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S e s s i o n 3 / K n o w i n g Yo u r B i o r e g i o n

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N O R T H W E S T E A R T H I N S T I T U T E

caught the first sockeye salmon, little children sprinkled their

hair with sacred white eagle down, painted their faces, and put

on white blankets. They met the canoe and carried the first

salmon in their arms as if it were an infant. An older woman

cleaned the fish with a mussel-shell knife, after which the flesh

was boiled and given to the children to eat. To the S’Klallam, the

sockeye is a person and deserves careful treatment. Versions of

the first salmon ceremony were practiced by Native peoples from

California to Japan.

Exc E r p t s f ro m Wh E r E cu r r E n t s

mE rg E: th E ma r I t I m E no rt h W E s t

By Steve Johnson from Knowing Home

Ten thousand years ago the last great advance of ice had

peaked and was declining. Most of Canada and much of the

United States was covered with ice and snow. But even then the

area we call the Maritime Northwest, a thin strip of land 100

miles west to east, and extending the length of British Columbia,

Washington, Oregon and northern California, was relatively

moist, more humid than today, and green.

The glaciers extended into Washington, but in Oregon did

not reach out much beyond the higher elevations of the present

Cascade mountain range. The storm track, bringing moderate

marine air into the region, was eight degrees further south than it

is today. The climate of western Oregon shifted accordingly and

was more like the present day climate of the British Columbia

coastal area.

It was this narrow strip of land that allowed the migration of

tribes from the Asian continent; with its north and south running

mountains, the greenbelt of land also allowed for the migration

of plants and animals, throwing their seed forward in advance of

the glaciers, like a vital dossier, keeping their DNA instructions

just ahead of extinction.

The effects of the glacial activity are still visible in both

Washington and Oregon. The North Cascades remain uncovered

by earth, and this region is today the largest glaciated area in the

continental United States. Puget Sound is the result of glacial

flooding that covered a series of river valleys. The Scablands in

eastern Washington are the result of a flood that emptied a lake

one-half the size of Lake Michigan out over the eastern part of

Washington, down the Columbia River, and up the Willamette.

This same flood rushed out across Washington, through the

Columbia Gorge and, at the confluence with the Willamette, was

deflected up the valley, creating a lake (400 feet deep) extending

as far as Junction City in Lane County.

Deposits of material transported from such floods fill the

valley floors of the Maritime, creating sometimes shallow topsoil

on top of undigested upper elevation material (gravels), or

deposits of very fine material, known in the geological trade as

“rock flour.”

  

the Willamette valleY

The Willamette Valley separates the Coast Range from

the Cascade Range, between the Columbia River on the north

and the Siskiyou/Klamath Mountains on the south. It is

approximately 100 miles long and 40-50 miles wide.

The drainage area of the Willamette River is 11,000 square

miles, which represents 11.7 percent of the land area of the state,

while containing two-thirds of the state’s residents.

It seems likely that before native Indian habitation the

valley was more completely forested, filled with

alders, cottonwoods and maples along streams,

and lodgepole pine covering the rest.

By the time the early white explorers and settlers

came to the valley, the vegetation was altered.

The settlers found open prairie land. The

native Indians conducted

annual burnings of vast

stretches of the valley, and

earth records reveal that

these intentional burnings

dated back at least as far as

1647.

It is thought the burning was a form of game management.

Deer and other animals were forced to graze on the remaining

unburned areas where they could be easily hunted. Honey and

grasshoppers became easier to harvest, as well as the seed of the

sunflower plant and the tarweed, which was referred to by the

white settlers as “wild wheat.”

Early white settlers were surprised by the burning just as

today’s newcomers to the region are surprised by late summer air

pollution from grass field and forest slash burnings:

It is probable we did not yet know that the Indians were wont to

baptise the whole country with fire at the close of every summer; but very soon we

were to learn our first lesson. This season the fire was started somewhere on the south

Yamhill, and came sweeping through the Salt Creek Gap. All our skill and perseverance

Wh E n It ra I n s It Do E s n’t po u r

I’ve reached the land of rain and mud

where flowers and trees so early bud.

It rains and rains both night and day

in Oregon, it rains always.

Oh Oregon, wet Oregon,

as through the rain and mud I run,

I look about and see it pour

and wish it wouldn’t rain anymore.

Oh, Oregon girls, wet Oregon girls,

with laughing eyes and soggy curls;

They’ll sing and dance both night and day

’Til some webfooter comes their way;

They’ll meet him at the kitchen door

Saying “wipe your feet or come no more.”

— Manuscript from the Randall U. Mills Archives,

University of Oregon

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N O R T H W E S T E A R T H I N S T I T U T E S e s s i o n 3 / K n o w i n g Yo u r B i o r e g i o n

were required to save our camp. As the shades of night deepened, long lines of flame

and smoke could be seen retreating before the breeze across the hills and valleys. (Jessie

Applegate, 1844)

The Willamette Valley is actually a broad flatland with

several distinct sections. From the beginnings of the Siskiyou/

Klamath Mountains, south of Eugene, and north of the

confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette Rivers, the valley

floor is narrow and flat, only occasionally interrupted by a few

volcanic buttes.

Further north, near the junction of the Santiam River and

the Willamette, several hills intrude on the valley floor: the

Waldo Hills on the east and Eola Hills on the west. Just north

of Salem the valley opens up, reaching its maximum width and

flattest terrain. Here the Pudding and Molalla rivers flow into

the Willamette, while from behind the Eola Hills, on the west,

the Yamhill River, for a short period an important transportation

river, flows east also to meet the Willamette.

Past the junction of the Yamhill River, near Newberg, the

Willamette curves toward the east to skirt the southern edge of

the Chehalem Mountains, a short spur of the Coast Range (1,000

feet elevation at Bald Peak), which separates the Yamhill River

from the Tualatin River.

Greater Portland area

Here, on the west, we pass into the Tualatin Plains, and into

the Greater Portland area through its western gate.

the tualatin Plains

The valley created by the Tualatin River is about 200

miles square. Today it is home to some 200,000 people. It is

a microcosm of the Willamette Valley surrounded on all sides

by hills and mountains. The settlement of the valley has spread

out across the lowlands; developers, taking advantage of the

“cheapest” landscape, displace farms along the way.

The Tualatin Plains are separated from the Yamhill River

by the Chehalem Mountains, which act as an additional buffer

from the moisture-laden storms passing through the Coast

Range. At the peak of the mountains the annual average rainfall

is 54-55 inches, whereas only several miles northeast near Aloha

on the Tualatin Plains, the annual average rainfall is 38 inches.

Compare this to downtown Portland with an annual average

rainfall of 46 inches.

oreGon citY

Past the junction of the Tualatin River, the Willamette

Valley narrows down to a few miles in width. On the west the

Chehalem and Tualatin Mountains come close to the river’s

edge, while on the east a ridge of the Cascades, which separates

the Molalla and Clackamas river watersheds, comes close to the

shore of the river as it falls 30 feet at Oregon City.

Here both salmon and settlers have come to rest; the salmon

do not naturally make it past the falls, and the settlers stopped

here, forming Oregon’s leading city in the 1840s. But Oregon

City was not destined to continue its primary role due to its

restricted physical site and inaccessibility by river for larger boats.

Oregon City is the southern gateway into the Greater

Portland area and, because of prevailing wind patterns, has some

of the highest air pollution readings in the area.

clackamas river

As we move downriver from Oregon City, the Tualatin

Mountains begin to take hold of the landscape on the west

side of the river; on the east side the Clackamas River joins the

Willamette. The Clackamas passes mostly through a narrow

channel, seldom given a chance to meander in its 80-mile journey.

The town of Estacada, 30 miles southeast of downtown

Portland along the Clackamas River, is the last outpost before the

Cascade Mountains. The climate of Estacada is a far cry from

downtown Portland, with 100 fewer days in the growing season

and 15 inches more annual rainfall.

Above the Clackamas on the north and south are plateaus

punctuated by higher hills. On the south is an open prairie area

which in former days was referred to as Horse Heaven Ridge.

Just west of McIver Park is an excellent viewpoint of the brief

Clackamas River Valley. To the north of the Clackamas, the

westward expansion of Portland creates an incongruous mix

of berry farms, tree nurseries and post World War II housing

developments.

Both plateaus, especially Horse Heaven Ridge, are under

the influence of the Columbia Gorge winds, and both have

more rainfall and snow accumulations than the city of Portland.

S e s s i o n 3 / K n o w i n g Yo u r B i o r e g i o n

I I I - 8

N O R T H W E S T E A R T H I N S T I T U T E