Ancient lake missoula and the missoula ice age floods. Glacial lake missoula and its humongous floods this new book, generously illustrated with photographs and twocolor maps, follows the path of the floodwaters as they raged from western montana across the idaho panhandle, then scoured through eastern washington and. The concept of the lake missoula flood has had a controversial history. Here you can learn about the great floods that shaped the pacific northwest, take a tour of the landscapes they created, revisit the drama that unfolded as the story of the floods came to light, and keep uptodate on events focusing on the floodsincluding the creation. The 2,000foot ice dam blocked the clark fork river filling the valleys east of missoula with water. Lake missoula was a prehistoric proglacial lake in western montana that existed periodically at the end of the last ice age between 15,000 and,000 years ago. Lake missoula was a prehistoric proglacial lake in western montana that existed periodically at the end of the last ice age. The geological history of the wenatchee valley and adjacent vicinity 2006. Surviving remnants are the freshwater utah lake and the saline great salt and sevier dry lakes. Glacial lake missoula montana natural history center.
The sixth volume in the montana mainstreet series, a guide to historic missoula points readers to the buildings, historic sites, and parks that act as monuments to missoulasand montanashistory. Harlen bretz walked the dry scabland channels of eastern washington in the 1920s, it dawned on him that he was viewing a landscape sculpted by water. Read one book from each of the 50 categories and record your progress in your book journal. Once it reached its maximum capacity, 4,200 feet in elevation, glacial lake missoula was the. Glacial lake missoula stretched eastward for some 200 miles and contained more water than lake erie and lake ontario combined. Missoula rape and the justice system in a college town by jon krakauer is a chronicle of the period in the city of missoula when a number of university of montana female students reported to the police that they had been raped by males students, the majority of whom were members of. Bretz conducted research and published many papers during the 1920s describing the channeled scablands. Rephotographing missoula, a project that resulted three years ago in displays at missoula international airport, the county courthouse and city hall. The first permanent settlement was founded in 1860. The largest of the lake missoula floods in northwest. Giant ancient lakes such as glacial lake missoula were created as lobes of the massive ice sheets blocked river valleys.
Glacial lake missoula shorelines above university of montana campus. In this companion web site to the nova program mystery of the megaflood, explore the channeled scabland through an interactive map, read an interview with geologist vic baker, take a geology quiz. At its highest level glacial lake missoula covered an area of about 3,000 square miles and contained an estimated 500 cubic miles of waterhalf the volume of present day lake michigan. If youre missing those old time tunes, be sure to join us at western cider tomorrow wednesday evening for a good time jam. David alts book on glacial lake missoula is just such a book. The narrative follows the path of the floodwaters as they raged from western montana across the idaho panhandle, then scoured through eastern washington and. Lake bonneville, prehistoric lake, formed about 30,000 years ago late in the pleistocene epoch, that at high water covered an estimated 20,000 square miles 52,000 square km, embracing much of what is now the western half of utah and parts of nevada and idaho in the united states. Lake bonneville ancient lake, north america britannica. He was professor emeritus of geology at portland state university, a lifelong student of the columbia gorge, and author of the magnificent gateway, a detailed guide to its geology. Theres a reason that missoula is a regular on best places to live lists. I cant believe ive lived in missoula where a popular bumper sticker implores us to restore glacial lake missoula ten years and havent read this book until now. Jon krakauers missoula, about rape in a college town. The book follows the path of the floodwaters as they raged from western montana across the idaho panhandle, then scoured eastern washington and rushed.
Alt writes, the drainages of glacial lake missoula were great thumping occasions. Harlen bretz postulated a gigantic flood in eastern washington from an unknown source. I would recommend that this part of our local portlandoregon history be. I liked this book and it served its purpose we were heading to western montana and idaho and i wanted to read something. The author wrote and wanted to publish certain things about people who were still living, which created problems for him. Reminiscing about the wonderful time at western cider where so many people square danced their hearts out. When the highest of these ice dams failed, lake water burst through, shooting out at a rate 10 times the combined flow of all the rivers of the world. The missoula floods also known as the spokane floods or the bretz floods or bretzs floods were cataclysmic glacial lake outburst floods that swept periodically across eastern washington and down the columbia river gorge at the end of the last ice age. Geologists believe the site of presentday missoula was under about 950 feet of water during the largest lake fillings. Book details history of glacial lake missoula book. The lake measured about 7,770 square kilometres 3,000 sq mi and contained about 2,100 cubic kilometres 500 cu mi of water, half the volume of lake michigan the glacial lake missoula national natural landmark is located about 110.
David alt was a geology professor at the university of montana in missoula. Bretzs theories met with vehement opposition from geologists of the day, who tried to explain the features with uniformitarian theories. This nicely written and wellillustrated overview of our namesake ancient lake has given me a pleasant new perspective and appreciation for our landscape. This heirloom quality coffeetable book features the memories of missoula from the late 1800s through 1939 in historic photographs. On several occasions the dam gave way and released enormous quantities of water, which then rapidly drained to the sea. The montana book festival strives to foster interest in literature for people of all ages, perpetuate a sense of literary community, and provide a vibrant, compelling forum for the literary arts that celebrates diversity. Its surface stood at 4,150 feet above sea level, giving the lake a depth of nearly 2,000 feet at the ice dam more than twice the depth of lake superior. Glacial lake missoula and its humongous floods tells the gripping tale of a huge ice age lake that drained suddenlynot just once but repeatedlyand reshaped the landscape of. The story professor alt tells is an extraordinary one put together from many years of painstaking geological work.
Sunday missoulian, december 18, 1927, fort missoula has seen fifty years of service pioneer officer tells of helping to build it. From what i remember, there were publishing problems due to law suits. Lake missoula formed behind an ice dam, which formed when a finger of the purcell lobe of the cordilleran ice sheet advanced into the idaho panhandle in the area which now is occupied by pende orielle lake figure 2. Genealogists should also refer to our extensive montana collection, located in the audra browman room. Glacial lake missoula and the ice age floods the montana natural history center offers background information on the ancient. Explore glacial lake missoula and the catastrophic ice age. David alts book is an excellent resource for anyone interested in exploring lake. His theories of how they were formed required short but immense floods 500 cubic miles 2,100 km 3 for which bretz had no explanation. In a raw way of thinking, a discharge of between 8 and 10 miles of water per hour could empty a lake of 500.
The story of the lake missoula floods by gretchen schultz. Explore glacial lake missoula and the catastrophic ice age floods. John eliot allen coauthored the first edition of cataclysms on the columbia with marjorie burns. If youre up for a challenge, stop by the reference desk starting january 2 to register for the missoula reads yearlong reading challenge. Welcome to the montana natural history centers glacial lake missoula website. Come celebrate this september 1215, 2019 in missoula, montana. Oct 29 nov 1 watch this spot for the next great sale. Glacial lake missoula and its humongous floods 2001. The book glacial lake missoula and its humongous floods is a serious description, for the lay reader, of the several bretz floods lake missoula was repeatedly created by a glacier dam, which then released suddenly. It offers the best of all worlds the arts, craft breweries, rich history, and of course, outdoor adventure. Our genealogy collection is the most developed in the state for genealogy information on missoula county, lake county, granite county, mineral county, sanders county, ravalli county, and to a lesser degree lincoln county.
Colonel williams gives history of the birth of fort missoula, written by colonel williams who was one of the first officers of fort missoulas first garrison. Those floods deepened and widened the existing columbia river valley and were largely responsible. Friends of the historical museum of fort missoula heritage hall northern rockies heritage center 30 fort missoula rd 4067283476. These were the result of periodic sudden ruptures of the ice dam on the clark fork river. If you are the publisher or author of this book and feel that the. Explore glacial lake missoula montana natural history center. The first 125 registrants receive a free book journal and everyone receives the 2020 reading categories list. The 8th grade history teacher here in fort benton montana mid 1960s, mr. The history of missoula, montana begins as early as 12,000 years ago with the end of the regions glacial lake period with western exploration dating back to the lewis and clark expedition of 18041806. Missoula memories collection the missoulian is proud to announce a beautiful, hardcover historic retrospective of missoula. At the end of the last glaciation about 15,000 years ago, the ice dam that had created a gigantic lake in eastern montana broke suddenly and catastrophically.
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