Eastern Washington's climate is in stark contrast to that in the
western part of the state. Dry coulees, eroded into thick basalt
flows by catastrophic glacial floods, alternate with irrigated
areas, generally developed on patches of glacial loess that were
not eroded away by the floods. The view of Moses Coulee, above,
gives some idea of the nature of the area prior to development.
Dry falls, below, was the world's largest waterfall during the
Ice Age floods. That these floods occurred was first recognized
by Albion College Alumnus, J Harlan Bretz. Our tour began in the
Grand coulee area. We camped at Steamboat rock, a basalt mesa in
the coulee. Several students took the trail up the basalt cliffs
to view the sunrise. The tiny speck at the top of the cliff
below is Ben. A major environmental issue in the Columbia Basin
is the effects of the dams on the river's ecology, especially on
the salmon that once were the basis of the Native American's
economy. We visited the Grand Coulee, Ice Harbor, Dales and
Bonnev