Crossing David Thompson's early days

 

Traveling to see family, we had a stop over for a few days in London. During a walk about I spotted this plaque noting that David Thompson had attended this school. Thompson followed the upper drainages of the Coulmbia River down to the Paficic Ocean. By every account I have read of him he was a very fine fellow. I am sure the school and the neighborhood has changed a bit since the late 1700s, but it was a pleasant surprise to walk another part of his life path.

I am enjoying the snow while away from home

A Stop at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument

When I lived in Colorado I ventured north from Colorado during a 5-day weekend with a scheme of visiting some of the places my father and grandmother told me about from a past family venture they had with my grandfather. One side adventure I wanted to make was a stop at Agate Fossil Beds National Monument (https://www.nps.gov/agfo/index.htm) in the Nebraska panhandle. 

My scheme of visiting the Monument got sidetracked. At a county road intersection well south of the Monument I saw someone pop up out of the grass by the side of the road waving a bit frantically. I stopped. The person I saw had fallen aslseep waiting for the rare car that passed by. He needed a ride to a town past the Monument. Given the lack of vehicles, I opted to pass by my planned turn off and took him into town. We went into the cafe where he bought me a burger and beer on the family tab and called home for a final lift. It was a well worthwhile 'good deed' that was a nice part of the trip. However, I did miss the trip to Agate.  

A fair bit of time has passed since that venture, but I always hoped to get another chance to see the Agate Fossil Beds Monument. Recently I had another chance. 

Heading west across the high plains of western Nebraska 

I did have some good luck in that the blizzard that had blown through the area a couple days before had not blocked my route. And the cattle were courteous and politely curious. 

The Monument landscape is high plains dissected by a river valley and associated small tributary streams that expose the Miocene age soft sediments protected by a cap of silcrete and limestone lake deposits. 

Silcrete and limestone cap above the Miocene sediments.

The fossils were found in fairly soft Miocene sediments. The fame of the site was the discovery of a bone yard of fossil bones in the late 1800s. That pile of bones has been interpreted to have been a watering hole with the idea of many animals dying at the watering hole during a bad drought. Subsequent fossil bone finds in the Monument have added to our understanding of life on the plains 22 million years ago. 

I took a hike through a small area of the Monument. No big bones exposed, but there are plenty of fossils. 

Miocene soil horizon just below the cap rock

Worm burrow casts and root casts in the soil 

Careful study of these soil horizons and small fossils tell a great deal about the setting. There is one burrow cast preserved on the trail that took a few years to figure out. 

Paleocastor burrow protected from erosion by a plexiglass box

Paleocastor was a dry land beaver

A collection of some of assembled skeletons from the fossils are on display at the visitor center. I am not a paleontologist. When I taught the paleo lab class I was a half a day ahead of the students at best. I have a deep appreciation of the field and the workers extracting information out of the fossils and the soils and rock the fossils are found in and passing that deep history to casual visitors to museums and in this case a National Monument.

There is another aspect of Agate Fossil Beds that was a delight and links back to my father and grandmothers stories from their travels. They visited the Red Cloud Agency on the Pine Ridge Reservation. That visit left a lasting impression that was passed down to me through their stories. Red Cloud was a friend of James Cook, the rancher that ranched in what is now the Monument.The friendship and exchanges between Cook and Red Cloud resulted in a family collection that the Cooks later gave to the park and are on display at the visitor center. 

Red Cloud's people had left a lasting impression on my family. Seeing the display and picture of Red Cloud and the display of Lakota culture solidified that family impression and the connection to Pine Ridge and the complex and at times tragic history of the area.     

Photograph of Red Cloud's bedroom

A Few Notes on Israel Russell

Over the past several months I have encountered Israel Russell on several occasions. Russell did some of the earliest work on trying to figure out some of the remarkable features of Washington State (Russell (1893), Russell (1897) and Russell (1900). He made a significant effort in his writing style to appeal to non geologist readers as well as the technical detail needed for his USGS reports. Russell is referenced several times in a book I recently read, The Great Columbia Plain A Historical Geography 1805-1910 by Donald Meinig. I crossed paths with Russel again when doing some research for work I was doing in the Yakima Canyon. 

1892 View of Yakima Canyon from Russell (1893)

The view is to the north with Rattlesnake Ridge on the distant right side (there is a trail up that ridge).

The railroad grade is on the west, left, side of the river. 

The picture predates the road that was later built on the east side.

I think the picture in the Russell (1893) report was taken from the basalt outcrop below the top edge of the canyon to the left of the tall pine.  
   

Russel (1893) also described the Toppenish Landslide (toppenish-ridge-landslide-near-mabton) as well as the Great Terrace along the Columbia River near Chelan. 

Skye Cooley provides an overview of Russell's 1893 paper on central Washington (i-s-russell-s-reconnaissance-of-central-washington-1893). Note that Skye Cooley also has some great stuff on calcrete in eastern Washington and a really detailed post on clastic dikes in eastern Washington that I find to be consistent with my own observations. Nick Zentner Ice Age Floods Episode D discusses Russell with Skye Cooley. 

And just a week ago In the Company of Plants and Rocks discussed another venture of Russell at Mono Craters (visiting-mono-craters-with-israel-russell). Russell also studied the Malaspina Glacier in Alaska - work that greatly informed his observations along the former ice margins in central Washington including glacial water stream channels south of Lake Chelan in Knapp Coulee. I use images of the Malaspina Glacier as a analog for the past glacial ice in northwest Washington.    

Bretz (1910) described large glacial lakes that formed in the Puget Sound area when glacial ice advanced into the western Washington lowlands from British Columbia stated that "It seems fitting that to this lake of Puget Sound, with outlet southward through Black Lake channel and with levels controlled by that channel, a name should be given in tribute to the work of a geologist to whom our knowledge of the physiography of western North America must always be deeply indebted. In memory of Israel Cook Russell may this water body be known as Lake Russell."

Former Giant Western Red Cedars above Lake Cavanaugh

I have had numerous ventures up the north slope of Frailey Mountain south of Lake Cavanaugh in Skagit County. The slopes are steep and streams on the mountain have had a history of debris flows; hence, I have had numerous ventures assessing the geology risks of the area. 

The forest on the lower sloes is predominantly western hemlock. It is one of the easier forest areas to walk through as there is very little understory brush as the hemlocks shade out just about everything. But amongst the hemlocks are big(!) hints of the past.   

Western red cedar stump amongst the western hemlocks 

Large cedar stump and if you look carefully an even bigger one back in the trees

The western hemlock forest is about 80 years old. The Lake Cavanaugh area was nearly devoid of trees by 1940. There is a small remnant patch of old trees on the steepest upper slopes that were either too hard to log or poor quality timber. 

1941 aerial view of area

The big stumps are a reminder that the forests we see today are not static. Given the age of the forests around Lake Cavanaugh area, there has been significant logging in the area the past few years. As noted in a previous post (HERE), the trees that were left are habitat for marbled murrlets and hence some of the forest is protected. And some of the slopes may be precluded from logging due to potential landslides and debris flow hazards. I say 'may' because that can be a geology judgement call clear cut logging has been permitted on active alluvial fan areas.     
 

The Two Hat Islands in Washington State

I visited Hat Island in Possession Sound west of Everett this week. The icy thick fog in the morning prevented a good picture of the island, but but I had a nice view from the island. 

View from a high bluff on Hat Island looking south to the Mukilteo Ferry and Whidbey Island coast

Just the week before I had a nice view of Hat Island in Padilla Bay east of Anacortes. 

Hat Island viewed from the west in Guemes Channel 

How can there be two Hat Islands in the same state?  

If one zooms in on the USGS National Map the Possession Sound Hat Island has two names.  

I have always thought of the island in Possession Sound as Hat Island. The community of homes and lots on the island is called Hat Island and the ferry (private) is the Hat Island Ferry. However, its official name on the USGS topographic map is Gedney Island. The name was given to the island by Wilkes following a common custom of the time of the random naming things for associates or friends that never came near the area. Waterman (2017) provides some background on Gedney and his role in the La Amistad case. Gedney's claims on the La Amistad and it cargo may explain why locals preferred using the name Hat Island. 

The Hat Island in Padilla Bay is a Washington State Natural Resource Conservation Area. Perhaps an official name change is in order for one or both of the Hats.      

Former Placer Mining on the Columbia River

A gold rush in the Cariboo District of British Columbia resulted in an influx of miners passing through Washington Territory in the late 1850s and 1860s. Some of the miners traveling along the Columbia and Okanogan River took to placer mining at the gravel bars along the rivers. Splawn (1917) described 50 miners working the gravel bar at the south side of the Columbia River at the confluence with the Okanogan River in the early 1860s. Much of the placer mining working river bars on the Columbia River was undertaken by Chinese miners.  

Much of those placer mine workings have been submerged as the result of dams on the Columbia River. During a recent project I came across some old trenches on a terrace above the Columbia River well upstream of the Okanogan-Columbia confluence. The 1860s and 1870s placer mines were not documented operations and the archeological record is a bit thin.

I took a look at lidar bare earth imagery and found two obvious placer mine sites -- both partially submerged on gravel bars along the river between Grande Coulee Dam and Chief Joseph Dam.    

The Chinese operated placer miners primarily operated in the 1860s through the 1870s (Evenson, 2016). There are references to troubles with First Nations with one description of a massacre of the miners south of Chelan. Some of the placer sites were further worked in the early 1900s and I suspect that was the case at the two sites shown above. 

Reference:

Evenson, Lindsey M., "Pre-1900s Chinese placer mining in northeastern Washington State: an archaeological investigation" (2016). EWU Masters Thesis Collection. 358.   

Splawn, A.J., "Ka-Mi-Akin, the Last Hero of the Yakimas", (1917)

Keller Ferry

A bit of Washington State trivia: What was the first ferry route run by Washington State? 

The Keller Ferry route across the Columbia River was taken over by the State in 1930 (wsdot.wa.gov/ferries-keller-ferry) and is still opperated by the State of Washington. The ferry connects Highway 21 across the Columbia (now Lake Roosevelt) at the junction with the Sanpoil River.  

Ferry landing on the north side

A ferry has operated at or very near this site since at least 1890 (https://www.historylink.org/File/11072). In the early days the crossing was classic cable system that used the powerful flow of the river to drive the boat attached to a cable across the river.

Keller Ferry prior to Grand Coulee Dam

The dock on the south side

Looking north across Lake Roosevelt

The ferry is free. As noted in the History Link, the ferry began operation as a free ferry in 1930 due to a restriction on federal funds for the overall improvement of the highway. The ferry also runs 'on demand'. If you pull up to the landing the boat captain will proceed over to pick you up. 

Highway 21 is not a heavy traffic route, particularly in winter like the day of my crossing. Further, the road up from the Columbia River to the high plains to the south is a steep 1,100 foot climb with hairpin turns. However, this route in the late 1800s and early 1900s was good way to get into the mining districts of the Okanogan Highlands and was also a route to move sheep mostly from the drier plains to the south across the river to the moist high summer meadows in the mountains of the Okanogan Highlands.   

Plane Notes: A Few Infrastructure Observations

Aerial views are part of my routine 'tool box' as a geologist. I use aerial photographs on a nearly daily basis for multiple reasons. Other aerial imagery is utilized as well - lidar, infrared and sometimes radar imagery. I enjoy this type of work and a there is a sense of discovery when viewing aerials. 

I had previously seen the below feature when reviewing historic aerials for a project, and hence, when I got a view of it while flying out of Seattle knew exactly what it was. 

Cedar Hills Landfill

The Cedar Hills Landfill serves King County. 

While I do like to see the geology observable while flying, the human infrastructure also stands out. Some infrastructure has far reaching influence.  

From right to left: Keechelus, Kaches, Cle Elum

Interstate 90 traverses along the left side of Keechelus

The Snoqulamie Pass ski areas are visible in the lower right 

The three lakes are all part of the Yakima River watershed. There were natural lakes at all three locations associated with past ice age alpine glaciers that left depressions and moraines in the three valleys. Dams were erected at the outlets of all three to raise the water storage which is then metered out through the summer growing season in the Yakima Valley below. The dams should not be considered static features - they require ongoing maintenance and at times repair. All three dams are Federal dams managed and operated by the Bureau of Reclamation.    

The western side of the Quincy Basin with the Columbia River to the right

The rocky ground with lakes are former spill ways from the large ice-age floods (quincy-basin-plumbing). The Quincy Basin is a major agricultural area in central Washington with irrigation water supplied via water routed from the Grand Coulee Dam through the former routes of the ice-age floods. On the upper part of the picture an additional flood spill way can be seen plus a whiteish area. The upper whiteish area is a site of a diatomite mine. The ice-age floods plucked off enough basalt to expose old lake deposits containing diatoms that are now mined.  

 

Moses Lake and Potholes Reservoir to the north

The east end of the Quincy Basin is drained through another ice-age flood route. Moses Lake is a natural lake formed in the deep flood water channels. Its depth and extent was slightly expanded by a small dam work at the outlet in 1911. Potholes Reservoir is formed by O'Sullivan Dam. The lakes receive natural water flow via Crab Creek, but the bulk of the water passing through now is via the water pumped into the upstream ice-age flood route of Grande Coulee and then routed via other reservoirs and canals to the Quincy Basin.    

Potholes Reservoir

Potholes Reservoir is a critical junction in the Columbia Basin project. Water from this area is routed to project irrigation lands around Basin City (upper left in the picture), the Crab Creek valley (above the lake in the picture) and the Wahluke Slope (dark area above the Crab Creek area and separated from Crab Creek by the ridge of the Saddle Mountains).

The lower Snake River

The lower Snake River is an area where infrastructure has generated some controversy. The lower Snake in Washington State has four dams that were the last of the big dams on Columbia-Snake system. These dams have led to the extinction of some salmon species and endangerment of additional salmon species. There is some irrigation near the lower Snake River. The big fields on the left are dry land wheat, but nearer the river above Ice Harbor Dam pumps in the backed up river and in wells near the river supply water to irrigated land. Part of the conflict over the lower Snake dams revolves around these irrigated lands --- if the dams are removed the irrigation works will need to be altered and water pumping costs may increase. 

Lower Snake River passing through the Palouse 

Most of the area along the lower Snake in Washington is not irrigated farm land as the river is a in a narrow steep rocky canyon for much of this river reach. The above image shows the slack water backed up by Lower Monumental Dam. The wide tributary is the Palouse River also backed up by the dam. The tributary on the left is the Tucannon River which drains out of the north side of the Blue Mountains.

The high Palouse and Blue Mountains

The further east position and higher elevation means wetter areas. In June the eastern Palouse and the Blue Mountains are very green landscapes. here the moisture levels are high enough that dry land winter wheat can be grown every year versus the every other year pattern in the areas to the west and at lower elevations. That switch over line can be seen on the right portion of the picture. 

If you blow up the picture above or better the one below another newer infrastructure feature can be observed. 

Rows of wind turbins line the upper ridges of the high Palouse in this area

One last infrastructure note beyond Washington Sate's borders: 

Surface mines along mountain ridges in southeast Idaho. 

Bear lake in northwest Utah is in the distance

Extensive open pit surface mining has been taking place in southeast Idaho over the past 50 plus years. The mines are phosphate mines. Some of that phosphate may end up shipped to Washington farm lands as a critical fertilizer. This particular mine is a JR Simplot Smoky Canyon Mine. The phosphate ore is mixed with water and pumped via pipeline for processing in Pocatello, ID. This was the best view I have had of the scale of the phosphate mining in this area. Its impressive on the ground, but more so from the air.   

From the Columbia River to The Fraser River in 1824 - John Work

I roughed in the route of a 1824 Hudson Bay Company expedition from Fort George, the former Fort Astoria trading post, to what was later to become Fort Langley via Journal of John Work, November and December, 1824 via T.C. Elliot, 1912. 

Part of the scheme was to find the location of a trading center fort on the Fraser River that could receive export goods (furs) from the interior of western North American. Hudson Bay Company (HBC) was already concerned that the lower Columbia would end up in American possession. In part because Fort George was originally an American establishment. In addition, at that time navigation from the sea to the lower Fraser was far superior to the harrowing crossing of the entrance to the Columbia. However, while the Fraser River was a better sea access point, the Fraser River was not a good river transit route.  While a fort ultimately was built, Fort Langley, the Fraser proved to be an impossible navigation route from the interior.

The journal is a window to a different time, and for that matter a different place. I have been fascinated by the diversity of the people and interactions that took place in the brief period from 1790 to 1825. The assembled team for the venture clearly had a pretty good idea of the route they should take. The team included several Hawaiians (Islanders) as well as an Iroquois hunter and his slave.   

Note the time of year they traveled, November-December. While it does rain in November and December in western Washington, the outer coast and the southwest part of the state gets 'heavy rain', a term that Mr. Work used in his journal of his venture (correct spelling of his name was Wark). This was a hardy group. I contemplate how I would have performed portaging across wet ground and along shorelines, rowing for many miles, and camping in the rain, the heavy rain.   

Skagit City

I got a bit away from posting over the past three months -- busy and too easily distracted.

Reviewing maps along a portion of the Skagit River, I noted a place label called Skagit City.

Mount Vernon Quadrangle map

Skagit City 1890 (via Skagit River Journal)

Skagit City faded away after large log jams were removed from the river upstream at what is now Mount Vernon.

Approaching Skagit City. The main part of the town would have been to the right where the high flood levee embankment.

Once the jams were removed at what is now Mount Vernon boat access was extended up river and thus reduced the attraction of the town site. Further decline took place with the coming of rail. And the location of the town on the delta of a large river subject to very large floods likely did not help either. All that remains is a reference on the topographic maps.

Nice write ups at the excellent skagit river journal.com, a regular go to source of information.

Roosevelt Elk Shaped Land Use Policy on Olympic Peninsula

On a trip up the Hoh River valley to examine a potential large deep-seated landslide I got to take in the elk herd that occupies the valley.

This herd was one of two I observed just west of and outside of Olympic National Park. The herd is one of the few "unmanaged" elk herds. The elk on the Olympic Peninsula are on the large side compared to other elk. These elk played a significant role in the land management history of the Olympic Peninsula. 

C. Hart Merriam, head of the USDA Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy named the Olympic elk (Cervus canadensis Roosevelti). The name was in part to honor then Assistant Naval Secretary Theodore Roosevelt (theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Research/Digital-Library). Merriam recalled the detail which Roosevelt pointed out regarding an specimen.

Theodore Roosevelt was an avid hunter and conservationist. As a hunter he became interested in protecting his name sake elk and attempted to create a reserve for the elk in the Olympics, but was blocked by Congress. He later used the Antiquities Act in 1909 to create Mount Olympus National Monument.

Three decades later Franklin Roosevelt pushed for the creation of Olympic National Park further protecting the elk range.      

The Former Celilo Falls

A pull out on Highway 14 on the north side of the Columbia River about half way between the intersection with Highway 97 to the east and Highway 197 to the west provides a view of the Columbia River where Celilo Falls once roared.   

View of the former Celilo Falls and the town of Wishram

Celilo Falls was an important fishing site for thousands of years. The falls allowed for catching salmon that passed up the Columbia River.  

1947 aerial view of Celilo Falls

Note the railroad bridge across the lower part of the falls and the canal for barge traffic on the south side of the river. The bedrock forming the falls provided means of spanning the river with a railroad bridge and the rail crossing is still in place. The town of Wishram still serves as a rail hub for trains heading up and down the Columbia River Gorge through the Csacde Range to the west. The Deschutes River just upstream also provided a rail route out of the gorge to south. 

During high water flows in the summer, the falls became rapids

Fishing at the falls - note also the fish wheel in the background

The falls and rapids also presented an early navigation. Canoes and small barges were either portaged around the falls or pulled by lines up the river or lowered by ropes down the river. A canal with locks was constructed to allow safe reliable passage around the falls by large barges. The canals were used until the river was dammed at The Dalles and the falls disappeared under the backed up water.
 

1955 aerial view of the The Dalles Dam under construction.

The Dalles Dam

The once great fishery tradition at the falls and along the rapids at The Dalles was greatly disrupted. Other dams on the Columbia and its tributaries both before and after The Dalles Dam construction have also greatly altered a way of life and an important food source at this location.