Columbia and Snake Rivers
We woke up this morning to a bright sunny day and a cool, crisp 50 degrees. After a breakfast of pancakes, maple syrup, scrambled eggs, and hot strong coffee, we began our first full day on the Columbia and Snake rivers. Capt. William Clark gave the Snake River the name of Lewis’s River, in honor of Meriwether Lewis.
After our early morning stretch exercises, our first adventure was transiting the John Day Dam, named after the early mountain man and fur trader John Day of the Astor/Hunt exploring party of the Pacific Fur Company, sponsored by John Jacob Astor of New York in early 1811. The group arrived at today’s Astoria, Oregon and established Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River, which became the first continuously settled town west of the Rocky Mountains. Today, John Day has a fossil bed named after him as well as two rivers and a town, all in the state of Oregon. As we learned from Linda, the lock chamber at the John Day Dam is the single largest in North America with a lift capacity of 113 feet!
Lindblad Historian Harry Fritz shared with us “The Truth about Lewis and Clark.” Harry took us all the way across the Louisiana Territory to the confluence of the Clearwater and Lewis’s (the Snake) rivers, where he said we would learn the rest of the story tomorrow. Photo Instructors Linda and Stewart provided us with instructions on how to get the best pictures from our own cameras, along with some break-out session which provided one-on-one HELP!
After a much needed lunch, we continued our journey on the Columbia River and traversed the last of the locks and dams on the Lower Columbia River: McNary Dam, which was named after Charles Linza McNary, a popular and successful senator from Oregon from 1917 to 1944. Later in the afternoon, Don Popejoy, the group leader and historian for the Road Scholars, gave a talk on “Jefferson’s Mandate to Meriwether Lewis.” This amazing document gives Lewis instructions on what Jefferson wanted Lewis to accomplish from a scientific standpoint and we all agreed that Meriwether Lewis was indeed a remarkable man.
As we passed through the geologic formations of Wallula Gap and the Twin Sisters, we learned from our geologist, Stewart Aitchinson, the incredible story of the massive basalt floods millions of years ago and the Glacial Lake Missoula floods as recent as 15,000 years ago! After this vivid account, we all needed a wine and cheese tasting event, a cocktail hour and a hearty meal. The day was completed with a stunning sunset as we “Proceed On” to Clarkston, Washington and Lewiston, Idaho.
