Cataclysms on the Columbia. - book reviews

John Eliot Allen, Marjorie Burns & Sam C. Sargent 1986; 211 pp. ISBN 0-88192-215-3 $14.95 ($19.45 postpaid) from Timber Press, Order Dept., 133 SW 2nd Avenue, Suite 450, Portland, OR 97204; 800/327-5680

Imagine floodwater in places a thousand feet deep, moving nine cubic miles of water per hour at freeway speeds, emptying an enormous ice-dammed Montana lake into the Pacific Ocean in a week. The turbulent turmoil, witnessed by no doubt awed humans, shaped much of the landscape in the Pacific Northwest, though J. Harlen Bretz had a tough time convincing his fellow geologists of that. He lived long enough to savor victory over the academic establishment. Here's the story of what are now known as the Bretz Floods, complete with (unfortunately fuzzy) photographs, maps, and a tour guide so you go see -- and comprehend -- the results for yourself. Scientific sleuthing at its best.

* In the middle of the debate proceedings, Joseph Thomas Pardee, a geologist who was personally familiar with much of Bretz's terrain, reportedly turned to his friend, Kirk Bryan, and confided the following small but significant message, "I know where Bretz's flood came from."

Now there was a puzzle! If, in fact, Pardee knew the source of Bretz's water, why was he unwilling to make it known? The very nature of scientific advancement -- so we are told -- demands openmindedness and a chance to build on one another's discoveries, and yet Pardee was to remain silent on the issue for more than a decade. The explanation was simple enough: Pardee had a career and a reputation to maintain. It was risky for any geologist to show hint of support for Bretz's offensive hypothesis; and, to add to the problem, Pardee worked for W. C. Alden, the champion of scientific hesitancy.

* Gravel bars build and move downstream during floods by the top material rolling downstream in the current and spilling over the steep lower end of the bar. Eventually, each bar is thus composed of beds that slope steeply in a downstream direction. These foreset beds are found along the sides of canyons tributary to the main river, and they dip in an opposite direction from what is normally the tributary stream's main current; in other words, they dip upstream, a clear indication that flood waters rushed up these tributaries and dumped part of their load.

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