Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 13.djvu/14



Long ago the climate of the northern part of the earth began to grow cold. And for a time it seemed to grow colder and colder until almost all of its land was covered by a sheet of ice. Of course the grass and shrubs and trees quietly fled before this ice sheet. Then the horse and camel and reindeer and all other herb-eating animals had to follow their food or die from cold and hunger. But when the flesh-eating animals, such as bears and tigers, found their prey had gone, they, too, joined the army of life ever moving toward the South in front of the creeping ice sheet. Sometimes it would be warmer for a while and the plants and animals could travel a little further north, but the increasing cold was sure to drive them south again. This long continued cold has been called the glacial period or Age of Ice.

If now you have a simple map of Oregon and Washington (your geography map will do), you can trace the rivers and the mountains and see the country better as we talk. You see Oregon is nestled in between the high mountains and the warm Pacific Ocean and so was not covered by the great ice. sheet. But it was high and dry with its coast line several miles further west than now; and with many snow-covered mountains and long rivers of solid ice, or glaciers, winding from the mountain tops far down to the valleys.

After thousands of years, when this age of ice was passing away, we find our Pacific Coast was slowly sinking, while the waters of the sea were creeping higher and higher until all of our coast valley lay drowned beneath the ocean. The Pacific Ocean pushed the waters of the lower Columbia further and still further inland until after a long period of time they stood three hundred feet or more higher at the mouth of the Willamette than they do today. From the present site of Astoria to near that of St. Helens the old Columbia became a grand entrance channel, from five to twenty miles in width and eighty miles or more in length, broad and deep enough to float the greatest fleet of battleships.

It is doubtful if the Columbia river itself ever received more