The Volcanoes of Lewis and ClarkMarch 31, 1806
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-- The Volcanoes of Lewis and Clark Map of the Journey -- Volcanoes, Basalt Plateaus, Major Rivers, etc. CALENDAR of the Journey -- October 1805 to June 1806 Along the Journey -- Pacific Northwest Maps - Columbia River, Volcanoes, Flood Basalts, Missoula Floods, Geology, etc. The Corps of Discovery -- The Journey of Lewis and Clark About the Reference Materials -- The Journals, Biddle/Allen, DeVoto, Gass, Moulton, Topo Maps, and others USGS Lewis and Clark Links -- Links to USGS Websites highlighting the Lewis and Clark Journey Resources Publications Referenced and Websites Visited |
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March 30 Vancouver, Washington, Ridgefield NWR to Ryan Point |
March 31
On the Banks of the Columbia, Ryan Point to Cottonwood Beach Camp Ryan Point, Puget Trough and Willamette Valley, Willamette River, Boring Lava Field, Portland International Airport, Government Island, Government Island State Recreation Area, Interstate-205 Bridge, Lady Island, Cottonwood Beach, Sandy River, Sandy River Delta, Lewis & Clark State Recreation Area, Washougal River, Mount Hood |
CONTINUE
April 1-2 On the Banks of the Columbia, Cottonwood Beach Camp and the Sandy River |
| On October 7, 1805, Lewis and Clark and the "Corps of Discovery" began their journey down the Clearwater River and into the volcanics of the Pacific Northwest. The Corps travelled from the Clearwater to the Snake and down the "Great Columbia", finally reaching the Pacific Ocean on November 15, 1805. Along the journey they encountered the lava flows of the Columbia Plateau, river channels carved by the great "Missoula Floods", and the awesome beauty of five Cascade Range volcanoes. |
| The Volcanoes of Lewis and Clark |
| Heading for Home - March 1806 |
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On the Banks of the Columbia Ryan Point to Cottonwood Beach Camp |
| Lewis and Clark's camp of March 30, 1806, was at Ryan Point, Vancouver, Washington. |
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Ryan Point:
Along the Columbia River 1.4 miles east-southeast of the Interstate-5 highway bridge (just south and upstream of Vancouver's Pearson Air Park), lies Vancouver's most obscure major historical site -- Ryan Point. There's no sign today among the tugboats and cranes to show that Lewis and Clark landed at the point 195 years ago, or that the explorers hunkered down for the night with 30 companions 500 yards northwest of the point on March 30, 1806. Ryan Point is behind Building 33, a huge warehouse in Columbia Business Center. At 2.4 million square feet, the center is one of the largest industrial parks in the Vancouver-Portland area. Lewis and Clark's 1806 campsite near Ryan Point, at present-day Columbia River Drive and Columbia Shores Boulevard, is out of sight. It's covered with condominiums. -- NOAA Office of Coast Survey Website, 2003, and "The Columbian" Website, 2002, Lewis and Clark Bicentennial |
| We set out very early, and at eight o'clock landed on the north side of the river [Washington State] and breakfasted. [Lewis and Clark are within the Willamette Valley/Puget Lowland] |
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Puget Trough and Willamette Valley:
Puget Trough and Willamette Valley: The Puget-Willamette Lowlands extend from the United States-Canadian border south to Eugene, Oregon, between the Coast Ranges and the Cascade Mountains. The climate is subhumid to humid. The northern part is a flat glacial plain interrupted by the complex bays and inlets of Puget Sound. The southern part of the lowlands consists of alluvial valleys along the Cowlitz, Columbia, and Willamette Rivers. Most of Oregon's population, technology and agricultural centers, and important transportion, power, and communications lifelines are located in the Willamette Valley of western Oregon. The lowlands of the Willamette Valley extend about 75 miles along the Willamette River and contain the major cities of Portland, Salem, Corvallis, and Eugene. The valley is part of the Willamette River drainage basin, which covers 12,300 square miles between the crest of the Oregon Coast Range on the west and the Cascade Range to the east. -- Radbruch-Hall, et.al., 1982, USGS Professional Paper 1183, and Givler and Wells, 2001 Geology of the Willamette Valley: The Willamette valley consists of four sub-basins: the southern and northern Willamette basins, the Tualatin basin, and the Portland basin. The Waldo Hills separate the southern Willamette basin from the northern basin, and the Chehalem Mountains separate the northern basin from the Tualatin Basin. Northeast of the Tualatin basin, the Tualatin Mountains form the divide with the Portland Basin. The Willamette Valley lies within a fore-arc basin between the Cascade Volcanic Arc and the Coast Ranges that may have originated in early Tertiary time. Some of the sub-basins have accumulated several hundred meters of sediment in late Cenozoic time. The northern basins also contain lavas of the Miocene Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG). Flows of the CRBG entered the valley approximately 16 million years ago through a low in the Cascade Range and spread into the Portland and northern Willamette basins. The Tualatin Mountains, Chehalem Mountains, Waldo Hills, and Salem Hills are largely composed of CRBG flows that dip inward toward the basin centers. Approximately 3.0 million to 260,000 years ago, the Boring Lavas were erupted from several vents throughout the northern Willamette, Portland, and Tualatin basins. Boring Lavas capped the Oregon City plateau and created many of the prominent small cone-shaped hills and mountains southeast of downtown Portland. Between 15,000 and 12,700 years ago catastrophic floods from glacial Lake Missoula inundated the majority of the Willamette Valley. These floods reached up to 120 meters above sea level covering the valley with up to 35 meters of sediment and depositing ice-rafted boulders foreign to the Willamette Valley as far south as Eugene, Oregon. -- Gannett and Caldwell 
Boring Lava Field:
Boring Lava Field: Metropolitan Portland, Oregon, and an area east of Vancouver, Washington, includes most of a Plio-Pleistocene volcanic field. Approximately 3.0 to 0.26 million years ago, the lavas were erupted from several vents throughout the northern Willamette, Portland, and Tualatin basins. The Boring Lava includes at least 32 and possibly 50 cinder cones and small shield volcanoes lying within a radius of 13 miles of Kelly Butte. Kelly Butte is 62 miles west of Mount Hood and the High Cascade axis, and 4 miles east of downtown Portland, Oregon. Boring lava vents have been inactive for at least 300,000 years. -- Allen, 1990, and Givler and Wells, 2001 |
| Directly opposite is a large wooden house, belonging to the Shahala nation, [location near today's Portland International Airport, Portland, Oregon] the inhabitants of which came over to see us. We had observed in descending the river last year [November 4, 1805], that there were at the same place, twenty-four other houses built of wood and covered with straw, all of which are now destroyed: on inquiry the Indians informed us, that their relations whom we saw last fall, usually visit them at that season for the purpose of hunting deer and elk, and collecting wappatoo, but that they had lately returned to their permanent residence at the Rapids, we presume in order to prepare for the salmon season, as that fish will soon begin to run. |
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Portland International Airport:
Visited twice by the Corps, this former site of a Neerchokioo village was a temporary Shahala Indian residence for gathering wapato (potato-like water root) and is now under the airport parking structure. 10 miles east of downtown Portland, Oregon. -- Lewis and Clark Bicentennial in Oregon Website, 2002 |
| At ten o'clock we resumed our route along the north side of the river, and having passed Diamond island [Government Island], |
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Government Island:
Government Island: Government, Lemon and McGuire Islands are located in the Columbia River northeast of Portland International Airport between River Mile 111.5 and River Mile 119. The island complex, consists of approximately 2,200 acres. On November 3, 1805, Lewis and Clark called the island "Diamond Island", because of its shape. The Lewis and Clark maps indicate that what is now known as "Government Island" was then divided into two large islands, besides smaller ones, and it was the upper of the two larger islands that was named "Diamond". The lower island was not named in the text, but the maps show it and another islet to the west as "White Goose Island". This western islet is probably the "Lemon Island" of today. The two larger islands are now consolidated, though part of the dividing channel still exists. At the time of Lewis and Clark the western of the two larger islands was nearly consolidated with the islet to the west. In February, 1850, the government reserved this island for military purposes, and raised hay on it. It was then called "Miller's Island". The name, "Government Island", came into use after government occupation. [See entry of November 3, 1805 for more History of Government Island] -- McArthur, 1982, Oregon Geographic Names, and Port of Portland Website, 2002 Government Island State Recreation Area: Access to Government Island is by boat only. There are two docks and a floating tie-up on the north side of the island. With 15 miles of shoreline and a free primitive campground, the park is popular with anglers. The interior of the island is still used as a cattle ranch and also contains protected natural areas. Entry to the interior is prohibited. -- Oregon State Parks and Recreation Website, 2003 Interstate-205 Bridge: In 1982, the Interstate-205 Bridge was completed, spanning the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon, to Vancouver, Washington. Part of the bridge crosses Government Island. |
| and Whitebrant island [Lady Island], |
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Lady Island:
Lady Island: "White Brant Isld" on the route map and "Fowls I" on the draft map provide another example of the process by which the captains assigned names to geographical features. Names were suggested and sometimes a more appropriate name was selected for the final designation. Lewis, in 1806, decided that "white brant" was more appropriate, identifying the island with the lesser snow goose. In 1792 Broughton had named the island "Johnstone Island," but the captains did not have this information. The present name is for Joseph Lady, who in 1853 had a land claim on the island. Today Lady Island is part of the Camas Mill, a pulp and paper manufacturing complex that is bound on three sides by the City of Camas, Washington. A little over a quarter of the mill site lies north of the Camas Slough (an arm of the Columbia River that connects to the Washougal River). The rest of the mill resides on Lady Island which is situated directly south of the slough and fronts the Columbia River. The wastewater treament system and a solid waste landfill are located on Lady Island. -- Washington State Historical Society Website, 2002, and Washington State Department of Ecology Website, 2003 |
| halted for the night at the lower point of a handsome prairie [near Cottonwood Beach, Washougal, Washington]. |
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Cottonwood Beach:
Cottonwood Beach: Between March 31 and April 6, 1806 the Corps of Discovery camped near present day Cottonwood Beach in Washougal. From this campsite, William Clark also led a group of men back down the Columbia to discover the Willamette River, which they had missed on both their outward and return voyages. Presently, the cities of Washougal and Camas, Port of Camas/Washougal, and the Clark County Parks Department, are collaborating on creating a regional park at this location and it has been named Capt. William Clark Park at Cottonwood Beach. -- City of Washougal, Washington, Website, 2002 |
| Our camp which is twenty-five miles from that of last night [Ryan Point, Vancouver, Washington], is situated opposite to the upper entrance of Quicksand river: [Sandy River] |
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Sandy River:
Sandy River: The Sandy Basin is located in the mid-eastern section of the Lower Columbia Ecological Province, within Multnomah and Clackamas Counties in Oregon. It drains an area of about 508 square miles (330,000 acres). The Sandy River and many of its tributaries originate high on the slopes of Mount Hood. The Sandy River flows about 56 miles in a northwesterly direction and joins the Columbia River near Troutdale at Columbia River mile (RM) 120.5. The Sandy River Basin is comprised of several watersheds, many of which are uniquely distinct in terms of hydrology and geomorphology. Principal tributaries include the ZigZag River, Still Creek and Salmon River in the upper basin, and the Bull Run River, Little Sandy River, Gordon Creek, Cedar Creek and Beaver Creek in the lower basin. Many other smaller tributaries located throughout the basin contribute significantly to stream flows, and provide habitat for a wide array of fish and wildlife assemblages. -- Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority Website, 2003 The Sandy River in 1805: In 1805, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark named a river on the south side of the Columbia River gorge the "Quicksand River." Their description of a wide, shallow river with a bed "formed entirely of quicksand," bears little resemblance to the narrow, moderately deep river we call today the Sandy River. What happened? The answer lay 50 miles away at Mount Hood. An eruption in the 1790's caused a tremendous amount of volcanic rock and sand to enter the Sandy River drainage. That sediment was still being flushed downstream when Lewis and Clark saw and named the river. Since 1806, the river has removed the excess sediment from its channel. The Toutle River in southwest Washington was similarly affected by the 1980 eruptions of Mount St. Helens. -- Gardner, et.al., 2000 Sandy River Delta: Where the Sandy and Columbia Rivers merge, sediments have deposited over the millennia to form a large delta. This is called the Sandy River Delta and covers approximately 1,400 acres. This land tract was designated a Special Management Area in the 1986 legislature, was purchased by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in 1991, and is part of the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Area. The Sandy River Delta was acquired to protect and enhance the natural resource values of the site, particularly the floodplain character and associated wetlands and to provide for compatible recreation uses. The mouth of the Sandy River is typically shallow and underlain almost entirely with sand and other fine sediments. It is unknown how this shallow condition affects fish passage from the Columbia River into the Sandy, especially in summer and early fall. However, the mouth has some tidal influence and flows from the Sandy are usually adequate for fish passage, even during summer when water levels drop. -- Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority Website, 2003 
River Drainages of Mount Hood:
Lewis and Clark State Park: Located at the western gateway of the Columbia River Gorge, Lewis and Clark State Park (Lewis and Clark State Recreation Area) honors its legendary namesakes who camped and explored here in November, 1805 and March/April 1806. The park is situated near the mouth of the Sandy River where it spills into the mighty Columbia River and at one of the entrances to the Historic Columbia River Highway. One of the most popular swimming spots on the Sandy River is adjacent to the park, as well as a public boat launch. A trail climbs the cliffs to Broughton's Bluff, which serves as a geologic boundary between the foothills of the Cascade Mountain Range and the neighboring Willamette Valley to the west. The park has interpretive signs and botanical trail. -- Lewis and Clark Bicentennial in Oregon Website, 2002, and Oregon State Parks and Recreation Website, 2002 |
| a little below a stream from the north empties itself into the Columbia [Washougal River], near the head of Whitebrant island [Lady Island] It is about eighty yards wide, and at present discharges a large body of very clear water, which near the Columbia overflows its low banks, and forms several large ponds. The natives inform us that this river is of no great extent, and rises in the mountains near us, and that at a mile from its mouth it is divided into two nearly equal branches, both of which are incapable of being navigated, on account of their numerous falls and rapids. Not being able to learn any Indian name, we called it Seal river [Washougal River], from the abundance of those animals near its mouth. At the same place we saw a summer duck, or a wood duck, as it is sometimes called; it is the same with those of the United States, and the first we had seen since entering the Rocky mountains last summer. The hunters who had been obliged to halt below Seal river [Washougal River] on account of the waves being too high for their small canoe, returned after dark with the unwelcome news that game was scarce in that quarter. |
| " ... The three Indians encamped near us and visited our fire we entered into a kind of a Conversation by signs, of the Country and Situation of the rivers. they informed us that Seal river headed in the mountains at no great distance. quick Sand river was Short only headed in Mt. Hood which is in view and to which he pointed. this is a circumstance we did not expect as we had heretofore deemed a comsiderable river. ..." [Clark, March 31, 1806] |
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Washougal River:
Washougal River: The Washougal River is located in southwest Washington, originating in Skamania county and flowing southwesterly into Clark County, joining the Columbia River at River Mile (RM) 121 at the town of Camas. The Washougal and Salmon Creek watersheds to the west encompasses approximately 240 square miles. This region lies in a geographical area known as the Willamette-Puget Trough, formed by the Cascade and Pacific Coast Mountain ranges. The towns of Camas and Washougal are located on the short confined floodplain at the mouth of the river. -- Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority Website, 2003 Geology of the Washougal River Basin: To the north and east of Washougal, the older rocks belong to several geologic formations, including the Skamania Volcanics and the Columbia River basalt group. West of Washougal, a thick sequence of sediments, deposited during the Miocene through the Pleistocene epochs, fills a structural basin formed during faulting and downwarping of the older rocks. These sediments belong to several geologic formations, including the Sandy River mudstone and the Troutdale Formation, both of Eocene age. During the late Pleistocene time, large quantities of sediments were deposited over the Troutdale Formation. These sediments consist of basaltic boulders and cobbles with a gravel and sand matrix and were deposited throughout most of the study area north and east of Washougal during repeated catastrophic floods of the Columbia River. The flood deposits generally are coarsest near the present channel of the Columbia River, then grade into finer-grained facies of stratified sand, silt, and clay to the Northwest. Holocene age alluvium occurs along the floodplains of the Columbia River and its major tributaries. Columbia River alluvium consists largely of sand and silt, while alluvium of its major tributaries consists chiefly of cobbles and gravel. -- Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority Website, 2003 Troutdale Formation: Weakly consolidated nonmarine sedimentary rocks that unconformably overlie the Skamania Volcanics are referred to the Troutdale Formation, earlier included in the Satsop Formation of Bretz (1917). Hodge (1938) considered the Troutdale Formation to be a great piedmont fan on the west side of the Cascade Range. He thought the formation was probably of early Pleistocene age. Later authors established ages of Pliocene and Miocene for rocks that were called Troutdale Formation, and established that part of the unit was deposited by an ancestral Columbia River while other parts are more locally derived from the Cascade Range (Trimble, 1963; Tolan and Beeson, 1984). Current research suggests that some rocks assigned to the Troutdale Formation may range up into the Pleistocene. -- Howard, 2002 Washougal River History: Recorded history of the Washougal area begins Oct. 29, 1792, when Lt. William Robert Broughton, who had sailed up the Columbia by order of Capt. George Vancouver, planted the flag of Great Britain on the shore just east of the city. Broughton came as far as present day Washougal and landed near the east end of Reed Island. He named Mount Hood after a British admiral and Point Vancouver after his commanding officer. Broughton incorrectly assumed the head waters of the Columbia originated from Mount Hood. In reality, the river originates some 1,000 miles to the north and east in Canada, but it would be 18 years later before the entire river was charted by another famed British explorer named David Thompson. In the fall of 1805, Lewis and Clark camped near the mouth of the Washougal (They named it the Seal river for the large number of these marine animals observed there). The name Washougal, believed to mean small rocks or gravel, first appeared in 1811. Three young explorers from Astoria made a trip upriver to the Cascades and camped at the Washougal River. One of them, Alexander Ross, wrote in his journal that they had passed Johnston's (now Lady) Island and stayed the night at "Washougally Camp." -- "The Columbian" Website, 2002, Clark County History, and City of Washougal Website, 2002 |
| " ... Mount Hood bears East from this place and is distant from this place about 40 miles. ..." [Clark, March 31, 1806] |
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Mount Hood:
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The Camp - March 31 through April 5, 1806:
Cottonwood Beach, Washougal, Washington. [See more about Cottonwood Beach Camp above] |
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