G. S. Hillard, Life and Campaigns of George B. McClellan, Major-General , U. S. Army

[52] Hodges arrived from Steilacoom, bringing twenty-nine pack-horses loaded with provisions. Preparations were now made to move northward: thirty-two broken-down horses were sent back, under charge of three men, to the Dalles, and the command was reduced to thirty-six persons, with forty-two riding-animals and fifty-two pack-animals. They started on the 20th, and moved in a northeasterly direction. On the 9th of October they reached their most northerly camp, about thirteen miles south of the “Great Lake,” in latitude 49° 26‘. They then moved west to the Columbia River, which they crossed at Fort Colville. Thence they proceeded southerly across the Great Plain of the Columbia River, and arrived at Walla-Walla on the 7th of November, at Fort Dalles on the 15th. From Fort Dalles they went down by water to Fort Vancouver, which they reached on the 18th. An extract from a letter to his brother, dated November 28, may be here appropriately introduced:--

From that place [the Yakima valley] we crossed a rather high mountain-ridge (running nearly east and west), and struck the Columbia not far above Buckland's Rapids, and a little distance below the mouth of the Pischas. My journal written that night says, “Soon, descending a little, you arrive at the edge of the sudden, precipitous descent that borders the valley of the Columbia. Words can hardly convey, an idea of the view from this mountain. Somewhat to the north of west is a handsome snow peak, part of a long snow ridge. This has no name, and is probably seen by whites for the first time. To the north of that the Cascade Range is in full view, the main range coming directly to the Columbia, and crossing ”