There is a quaint Indian legend concerning the Cascades to the effect that away back in the forgotten times there was a natural bridge across the river—­the water flowing under one arch.  The Great Spirit had made this bridge very beautiful for his red children; it was firm, solid earth, and covered with trees and grass.  The two great giants who sat always glowering at each other from far away (Mount Adams and Mount Hood) quarreled terribly once on a time, and the sky grew black with their smoke and the earth trembled with their roaring.  And in their rage and fury they began to throw great stones and huge mountain boulders at one another.  This great battle lasted for days, and when the smoke and the thunderings had passed away and the sun shone peacefully again, the people came back once more.  But there was no bridge there.  Pieces of rock made small islands above the lost bridge, but below that the river fretted and shouted and plunged over jagged and twisted boulders for miles down the stream, throwing the spray high in air, madly spending its strength in treacherous whirlpools and deep seductive currents—­ever after to be wrathful, complaining, dangerous.  The stoutest warrior could not live in that terrible torrent.  So the beautiful bridge was lost, destroyed in this Titan battle, but far down in the water could be seen many of the stately trees which the Great Spirit caused to remain there as a token of the bridge.  These he turned to stone, and they are there even unto this day.  The theory of the scientists, of course, runs counter to the pretty legend.  Science usually does destroy poetry, and they tell us that a part of the mountain slid into the river, thus accounting for the remnant of a forest down in the deep water.  Moreover, pieces which have been recovered show the wood to be live timber, and not petrified, as the poetic fiction has it.  The Columbia has not changed in the centuries, but flows in the same channel here as when in the remote ages the lava, overflowing, cut out a course and left its pathway clear for all time.  Below the lower Cascades a sea-coral formation is found, grayish in color and not very pretty, but showing conclusively its sea formation.  Sandstone is also at times uncovered, showing that this was made by sea deposit before the lava flowed down upon it.  This Oregon country is said to be the largest lava district in the world.  The basaltic formations in the volcanic lands of Sicily and Italy are famous for their richness, and Oregon holds out the same promise for agriculture.  The lava formation runs from Portland to Spokane Falls, as far north as Tacoma, and south as far as Snake river—­all basaltic formation overlaid with an incomparably rich soil.

[Illustration:  Bridal veil falls, Columbia river, ore.  On the Union Pacific Ry.]