bright future. There are numbers of saw-mills buzzing in the forests, and much of the finest lumber is shipped down to the coast cities; but timber being also good all along the Pacific slopes, the lumber business is not very profitable. There are many of the straightest, smoothest, and tallest saplings here that were ever seen, and great numbers are cut down every year for ship-masts.