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Glacial Lake Missoula and Its Humongous Floods
As geologist J. Harlen Bretz walked the dry scabland channels of eastern Washington in the 1920s, it dawned on him that he was viewing a landscape sculpted by water. Lots of water. A flood of catastrophic proportions. Glacial Lake Missoula and Its Humongous Floods tells the gripping tale of a huge Ice Age lake that drained suddenly--not just once but repeatedly--and reshaped the landscape of the Northwest. The narrative follows the path of the floodwaters as they raged from western Montana across the Idaho Panhandle, then scoured through eastern Washington and down the Columbia Gorge to the Pacific Ocean. This is also the story of geologists grappling with scientific controversy--"of how personalities, pride, and prejudice sometimes superseded scientific evidence."
208 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2001
8 people are currently reading
111 people want to read
About the author
David D. Alt
19 books3 followersDavid Alt was an American geologist, teacher, writer, storyteller and author. He was the author of more than thirty books, including several titles in the Roadside Geology series published by Mountain Press.
He earned his Ph.D. in 1961 from the University of Texas, and joined the Department of Geology at The University of Montana in Missoula, Montana in 1965. He became professor Emeritus at The University of Montana in 2002. He died on April 26, 2015, in Missoula.
He earned his Ph.D. in 1961 from the University of Texas, and joined the Department of Geology at The University of Montana in Missoula, Montana in 1965. He became professor Emeritus at The University of Montana in 2002. He died on April 26, 2015, in Missoula.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
December 3, 2014
I don't know anything about David Alt's skills as a geologist but as a writer about geology he was exceptional. He wrote with an assumption that his audience was interested and intelligent but probably not well versed in geology. If you know nothing about geology when you pick up this book you'll know a bit when you're finished. The ice age floods shaped much of the landscape of Eastern WA and Northern and Western OR in the late Pleistocene which Alt describes clearly and logically without larding on gratuitous scientific jargon. The organization of the book helps as well. You follow the paths of the floods, learning how the physical evidence shows what went on.
When you finish this book you may well want to decamp to Missoula to drive the route of the floods.
When you finish this book you may well want to decamp to Missoula to drive the route of the floods.
August 7, 2011
I liked this book and it served its purpose - we were heading to western Montana and Idaho and I wanted to read something relevant to the area. And we can give myself a big check on that score.
It is a fascinating story - essentially a giant glacier would dam up the Clark Fork River, fill several enormous valleys with a lake until there was enough water to float the ice dam and break it, causing an enormous amount of water to come rushing out, and completely change the landscape of northern Idaho and western Washington, with more minor effects on western Montana and Oregon. Then the ice dam would reform, rinse, repeat.
The book itself is OK, with a couple of flaws that drove me a bit up the wall. It is organized so that the first few chapters are about the development of the theory of the floods, then the rest of the book follows the floods east to west. The problem is that the first several chapters of this section are about areas that formed part of Glacial Lake Missoula. Since within the chapters the narrative is chronological, you would find out about the area before the lake, while the lake was formed, and then during the flood. So you would find out about an area, follow its geology through flood, and then go back in time pre-flood and read down through the flood. It was disjointing. It is not until you get past the ice dam geographically that the narrative smooths out chronologically.
The second criticism I have is a pet peeve of mine - maps. There are actually a lot of maps, which is good. But they were either real high level or very detailed. Not really knowing the area it was often hard to figure where you were exactly.
Overall, it is a fascinating geological story but it could have been better.
It is a fascinating story - essentially a giant glacier would dam up the Clark Fork River, fill several enormous valleys with a lake until there was enough water to float the ice dam and break it, causing an enormous amount of water to come rushing out, and completely change the landscape of northern Idaho and western Washington, with more minor effects on western Montana and Oregon. Then the ice dam would reform, rinse, repeat.
The book itself is OK, with a couple of flaws that drove me a bit up the wall. It is organized so that the first few chapters are about the development of the theory of the floods, then the rest of the book follows the floods east to west. The problem is that the first several chapters of this section are about areas that formed part of Glacial Lake Missoula. Since within the chapters the narrative is chronological, you would find out about the area before the lake, while the lake was formed, and then during the flood. So you would find out about an area, follow its geology through flood, and then go back in time pre-flood and read down through the flood. It was disjointing. It is not until you get past the ice dam geographically that the narrative smooths out chronologically.
The second criticism I have is a pet peeve of mine - maps. There are actually a lot of maps, which is good. But they were either real high level or very detailed. Not really knowing the area it was often hard to figure where you were exactly.
Overall, it is a fascinating geological story but it could have been better.
September 30, 2016
Face it: I am a geology nerd. I bought a copy of this book in the gift shop at Multnomah Falls, and have enjoyed reading it, now that I am home from my latest enraptured trip through the Columbia Gorge. David Alt has an engaging, informative style -- his name is familiar from the many Roadside Geology of ........ books I have used and enjoyed through the years. There is something fascinating to me about the image of these immense post-glacial floods. If I have one criticism, it is that the many map drawings are a bit hard to make out. Perhaps more traditional topo would be easier to grasp. Or maybe all I really want is a nice video envisioning!
March 16, 2018
At the height of the most recent ice age, from around 17,000 to 10,000 years ago, the northern half of North America was buried beneath a massive ice sheet. Up to three miles thick at its center, the ice sheet sent lobes of glacial ice down into the northern tier of states in the United States. One of these lobes of ice flowed down the Purcell Valley in northern Idaho. As the ice crossed, and eventually blocked the Clark Fork River, it became an ice dam. Behind this dam was formed one of the largest glacial lakes to have existed during the last ice age. Known as Glacial Lake Missoula, it covered an area over 2,900 square miles, and was nearly 2,000 feet deep at its deepest point by the ice dam.
As the lake filled with water, the water was able to eventually float the dam, releasing a catastrophic flood. It is estimated that over 500 cubic miles of water was released emptied from the lake in only a few days time. This flood raced across much of Idaho, Washington, and Oregon through much of the Colombia River basin, creating the spectacular scabland terrain that characterizes eastern Washington.
The flood was amazing, and we can only imagine at what it was like to have seen or experienced this flood. What is even more amazing is that this flood didn’t happen once or twice, but at least thirty-six times! Each successive flood was slightly less massive than the one preceding it, but even the last and smallest flood, was still one of the largest floods to have been recorded.
This amazing lake, and the floods it spawned, is the subject of David Alt's book. Alt is professor of geology at the University of Missoula and has studied Glacial Lake Missoula and its floods since the 1960’s.
Glacial Lake Missoula and its Humongous Floods takes the reader on a journey examining the lake from its source in the valleys of Montana, and down the path of its flood to the coast at the mouth of the Columbia River. The book is well illustrated with photos and maps of Lake Missoula and the scablands that were created by the humongous floods.
Now, I admit that I wasn’t sure what to expect when I began reading this book. I have known about Lake Missoula, and I knew it had catastrophically drained, but not much else. The book's back cover tells the reader that this is “the story of geologists grappling with scientific controversy – ‘of how personalities, pride, and prejudice sometimes supersede scientific evidence.’” This grabbed my attention.
The book is easy to read, I was able to finish it in a few days of reading it during my lunch break. David Alt knows the lake well, and his knowledge is evident as you read the book. Unfortunately, I did not find much coverage devoted to the scientific controversy stated on the back cover. Alt mentions the controversy in the first few chapters, but it is not mentioned again except in passing throughout the rest of the book.
The controversy centers around the work of J Harlen Bretz, a geology professor from the University of Chicago, studied the scablands of Washington and Idaho. He was the first to propose that the scablands were the result of catastrophic floods in 1923. This earned him the derision and scorn of the majority of his colleagues who subscribed to the prevailing thought that there was never a geologic feature that could not be described in terms of slow and careful geologic processes. Catastrophic theory was never to be used as evidence in describing geologic features. Bretz was considered a heretic for many years for this outlandish theory, his critics asking Bretz for the source of all this water. Joseph T. Pardee, a geologist with the US Geological Survey had probably already located the source of Bretz’s flood as he first described Lake Missoula in 1910. It took over 10 years for Pardee to connect Lake Missoula with Bretz’s floods, but soon the evidence was in place.
Unfortunately, this is about the extent of the controversy covered by Alt. The rest of the book covers, in very good detail, the evidence for the lakes existence, and describes the scablands that were created by the floods. The information Alt provides is very detailed, but also reads like a travel log. In places I expected to see mile logs to help me find the locations described by Alt. Actually, mile logs and maps would have been helpful. The book is more appropriate as a travel log. Anyone familiar with the roads through Montana, Idaho, and Washington would be able to find these wonderful locations, but someone unfamiliar with the area would need a good map. The book provides some good maps showing the lake and scablands, but these are not as good for finding the locations.
Overall I found Glacial Lake Missoula and its Humongous Floods to be a good read, but it tried to fluctuate between providing a riveting tale of scientific controversy and a detailed guidebook and travel log for geologic features associated with Lake Missoula. As the former is seems to fall short as Alt spend most of the book describing the glacial lake and the evidence of its flood and very little time is given to the controversy sparked by J Harlen Bretz and other geologists. As the latter, the book is better, but could benefit from actual mile logs and more detailed maps.
Other than diving into the many scientific papers that cover Lake Missoula and its floods, this book is probably the best source for anyone interested in learning more about the lake and the floods.
As the lake filled with water, the water was able to eventually float the dam, releasing a catastrophic flood. It is estimated that over 500 cubic miles of water was released emptied from the lake in only a few days time. This flood raced across much of Idaho, Washington, and Oregon through much of the Colombia River basin, creating the spectacular scabland terrain that characterizes eastern Washington.
The flood was amazing, and we can only imagine at what it was like to have seen or experienced this flood. What is even more amazing is that this flood didn’t happen once or twice, but at least thirty-six times! Each successive flood was slightly less massive than the one preceding it, but even the last and smallest flood, was still one of the largest floods to have been recorded.
This amazing lake, and the floods it spawned, is the subject of David Alt's book. Alt is professor of geology at the University of Missoula and has studied Glacial Lake Missoula and its floods since the 1960’s.
Glacial Lake Missoula and its Humongous Floods takes the reader on a journey examining the lake from its source in the valleys of Montana, and down the path of its flood to the coast at the mouth of the Columbia River. The book is well illustrated with photos and maps of Lake Missoula and the scablands that were created by the humongous floods.
Now, I admit that I wasn’t sure what to expect when I began reading this book. I have known about Lake Missoula, and I knew it had catastrophically drained, but not much else. The book's back cover tells the reader that this is “the story of geologists grappling with scientific controversy – ‘of how personalities, pride, and prejudice sometimes supersede scientific evidence.’” This grabbed my attention.
The book is easy to read, I was able to finish it in a few days of reading it during my lunch break. David Alt knows the lake well, and his knowledge is evident as you read the book. Unfortunately, I did not find much coverage devoted to the scientific controversy stated on the back cover. Alt mentions the controversy in the first few chapters, but it is not mentioned again except in passing throughout the rest of the book.
The controversy centers around the work of J Harlen Bretz, a geology professor from the University of Chicago, studied the scablands of Washington and Idaho. He was the first to propose that the scablands were the result of catastrophic floods in 1923. This earned him the derision and scorn of the majority of his colleagues who subscribed to the prevailing thought that there was never a geologic feature that could not be described in terms of slow and careful geologic processes. Catastrophic theory was never to be used as evidence in describing geologic features. Bretz was considered a heretic for many years for this outlandish theory, his critics asking Bretz for the source of all this water. Joseph T. Pardee, a geologist with the US Geological Survey had probably already located the source of Bretz’s flood as he first described Lake Missoula in 1910. It took over 10 years for Pardee to connect Lake Missoula with Bretz’s floods, but soon the evidence was in place.
Unfortunately, this is about the extent of the controversy covered by Alt. The rest of the book covers, in very good detail, the evidence for the lakes existence, and describes the scablands that were created by the floods. The information Alt provides is very detailed, but also reads like a travel log. In places I expected to see mile logs to help me find the locations described by Alt. Actually, mile logs and maps would have been helpful. The book is more appropriate as a travel log. Anyone familiar with the roads through Montana, Idaho, and Washington would be able to find these wonderful locations, but someone unfamiliar with the area would need a good map. The book provides some good maps showing the lake and scablands, but these are not as good for finding the locations.
Overall I found Glacial Lake Missoula and its Humongous Floods to be a good read, but it tried to fluctuate between providing a riveting tale of scientific controversy and a detailed guidebook and travel log for geologic features associated with Lake Missoula. As the former is seems to fall short as Alt spend most of the book describing the glacial lake and the evidence of its flood and very little time is given to the controversy sparked by J Harlen Bretz and other geologists. As the latter, the book is better, but could benefit from actual mile logs and more detailed maps.
Other than diving into the many scientific papers that cover Lake Missoula and its floods, this book is probably the best source for anyone interested in learning more about the lake and the floods.
May 29, 2023
The strength of this book is that it is written by a professional geologist, who has studied the rock formations of Washington, northern Idaho, and western Montana for years. It is chock-full of information about almost every geological formation between Portland and Missoula. I can't wait to take the book with me as a guide to a long, leisurely tour of that part of the country (which I have never visited).
The weakness of this book is... that it is written by a professional geologist. Consider this: Alt is writing about the most stupendous flood that has happened on our planet in the last 15,000 years... next to which the so-called Noachian flood would look like a pipsqueak. And not only that... it happened 36 times! (By Alt's count; others say 41.) Yet Alt's scientific dispassion rarely lets the wonder of this event peek through. Now and then he does try, particularly in the title, with his use of the word "humongous." And a couple times he speculates about what the approaching flood would have sounded and felt like. A rumble in the distance as a 500-foot-high wall of water pounds through the Columbia River Gorge. A sudden blast of cold air, and then ... well, darn it, he doesn't say what then!
Instead, at least 75 percent of this book is just a factual litany of the evidence for the flood, one location at a time, proceeding in order through each prairie and coulee and spillway and gorge. The detail is numbing at times. Of course, I understand why it's there. To a geologist, the detail is the whole point. Such an extraordinary hypothesis requires extraordinary proof, and Alt is determined to give that to us and to leave no stone unturned (so to speak).
The book would have been more exciting also if he had told us more about the life of J. Harlen Bretz, the geologist who scandalized his peers in 1923 by proposing the idea of an enormous flood that formed the eastern Washingt0n scablands; and the life of J. T. Pardee, who made the theory much more plausible by identifying the source of the water (the glacial Lake Missoula of the title). Alt allots each of them one biographical chapter, and he reminds us now and then of the ongoing struggle of Bretz to persuade the skeptics -- most of whom had *never been* to the scablands of eastern Washington and had never seen the geological evidence he was writing about! At the end of the book, Alt writes a single page about the wrap-up of the scientific debate, and it's depressing indeed:
"The story of the long battle between J. Harlen Bretz and the dogmatists of geology has been told a good many times. It seems customary for those who tell it to finish with a rousing homily about how this episode opened the eyes of geologists to the great world of catastrophic events... I wish that were so, but know that it is not."
The End. Oof.
As a science writer, I see so much potential in this story if a science writer had written it. But Alt does not have the instincts of a writer. This book is about information, not entertainment.
Okay, now let me end the review by explaining the reasons for the wall of resistance that Bretz encountered. (Almost enough to resist a 500-foot wall of water... but not quite.) Science, and particularly geology, fought a long hard battle to discredit Biblical beliefs about great floods and other miracles. Bit by bit, geologists gathered evidence that the forces that shaped our planet have operated over a much longer time scale. But in the process, science hardened into a new form of orthodoxy. Catastrophes must *never* have occurred on our planet. A giant flood in the American northwest? Out of the question. Sounds like a just-so story, or something from the Bible.
In reality, the Missoula Lake floods were greater than anything envisioned in the Bible. Just think about it. The Biblical flood was (supposedly) the result of forty days and forty nights of rain. By contrast, the Missoula Lake floods were the result of fifty *years* of damming of the lake's sole outlet by Ice Age glaciers marching south from Canada. After 50 years, with the lake now a thousand feet deep, the water rose high enough to float the ice dam, just like floating a cork. Then the water flowed *under* the ice (not over) and the whole thing gave way. In a week's time, 50 years of precipitation and runoff gets dumped from Montana into Idaho, and starts racing pell-mell toward the Pacific Ocean any way it can: using existing waterways if possible, or scouring new routes through the mountains otherwise.
And here's the kicker: It happened 36 times. THIRTY. SIX. TIMES. Because once the ice dam broke, the glaciers didn't stop coming. They just reformed the ice dam, and behind it Lake Missoula filled up once again through 50 years of precipitation, only to be released once again when it got high enough to float the dam. That, if anything, is what makes this science and not a just-so story. Science should be replicable, and this was.
And then the Ice Age ended, the glaciers retreated, and Lake Missoula drained away for the last time, leaving fertile farmland in some places and flood-scoured scablands in others. And if you live in one of those states, that's how you got the landscape you live in today.
The weakness of this book is... that it is written by a professional geologist. Consider this: Alt is writing about the most stupendous flood that has happened on our planet in the last 15,000 years... next to which the so-called Noachian flood would look like a pipsqueak. And not only that... it happened 36 times! (By Alt's count; others say 41.) Yet Alt's scientific dispassion rarely lets the wonder of this event peek through. Now and then he does try, particularly in the title, with his use of the word "humongous." And a couple times he speculates about what the approaching flood would have sounded and felt like. A rumble in the distance as a 500-foot-high wall of water pounds through the Columbia River Gorge. A sudden blast of cold air, and then ... well, darn it, he doesn't say what then!
Instead, at least 75 percent of this book is just a factual litany of the evidence for the flood, one location at a time, proceeding in order through each prairie and coulee and spillway and gorge. The detail is numbing at times. Of course, I understand why it's there. To a geologist, the detail is the whole point. Such an extraordinary hypothesis requires extraordinary proof, and Alt is determined to give that to us and to leave no stone unturned (so to speak).
The book would have been more exciting also if he had told us more about the life of J. Harlen Bretz, the geologist who scandalized his peers in 1923 by proposing the idea of an enormous flood that formed the eastern Washingt0n scablands; and the life of J. T. Pardee, who made the theory much more plausible by identifying the source of the water (the glacial Lake Missoula of the title). Alt allots each of them one biographical chapter, and he reminds us now and then of the ongoing struggle of Bretz to persuade the skeptics -- most of whom had *never been* to the scablands of eastern Washington and had never seen the geological evidence he was writing about! At the end of the book, Alt writes a single page about the wrap-up of the scientific debate, and it's depressing indeed:
"The story of the long battle between J. Harlen Bretz and the dogmatists of geology has been told a good many times. It seems customary for those who tell it to finish with a rousing homily about how this episode opened the eyes of geologists to the great world of catastrophic events... I wish that were so, but know that it is not."
The End. Oof.
As a science writer, I see so much potential in this story if a science writer had written it. But Alt does not have the instincts of a writer. This book is about information, not entertainment.
Okay, now let me end the review by explaining the reasons for the wall of resistance that Bretz encountered. (Almost enough to resist a 500-foot wall of water... but not quite.) Science, and particularly geology, fought a long hard battle to discredit Biblical beliefs about great floods and other miracles. Bit by bit, geologists gathered evidence that the forces that shaped our planet have operated over a much longer time scale. But in the process, science hardened into a new form of orthodoxy. Catastrophes must *never* have occurred on our planet. A giant flood in the American northwest? Out of the question. Sounds like a just-so story, or something from the Bible.
In reality, the Missoula Lake floods were greater than anything envisioned in the Bible. Just think about it. The Biblical flood was (supposedly) the result of forty days and forty nights of rain. By contrast, the Missoula Lake floods were the result of fifty *years* of damming of the lake's sole outlet by Ice Age glaciers marching south from Canada. After 50 years, with the lake now a thousand feet deep, the water rose high enough to float the ice dam, just like floating a cork. Then the water flowed *under* the ice (not over) and the whole thing gave way. In a week's time, 50 years of precipitation and runoff gets dumped from Montana into Idaho, and starts racing pell-mell toward the Pacific Ocean any way it can: using existing waterways if possible, or scouring new routes through the mountains otherwise.
And here's the kicker: It happened 36 times. THIRTY. SIX. TIMES. Because once the ice dam broke, the glaciers didn't stop coming. They just reformed the ice dam, and behind it Lake Missoula filled up once again through 50 years of precipitation, only to be released once again when it got high enough to float the dam. That, if anything, is what makes this science and not a just-so story. Science should be replicable, and this was.
And then the Ice Age ended, the glaciers retreated, and Lake Missoula drained away for the last time, leaving fertile farmland in some places and flood-scoured scablands in others. And if you live in one of those states, that's how you got the landscape you live in today.
October 13, 2021
The Columbia Gorge, running along the border between the states of Oregon and Washingon, is perhaps the most striking non-volcanic geological feature to be found in the Pacific Northwest. But what carved out the gorge was a catastrophe that most geologists dismissed as impossible when it was first proposed by J. Harlen Bretz. Everyone knew that landscapes on the grand scale were shaped by slow processes. Achingly slow. So slow as to be largely imperceptible to humans. But Bretz did not rely on theory. He walked the dry scabland channels of eastern Washington in the 1920s, and came to understand that while it might be dry now, this was originally a landscape sculpted by water. Humongous floods of water, originating all the way over in western Montana at the end of the last Ice Age. That's where Lake Missoula formed, filled up by endless meltwater from the retreating Cordilleran Ice Sheet. Missoula was enormous, as big as Lakes Erie & Ontario combined, and all that water, 500 cubic miles of it, was contained by a massive ice dam some 2,000 feet high. When that dam broke, and it did break and reform dozens of times, the Humongous Floods described in the title of this book tore through Idaho's panhandle and then eastern Washington and Oregon, forming the Scablands. Then they gouged out the Gorge and turned much of the Willamette and Portland valleys into giant lakes in their own right before finally emptying out into the Pacific some 40 miles west of present-day Astoria. This book examines the evidence supporting that narrative across four states, along with the arguments mounted by geologists on both sides of the question - could such a monstrous catastrophe, repeated again and again and again, reshape that much of the Pacific Northwest in so short a time? Richly illustrated with maps, drawings, and photographs, the book is a watery roadmap of the disaster, one the author explains in clear, concise terms intended for the layman as well as other geologists. Recommended, especially if you're interested in the area or in natural disasters of this kind, which threaten the modern world as well now that climate change is melting glaciers all over the world.
March 12, 2025
Basically a textbook, but this was interesting. Definitely in over my head, didn’t realize how much geology we were going to be doing — things got very confusing until we reached the part of the book that dealt with Oregon & SW Washington where I was able to rely on understand of the geography to help make sense of the flow. I think zero people I know would enjoy this book like I did, but I thought it was interesting. Cool to learn about how the place I call home came to be!
“At that level, it held approximately 500 cubic miles of water, about half the volume of Lake Michigan.” (9)
“We concluded that the lake had filled and emptied at least thirty-six times… and that each successive sequence able it recorded fewer tears than the one beneath… evidently, the ice dam held for fewer tears each time the lake refilled.” (27)
“The US Geological Survey estimated in 1971 that the peak discharge through the Eddy Narrows was approximately ten times the combined flow of all the rivers of the world.” (84)
“It backed the Deschutes River approximately as far south as Maupin, about 52 miles south of I-84 on US197.” (157)
“They seem to be just north of Eugene, nearly at the south end of the valley. A lake high enough to float icebergs that far south was about 400 feet deep. It covered an area of almost 11,000 square miles.” (175)
“At that level, it held approximately 500 cubic miles of water, about half the volume of Lake Michigan.” (9)
“We concluded that the lake had filled and emptied at least thirty-six times… and that each successive sequence able it recorded fewer tears than the one beneath… evidently, the ice dam held for fewer tears each time the lake refilled.” (27)
“The US Geological Survey estimated in 1971 that the peak discharge through the Eddy Narrows was approximately ten times the combined flow of all the rivers of the world.” (84)
“It backed the Deschutes River approximately as far south as Maupin, about 52 miles south of I-84 on US197.” (157)
“They seem to be just north of Eugene, nearly at the south end of the valley. A lake high enough to float icebergs that far south was about 400 feet deep. It covered an area of almost 11,000 square miles.” (175)
April 3, 2023
Life is weird. I picked up a book called Bretz's Flood a week or two back at a library book sale for no other reason than it looked interesting. I read it on the plane trips from NC to MT because that's when I had time. In our Airbnb I found this book that tells the other half of the story. While reading I realized that the glacial lake shorelines of Mounts Jumbo and Sentinel are visible out the window beside the chair where I'm reading.
This book is a fairly quick read but contains a lot of information. The photos and maps/diagrams are excellent and perfectly augment the text.
This book is a fairly quick read but contains a lot of information. The photos and maps/diagrams are excellent and perfectly augment the text.
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August 23, 2021If my high school counselors had put me in geology classes, well, I'd have been pretty happy (and scared). This book explains mysteries you might never have heard of, but once you do know, you might just crave a long road trip out West.
I was alerted to this whole topic by my Uncle Phil, who took me on a road trip to see Dry Falls in Washington state one year. I go back every time I can, it is so awesome. And that's WITHOUT water!
He also pointed out many geological features related to these floods as we travelled, lighting fire to an interest I maintain to this day when I travel out West.
The book is a fast read, there are good black and white photos showing features described in the text. I'm going to Oregon shortly for an extended visit, and this book is going with me.
I was alerted to this whole topic by my Uncle Phil, who took me on a road trip to see Dry Falls in Washington state one year. I go back every time I can, it is so awesome. And that's WITHOUT water!
He also pointed out many geological features related to these floods as we travelled, lighting fire to an interest I maintain to this day when I travel out West.
The book is a fast read, there are good black and white photos showing features described in the text. I'm going to Oregon shortly for an extended visit, and this book is going with me.
October 12, 2025
4+ stars. This isn’t a super well written book (as other reviewers here have noted), but it is adequately written by a knowledgable expert and the story it tells in wonderful detail is absolutely fascinating, especially if you are a local to this region, where there is a lifetime of observation to be made of both the effects of Lake Missoula’s catastrophic floods as well as the evidence of other water and basalt and ice flows stretching back tens of millions of years.
April 11, 2020
I certainly have a better understanding of the Missoula Floods having read this book. However, I found myself wishing there were better maps in the book. Sometimes I would grab my tablet to look for maps and images. Still I enjoyed this guide and want to know more. I wonder if there are new understandings that have come to light since this book was written.
May 27, 2022
This is an easily readable, meant for non-professionals, full of interesting information presented well with maps and pictures, geology book. I like learning about the geology of the very diverse US. I'm this part of Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon to my list of places to go and see for myself. Will take the book when I go.
January 18, 2018
Coolest thing I didn't know about : kolks
Went whoa reading about "rock flour".
Fascinating info. Really want to go see Palouse Falls now.
Wish the near here had been covered more. Feels like too little. But maybe that's just because I was so excited.
Went whoa reading about "rock flour".
Fascinating info. Really want to go see Palouse Falls now.
Wish the near here had been covered more. Feels like too little. But maybe that's just because I was so excited.
January 15, 2024
Now if only I could retain all the information I just read.
July 1, 2024
A lot of interesting information about where I live.
November 26, 2022
If you take a walk up the "M" when in Missoula, you can see the water level lines by your feet. Where the cit is was once under 600 feet of water! This book explains .
September 12, 2014
I've intended to read this book for a long time because we live very near the site of Ancient Lake Missoula and can see most of the evidence of its floods quite easily. I enjoyed putting the pieces together, driving down to the sites of the flooding and picking out the ripple marks of the enormous lake on the sides of the hills southwest of the present Flathead Lake.
I've traveled along the Columbia River and have been awed at the sight of hanging waterfalls and the scablands in Washington State.
The geology of the west is astounding in scope, and to be able to view its remains firsthand is humbling.
I've traveled along the Columbia River and have been awed at the sight of hanging waterfalls and the scablands in Washington State.
The geology of the west is astounding in scope, and to be able to view its remains firsthand is humbling.
January 15, 2016
I can't believe I've lived in Missoula (where a popular bumper sticker implores us to "Restore Glacial Lake Missoula") ten years and haven't read this book until now. This nicely written and well-illustrated overview of our namesake ancient lake has given me a pleasant new perspective and appreciation for our landscape. (I am sure I will still curse the rocky soil, however.) Should be required reading for Missoulians and all those who dwell in the path of the calamitous ice age floods.
June 10, 2007
Entertaining and interesting for the geologist and the non-scientist alike. This book describes the amazing floods that shaped the landscape of the Inland Northwest. David Alt does an excellent job of describing what a flood of that proportion would have looked and sounded like. Alt has also contributed to a number of books in the Roadside Geology series.
August 25, 2008
If you're interested in geology, especially of the Northwest, this is a don't miss book. It has been out for a few years, and I've read other things on catastrophic geology, but this is one that is written for non-geologists making the topic understandable. And it helps that I've been through most of the country he writes about.
May 31, 2015
I picked this up at a bookstore in the Spokane, WA airport, as it was recommended by an Aunt of mine who had toured the terrain covered in the book. The book seems to work best when read on the ground where the events happened. I still enjoyed it, especially letting myself imagine what the magnitude of the repeated floods must have looked like.
April 6, 2013
A Must-Read for residents of Eastern Washington
I finally understand the landscape I've been driving through all my life. Well written for the non-geologist. A sweeping story from the last ice age to capture your imagination.
I finally understand the landscape I've been driving through all my life. Well written for the non-geologist. A sweeping story from the last ice age to capture your imagination.
December 26, 2015
Dry but accessible. Would be a great companion on a drive from Missoula to Portland. Made me want to see a lot more of eastern Washington and a whole new level of appreciation for the landscape between Missoula and Spokane and up to Kallispell.
January 21, 2015
About the Megaflood, which happened 15 thousand years before. How coulee, cliffs and many structures were formed in a singe day.
This is quite a specialised book, which mostly caters to geologist, but still anyone can read it.
This is quite a specialised book, which mostly caters to geologist, but still anyone can read it.
June 4, 2008
Everything you ever wanted to know about the catastrophic Ice Age floods that formed the Columbia River basin in Washington. If that sounds boring, stay the heck away from this book.
October 30, 2009
Very interesting history of cyclic ice ages and the "Humongous Floods" that followed each. Only for those interested in ancient geologic history.
March 27, 2014
The book was great! Now my dream is to follow the path of the numerous ice age floods from Montana to the Pacific.
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