The Volcanoes of
Lewis and Clark
Lewis and Clark
|
November 2, 1805 Columbia River Gorge - Beacon Rock to Rooster Rock |
|
Home
The Volcanoes of Lewis and Clark Map of the Journey Volcanoes, Basalt Plateaus, Major Rivers, etc. The Volcanoes Mount Adams, Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson, Mount Rainier, and Mount St. Helens 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 |
PREVIOUS
November 1 Columbia River Gorge, Cascade Locks to Bonneville - The Portage |
November 2
Columbia River Gorge, Beacon Rock to Rooster Rock Rapids below Bradford Island, Hamilton Island, Pierce NWR, Beacon Rock and Beacon Rock State Park, Franz Lake NWR, Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area, Yeon Mountain (St. Peter's Dome), Multnomah Falls, Lava Flows and Waterfalls, Phoca Rock, Cape Horn, Rooster Rock and Rooster Rock State Park, Point Vancouver |
CONTINUE
November 3 Columbia River Heading West, Rooster Rock to Columbia River Slough |
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.
[Click map for brief summary about the area] |
|
To the Pacific - November 1805
Columbia River Gorge - Beacon Rock to Rooster Rock |
| Lewis and Clark's camp of November 1, 1805 was on the Washington side of the Columbia River, downstream of today's Bonneville Dam, near the towns of Fort Rains and North Bonneville. |
| Saturday, November 2, 1805 |
| We now examined the rapid below more particularly [and a mile and a half downstream of Bradford Island], and the danger appearing to be too great for the loaded canoes, all those who could not swim were sent with the baggage by land. The canoes then passed safely, and were reloaded; at the foot of the rapid we took a meridian altitude of 59? 45' 45" |
|
|
Rapids below Bradford Island: 
|
| Just as we were setting out seven squaws arrived across the portage loaded with dried fish and bear-grass, neatly packed in bundles, and soon after four Indians came down the rapid in a large canoe. After breakfasting we left our camp at one o'clock, passed the upper point of an island [Hamilton Island] which is separated from the right shore by a narrow channel, through which in high tides the water passes. But at present it contains no running water, and a creek which falls into it from the mountains on the right [Hamilton Creek], is in the same dry condition, though it has the marks of discharging immense torrents at some seasons. The island [Hamilton Island] thus made is three miles in length and about one in width; its situation is high and open, the land rich, and at this time covered with grass and a great number of strawberry vines, from which we gave it the name of Strawberry island. In several places we observed that the Indians had been digging for roots, and indeed the whole island bears every appearance of having been at some period in a state of cultivation. |
|
|
Hamilton Island: Lewis and Clark called this island "Strawberry Island", as it seemed to be cultivated with woodland strawberry vines. The physiography of Hamilton Island has changed greatly since Lewis and Clark's time with the construction of Bonneville Dam. -- Washington State Historical Society Website, 2004, "Lasting Legacy"
|
| On the left side of the river the low ground is narrow and open: the rapid which we have just passed [below Bonneville Dam] is the last of all the descents of the Columbia. At this place the first tide-water commences, and the river in consequence widened immediately below the rapid. As we descended, we reached at the distance of one mile from the rapid a creek under a bluff on the left [Tanner Creek], at three miles is the lower point of Strawberry island [Hamilton Island]. To this immediately succeed three small islands covered with wood [two islands today, Pierce and Ives Islands]; in the meadow to the right [Hardy Creek and today's Pierce National Wildlife Refuge], |
|
|
|
Pierce National Wildlife Refuge:
Pierce National Wildlife Refuge consists of 336 acres of river bottomland habitat with riparian areas, wetlands, grasslands, and hardwoods. The refuge provides habitat for Canada geese, a variety of other waterfowl, and numerous other wildlife species. Hardy Creek supports one of the last remaining chum salmon runs in the lower Columbia River drainage. The south end of the refuge can be viewed from the Beacon Rock trail. -- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Website, 2003 |
| and at some distance from the hills, stands a high perpendicular rock, about eight hundred feet high, and four hundred yards round the base; this we called the Beacon rock. [Beacon Rock] |
| "... 5 miles to a timbered bottom on the Lard. Side, passed the Lowr. point of Strawbery Isd. at 3 miles, a Isd Covd with wood below on Stard. Side a remarkable high rock on Stard. Side about 800 feet high & 400 yds round, the 'Beaten' Rock. The mountains and bottoms thickly timbered with Pine Spruce Cotton and a kind of maple ..." [Clark, November 2, 1805, first draft] |
|
|
Beacon Rock and Beacon Rock State Park: Beacon Rock is an eroded olivine basalt plug that rises 840 feet above river level. The ice-age floods through the Columbia River Gorge eroded the softer material away, leaving this unique geological structure standing by itself on the northern bank of the Columbia River. This basalt monolith is second in size only to the Rock of Gibraltar. "Beacon Rock" was originally named by Lewis and Clark on their expedition to the Pacific Ocean, altho in Clark's journal he calls it "Beaton Rock", a spelling which was corrected by Lewis and also corrected in the Biddle/Allen publication of 1814. It was near Beacon Rock that they first measured tidal influences from the ocean on the Columbia River. In 1811, Alexander Ross of the John Jacob Astor expedition called the rock "Inoshoack Castle." The rock was known as "Castle Rock" until 1916 when the United States Board of Geographic Names restored the name "Beacon Rock". Henry J. Biddle (an heir of Nicholas Biddle, editor of the 1814 journals) purchased the rock, built a trail to the top, and in 1935 his heirs turned the rock over to the state for use as a park. Additional development was done by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Today, Beacon Rock stands at the head of Washington State's Beacon Rock State Park. -- Norman and Roloff, 2004, Washington State DNR Open-File Report 2004-7, Washington State Historical Society Website, 2004, "Lasting Legacy", and Washington State Parks and Recreation Website, 2001. 
|
| Just below is an Indian village of nine houses, situated between two small creeks [Woodward Creek and Duncan Creek]. At this village the river widens to nearly a mile in extent, the low grounds too become wider, and they as well as the mountains on each side are covered with pine, spruce-pine, cottonwood, a species of ash, and some alder. [today this area includes the Franz National Wildlife Refuge] |
|
|
|
Franz Lake National Wildlife Refuge:
Franz Lake National Wildlife Refuge contains more than 500 acres of river bottomland and upland riparian habitat with numerous springs, seeps and creeks, grasslands, hardwood and upland forests. Franz Lake is one of the few remaining natural wetlands in the Columbia River Gorge. The refuge provides critical habitat for tundra swans and other waterfowl and year-round habititat for a variety of wildlife species. Visitors can view the refuge from a scenic overlook on Washington State Highway 14. -- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Website, 2003 |
| After being so long accustomed to the dreary nakedness of the country above, the change is as grateful to the eye, as it is useful in supplying us with fuel. [Lewis and Clark are within today's Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area] |
|
|
Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area: Lewis and Clark have entered what is today the "Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area". The Columbia River Gorge is a spectacular river canyon cutting the only sea-level route through the Cascade Mountain Range. The Gorge is 80 miles long and up to 4,000 feet deep, with the north canyon walls in Washington State and the south canyon walls in the State of Oregon. The "Gorge" is located approximately 20 miles east of Portland, Oregon, with Visitor Centers being located at Skamania Lodge, Multnomah Falls, the Gorge Discover Center in The Dalles, and at Bonneville Dam. -- U.S. Forest Service Website, 2002, and Lewis and Clark Bicentennial "lewisandclar200.gov" Website, 2002 
|
| Yeon Mountain is a lava flow features which make the Columbia River Gorge spectacular. Yeon Mountain is located on the Oregon side of the Columbia River. |
|
|
Yeon Mountain (St. Peter's Dome): Yeon Mountain at one time was called "St. Peter's Dome", before current usage transfered that name to a basalt feature west.
|
| Numerous waterfalls are within the Columbia Gorge National Scenic area. |
|
|
Multnomah Falls: Multnomah Falls, plummeting 620 feet from its origins on Larch Mountain, is the second highest year-round waterfall in the United States. Nearly two million visitors a year come to see this ancient waterfall making it Oregon's number one public destination. Fed by underground springs from Larch Mountain, the flow over the falls varies usually being highest during winter and spring. Multnomah Falls offers one of the best places in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area to study geology exposed by floods. Five flows of Yakima basalt are visible in the fall's cliff face. The two falls are produced because of a more easily eroded zone at the base of the upper falls. -- U.S. Forest Service Website, 2002, and Beeson and Tolan, 1987 
Lava Flows and Waterfalls: The presence of prominent vertical cooling joints in most of the lava flows, combined with the weak interflow zones result in steep cliffs and abundant waterfalls. Observations of waterfalls occurring over Columbia River basalt flows have shown that falls often occur where flows are flat lying or dipping upstream. This condition allows blocks produced by vertical cooling joints to be stable until support is withdrawn by erosion of the weaker interflow material at the base of the flows. The rate of erosion of interflow material probably largely controls the rate of retreat of the falls. The amphitheater-shaped valley common to many of the falls within the gorge is due to freeze-thaw action of water from splash mist that penetrates the joints. Most waterfalls are limited to the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge because landslides modify the steepness on the Washington side. The entire region's bedrock material is tilted slightly southward. When it is water saturated, the upper basaltic layers on the north side of the river slide into the Gorge. Thus, waterfalls on the Washington side are fewer and smaller. -- Beeson and Tolan, 1987 |
| Four miles from the village is a point of land on the right, where the hills become lower, but are still thickly timbered. The river is now about two miles wide, the current smooth and gentle, and the effect of the tide has been sensible since leaving the rapid. Six miles lower is a rock rising from the middle of the river to the height of one hundred feet, and about eighty yards at its base [Phoca Rock, the Biddle/Allen version says "eighty yards at its base" whereas the original journals have "eighty feet", see quotation below]. |
| "... passed a rock at 10 miles in the middle of the river this rock is 100 feet high & 80 feet Diameter ..." [Clark, November 2, 1805, first draft] |
| "... at 17 miles passed a rock near the middle of the river, about 100 feet high and 80 feet Diameter, ..." [Clark, November 2, 1805] |
|
|
Phoca Rock: Lewis and Clark named "Phoca Seal rock" for the harbor seal. [Clark noted in the winter of 1805-6 'Pho ca' rock in midl. Rivr. 100 foot high Saw Seal's] The 30-foot lone rock rises out of the river and derives its designation from the Greek word for "seal." The basalt formation in the river was known as "Lone Rock" until the U.S. Bureau of Geographic Names established its present place name, honoring a Lewis and Clark name for the small geographical feature in the river. -- Washington State Historical Society Website, 2004, "Lasting Legacy". 
|
| The Biddle/Allen version does not mention Cape Horn, however the first draft of Captain Clark's journal mentions the Cape Horn area as a "Stard. point of rocks on a high clift of black rocks" |
|
|
Cape Horn: Flows of Grande Ronde Basalt of the Columbia River Basalt Group form the steep cliffs of Cape Horn, with Troutdale formation gravels capping the basalt unconformably. The gravels in turn are overlain by lavas of the small Mount Zion olivine basalt shield, of the Boring Lava Field. -- Norman and Roloff, 2004, Washington State DNR Open-File Report 2004-7. 
|
| We continued six miles further, and halted for the night under a high projecting rock [Rooster Rock] on the left side of the river |
|
|
Rooster Rock and Rooster Rock State Park: Rooster Rock is a landslide portion of a lava flow which filled an early ancestral canyon of the Columbia River thousands of years ago, at the location of today's Crown Point. The scar is still visible on the cliff above Rooster Rock. Rooster Rock State Park is located 22 miles east of Portland, Oregon, along Interstate 84. Enjoy three miles of sandy beaches and a swimming area. -- Norman and Roloff, 2004, Washingon State DNR Open-File Report 2004-7, and Oregon Parks and Recreation Website, 2002.
|
| opposite the point of a large meadow [Point Vancouver]. |
|
|
Point Vancouver: Point Vancouver was named by Lieutenant William Broughton in 1792, and marks the furthest upstream on the Columbia River he explored. He named the point of land after his commander Captain George Vancouver. -- City of Washougal Website, 2003 
|
| The mountains, which from the great shoot to this place are high, rugged, and thickly covered with timber chiefly of the pine species, here leave the river on each side; the river becomes two and a half miles in width, and the low grounds are extensive and well supplied with wood. The Indians whom we left at the portage passed us, on their way down the river, and seven others who were descending in a canoe for the purpose of trading below, encamped with us. We had made from the foot of the great shoot twenty-nine miles today. The ebbtide rose at our camp about nine inches, the flood must rise much higher. We saw great numbers of water-fowl, such as swan, geese, ducks of various kinds, gulls, plover, and the white and gray brant, of which last we killed eighteen. |
| "... we encamped under a high projecting rock on the Lard. Side, here the mountains leave the river on each Side, which from the great Shute to this place is high and rugid; thickly covered with timber principalley of the Pine Species. The bottoms below appear extensive and thickly covered with wood. river here about 2 1/2 miles wide. ..." [Clark, November 2, 1805] |
|
|
|
The Camp - November 2, 1805:
Lewis and Clark's camp of November 2, 1805, was on the Oregon side of the Columbia River near Rooster Rock. |
| Home | Previous | Continue |
If you have questions or comments please contact: GS-CVO-WEB@usgs.gov
June/July 2004, Lyn Topinka
The Volcanoes of Lewis and Clark Home Page | CVO Home Page