Geologic History of the Columbia River Gorge, As Interpreted from the Historic Columbia River Scenic Highway

by Ira A. Williams, John Eliot Allen

A reprint of the Columbia River Gorge , Corvallis, 1916, published by the Oregon Bureau of Mines and Geology, and revised in 1923 with a new historical introduction and a geological introduction. Heavily illustrated. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Genres: Geology

137 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1991

Reviews

[KennyO · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a facsimile edition of the book Ira Williams published in 1916. It is definitely what it sets out to be: a look at the geology of the Columbia River Gorge from the vantage of the Columbia River Highway as it was in 1916, i.e. new and unfinished. The intended audience is the well schooled reader with an interest in the topic.

It's good fun to read the differences in geologic interpretation then vs. now as well as to notice interpretations that have stood the test of time. There are references to settlements now gone: Bonneville and Viento are two. The photographs are pretty good considering the era in which they were taken. Though it's sometimes not easy you can occasionally compare the locations in the photos then and now. The writing style is pure 1916 so it's going to call for extra effort on your part to interpret what you read. Despite this, it's a well done piece.

A side note is that Williams' assistant in his research in the gorge was J Harlan Bretz who later used what he'd learned here in his work of 1923-1924 introducing the idea of an ancient, massive flood in the Pacific Northwest.