The Volcanoes of Lewis and ClarkOctober 11, 1805
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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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October 10 Reaching the Snake, Clearwater Confluence with the Snake River |
October 11
On the Snake, Clearwater Confluence to Almota Creek Clearwater River, Snake River, Alpowa Creek, Chief Timothy State Park, Lower Granite Dam, Almota Creek |
CONTINUE
October 12 On the Snake, Almota Creek to Texas Rapids |
| 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 |
| To the Pacific - October 1805 |
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On the Snake River Clearwater Confluence to Almota Creek |
| Lewis and Clark are beginning their trip down the Snake River. Their camp of October 10, 1805, was at the confluence of the Snake River with the Clearwater River, the site of today's Lewiston, Idaho, and Clarkston, Washington. |
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Confluence Clearwater and Snake Rivers:
Confluence Overlook, Nez Perce National Historical Park: Confluence Overlook is interpreted at a highway pullout over looking the confluence and valleys of the Snake and Clearwater Rivers. The pullout is about 8 miles north of Lewiston, Idaho, on the Lewiston Grade of U.S. Highway 95. The scene is dominated by a rolling grassy foreground that slopes steeply down to the Clearwater River, more than a thousand feet below. A sense of the confluence area and the scale of the surrounding uplands -- part of the Nez Perce homeland -- can be gained from this vantage point. -- U.S. National Park Service Website, Nez Perce National Historical Park, 2002 Lewiston, Idaho, and Clarkston, Washington: Lewiston is not only a gateway to Hells Canyon, but Lewiston also is a seaport that leads to the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean. Together with its sister-city of Clarkston, Washington, the city was named for the explorers Lewis and Clark. -- Visit Idaho Website, 2002 
Snake River:
Snake River: The Snake River originates in Yellowstone National Park at 9,500 feet and winds through southern Idaho before turning north to form the boundary between Idaho and Oregon. It finally joins the Columbia River near Pasco, Washington, at 340 feet in elevation, 1,036 miles from its source. How did it get its name? To identify themselves, Indians living along the river in southern Idaho used a hand sign that resembled the movement of a snake. Although it didn't mean "Snake", that name was given to this group of people, now known as Shoshone. The river flowing through the Snake Indian lands was given the tribal name. Lewis and Clark traveled through this area on their journey to find an inland waterway to the Pacific. Many miles upriver from Hells Gate State Park, the Snake River winds through Hells Canyon, one of the deepest gorges in North America. This wild and spectacular area is best visited by boat; there are no roads leading through the canyon. Old homesteads, long-forgotten prospector cabins, and Native American petroglyphs offer a fascinating human story in the midst of the spectacular scenery. -- U.S. National Park Service, Wild and Scenic Rivers Website, 2002, and Idaho State Parks and Recreation Website, 2002 
Clearwater River:
Clearwater River: The Clearwater River drains approximately a 9,645 square mile area. The subbasin extends approximately 100 miles north to south and 120 miles east to west. There are four major tributaries that drain into the mainstem Clearwater River: the Lochsa, Selway, South Fork Clearwater, and North Fork Clearwater Rivers. The Clearwater River has an international reputation as one of the best steelhead fisheries anywhere. The river and U.S. Highway 12 are part of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail. Developed recreation sites are primarily for boating and fishing, with camping available in a few locations. The North Fork of the Clearwater and the Lochsa Rivers provide miles of tumbling whitewater interspersed with quiet pools for migratory and resident fish. The Clearwater was used as a passageway by explorers and trappers, and later by miners and loggers because it was much more tame than its counterpart the Salmon River. -- Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority Website, 2002, Visit Idaho Website, 2002, and Idaho Museum of Natural History Website, 2002, Digital Atlas of Idaho Geology of the Lower Clearwater Basin: Geology is an important factor for the Clearwater basin because it influences soils, topography, climate, and sedimentation. The high plateau on the western part of the Clearwater basin in (Lolo/Middle Fork and Lower Clearwater), is made up of Miocene-age (17.5 to 6 million years ago) Columbia River basalt lava flows that flooded the ancestral valleys leaving preexisting hilltops standing like islands (steptoes) in a sea of basalt. This plateau has moderately sloping terrain with local elevations ranging from 2,500 to 3,500 feet, and some isolated buttes reaching as high as 5,000 feet. The easternmost extension of the Palouse loess system deposited windblown silt-sized material called loess on the basalt planes, and along with volcanic ash from many Cascade eruptions, mantle the western part of the Clearwater basin, strongly influencing soil formation, erosion and sedimentation into streams and rivers. -- Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority Website, 2002 |
| This morning the wind was from the east, and the weather cloudy. We set out early, and at the distance of a mile and a half reached a point of rocks in a bend of the river towards the left, near to which was an old Indian house, and a meadow on the opposite bank. Here the hills came down towards the water, and formed by the rocks, which have fallen from their sides, a rapid over which we dragged the canoes. We passed, a mile and a half further, two Indian lodges in a bend towards the right, and at six miles from our camp of last evening reached the mouth of a brook on the left [Alpowa Creek, today the location of Chief Timothy State Park]. Just above this stream we stopped for breakfast. ...... |
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Alpowa Creek and Chief Timothy State Park:
Alpowa Creek: Alpowa Creek, located in southeastern Washington, begins in the Blue Mountains at an elevation of approximately 4,000 feet above sea level and joins the Snake River at Lower Granite Lake about seven miles west of Clarkston, Washington, in the vicinity of the former Alpowa City, later renamed Silcott. The townsite was inundated by Lower Granite Reservoir in 1975. Chief Timothy State Park and Alpowai Interpretive Center are now located on an island created by the dam's backwater. Major seasonal and ephemeral tributaries of Alpowa Creek include Page, Pow Wah Kee Gulch, Clayton Gulch, and Stember creeks. The entire drainage area of the Alpowa Creek watershed is 82,944 acres (130 square miles). Most of this area is very arid landscape with several seasonal canyons that enter the mainstem Alpowa Creek. On October 11, 1805, Lewis and Clark's course and distance log notes, "Passed a large camp of Alpowa Cr. Indians." The creek was not named on the route map or journal entries, either westbound or eastbound. -- Washington State Historical Society Website, 2002, and Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority Website, 2003 Geology of the Alpowa Creek Watershed: The Alpowa Creek and its tributaries have cut canyons into the Columbia River Basalt since the Miocene epoch, resulting in terraces comprised of weathered stream gravel. Since Alpowa Creek currently has insufficient discharge to transport this quantity of gravel, the outcrops indicate past episodes of higher velocity and flow. -- Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority Website, 2003 Chief Timothy State Park: Chief Timothy State Park is a 282-acre camping park with 11,500 feet of freshwater shoreline, located on an island in the Snake River, eight miles west of Clarkston, Washington. The park offers water, scenery and excellent camping facilities in a primarily desert environment. The park is on the route of the historic Lewis and Clark trail, proximate to Silcott townsite. The park is named for the chief of the Alpowai encampment of the Nez Perce Indian Tribe. Chief Alpowai was a valued friend of early white settlers in the region. -- Washington State Parks and Recreation Website, 2002 Geology of Chief Timothy State Park: During the Miocene age there were great lava flows that created basaltic columns. The following ice age carved the land, blocking rivers and creating the huge Lake Missoula. As the ice age drew to a close, the ice dams holding back Lake Missoula broke, unleashing a catastrophic flood that shaped the landscape. Chief Timothy is on an island made of glacial tills that were back-washed by the flood when it hit the Wallala gap causing the water to rush backward to the east carrying rocks and debris. -- Washington State Parks and Recreation Website, 2002 |
| On leaving this encampment [Alpowa Creek] we passed two more rapids, and some swift water, and at the distance of four and a half miles reached one which was much more difficult to pass. Three miles beyond this rapid, are three huts of Indians on the right, where we stopped and obtained in exchange for a few trifles some pashequa roots, five dogs and a small quantity of dried fish. We made our dinner of part of each of these articles, and then proceeded on without any obstruction, till after making twelve and a half miles we came to a stony island on the right side of the river, opposite to which is a rapid, and a second at its lower point. |
| The Lower Granite Dam is now along this section of the Snake River, at River Mile 107.5. |
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Lower Granite Dam:
Lower Granite Dam: Today, the Lower Snake River has four dams and navigation locks along it: The uppermost dam is Lower Granite, followed downstream by Little Goose, Lower Monumental, and Ice Harbor. The Lower Granite Lock and Dam was the last of four lower Snake River dams constructed by the U.S. Corps of Engineers. It was completed in 1975. The dam, located at the head of Lake Bryan (reservoir behind Little Goose Dam), is about 3,200 feet long with an effective height of 100 feet. The dam is a concrete gravity type, with an earthfill right abutment embankment. It includes a navigation lock with clear dimensions of 86 by 674 feet; and an eight-bay spillway that is 512 feet long, with eight 50-foot by 60.5-foot radial gates. There is one fish ladder for passing migratory fish. Lower Granite Dam also features fish viewing rooms that allow you an up close look at the many species of fish in the Lower Snake River. Lower Granite Lock and Dam also has a Visitor Center. -- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Website, 2002 Lower Granite Lake: Lower Granite Lake, behind Lower Granite Dam, extends up the Snake River about 39.3 miles to Lewiston, Idaho, the upper terminus of the authorized Lower Snake River slack-water navigation project. It lies at elevation 738, and has a surface area of 8,900 acres. -- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Website, 2002 |
| About three and a half miles beyond the island is a small brook which empties itself into a bend on the right [Almota Creek], |
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Almota Creek:
Almota: Almota, on the north side of the Snake River almost 40 miles above Clarkston (and approximately 4 miles downstream of today's Lower Granite Dam), was early on used by Nez Perce Indians as a fishing site. "Allamotin", "Almotine", and even "Alto Motin" have been given as Nez Perce names for the area, meaning "torchlight" or "moonlight fishing". Almota, soon became the trading/shipping center for all of Inland Empire, but lost some of its business when rail lines arrived in Colfax in 1883. The Oregon, Washington and Idaho Railroad and the Snake River Valley Railroad would not arrive in Almota until 1907. Today it is located near Lake Bryan, the reservoir formed from the construction of the Little Goose Dam. -- Washington State University Library Archives Website, 2002 |
| where we encamped at two Indian huts, which are now inhabited. [just below Lower Granite Dam] ...... |
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The Camp - October 11, 1805:
Below Lower Granite Dam, near the mouth of Almota Creek. This area was home to the Almotipu band of Nez Perce, from which Almota Creek gets its name. |
| The country on both sides, after mounting a steep ascent of about two hundred feet, becomes an open, level and fertile plain, which is, however, as well as the borders of the river itself, perfectly destitute of any kind of timber; and the chief growth which we observed consisted of a few low blackberries. We killed some geese and ducks. The wind in the after part of the day changed to the southwest and became high. |
| "... The Country on either Side is an open plain leavel & fertile after assending a Steep assent of about 200 feet not a tree of any kind to be Seen on the river ..." [Clark, October 11, 1805] |
| "... The country on both sides is high dry prairie plains without a stick of timber. There is no wood of any kind to be seen except a few small willows along the shore; so that it is with difficulty we can get enough to cook with. The hills on the river are not very high, but rocky; the rocks of a dark colour. The bed and shores of the river are very stony; and the stones of a round smooth kind ..." [Gass, October 11, 1805] |
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