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Conversations
with a Hypoxic Dog began on May 1 of this year. Last week a new
format was introduced. Words
and Language
and other Nonsense
will
remain the focus; but a bit of History
will be added. Additionally, I will now publish just once a week, on
Wednesdays. This edition continues downriver with Lewis and Clark
just 125 miles from the sea.
ROCKS
My
daughter sat on the foredeck and my wife and I filled the small
cockpit of our West Wight Potter, a jaunty little sailboat just 15
feet in length. Leaving the glassy calm backwater behind Rooster Rock
State Park, we eased down a short channel, gave the rocky submerged
point some clearance and turned the bow upriver.
The
quiet water of the narrow channel from the park mooring posed no
problem for the Potter. Once on the Columbia, the current became a
different kettle of fish. A crown like that of a roadway marked the
deepest water of the main channel as it flowed along at three or four
knots. Our little 2 HP outboard could push the boat at two or three
knots. I shaded the main flow and pointed her bow upriver. We were on
our way, sailing to Cape Horn.
Cape
Horn Columbia River, Carleton Watkins, 1867
Intrepid
though the this first voyage on a new boat was, the notorious Cabos
de Hornos at the tip of Tierra del Fuego was not our destination.
That Cape Horn and this Cape Horn are similar in size, but both the
weather and sea state are vastly different. The Columbia is not the
Southern Ocean.
Historically,
several shoreline outcrops on the river were daubed 'Cape Horn.' Two
remain. Our goal was the basalt cliff outcrop brooding over the
Columbia at RM 132. On November 2, 1805, William Clark located the
prominent feature at "... S. 47°
W. 12 miles to a Stard. point of rocks of a high clift of black rocks
... " Strong local winds characterize the area, and the winds
along with the general appearance apparently gave rise to the name.
Our
Cape Horn is an exposed section of Columbia River basalt. The rock
was a product of several hundred fissure lava flows which covered
most of Washington and Oregon and parts of Idaho. These flows were
events of the Early Miocene, 17 to 5.5 million years old. The
estimated volume of these eruptions was at least 700 million cubic
miles, the largest such flows in the earth's history.
A
reporter for the Utah Desert News, Andrew Jensen, filed this report
as he traveled the river in 1895:
...
As we proceed to the lower end of the gorge through which the
Columbia passes through the Cascade Mountains, we notice across the
river, in the state Washington, the so-called Cape Horn, also called
Gibraltar ... [It] is composed of solid rock of apparent bark
formation, rising abruptly from the water's edge ... These
rocks are at the upper portion surrounded by cone-shaped pillars
known as the Needles ...
Jensen's
'bark formation' is columnar basalt. From Wallula Gap to Astoria this
type of rock provides a clear picture of the region's geologic past.
After the massive lava flows of the Miocene, it was the relatively
recent Bretz Floods of just 10,000 years ago which eroded the earthen
layers and exposed the basalt. A good source for more information on
the geology of the river is here:
CLICK on photo to link to video
Passing
the beach at Rooster Rock Park, we were tempted to join the folks
swimming in the warm shallows. The boat has a flat bottom with a
lifting center board, and it would be a simple matter to beach her
and have a swim. Noise from the bow seemed to be insisting on a
change of course; but the Captain was having none of it. The mate
suggested lunch. We pressed on. Phoca Rock, that curious phallic lump
near the center of the river, became the Captain's goal. We would
double Phoca mutiny or no.
From
Clark's journal, November 2, 1805: "... at 17 miles passed a
rock near the middle of the river about 100 feet high and 80 feet
Diamuter ..." Though they make no mention in their daily
journals of seeing seals in the area , the rock was named for them.
Phoca
in Greek means 'seal.' In his notes from the winter camp at Fort
Clatsop, Clark writes: "...
11 miles to the Pho
ca
rock
in midl. Rivr. 100 foot high, Saw Seal's; ..." These were
probably harbor seals, frequent visitors on the river from the mouth
to, historically, the Dalles.
Phoca
Rock , Penny Post Card ca.1910
The
rock sits just 30 feet above the river today, erosion doing its work. As we motored on, the
afternoon warmed and the wind came up from the northwest. Up went the
mainsail, out rolled the jib. We sailed past Sand Island and came
abeam of Cape Horn. Appropriately, strong gusts now saw the Captain
taking in sail. It had also occurred to him that the return trip
would find the wind on the nose, always a more difficult occupation. Wind
against current began to creat chop. Confidence waned. The mate feared sea sickness. We
gybed away from Phoca Rock and began to beat down river.
Putting
into the lee of Sand Island, some lunch, and a general lull in the
afternoon breeze restored our confidence. We returned without
incident to the shelter of the moorage behind Rooster Rock.
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