Basic HTML Version
January 3, 2013
TUALATIN CENTENNIAL
19
408300.010313
The City of
Wilsonville
congratulates our neighbors in
Tualatin on celebrating the
100th anniversary of
their city
Wilsonville Mayor Tim Knapp and the City Council
City of Wilsonville
48 5PXO $FOUFS -PPQ &BTU r 8JMTPOWJMMF
03
1IPOF
r &NBJM DPVODJM!DJ XJMTPOWJMMF PS VT
8FC XXXDJ XJMTPOWJMMF PS VT
408293.010313 TC
By SAUNDRA SORENSON
Pamplin Media Group
W
ith the sawmill long closed
and agriculture on the de-
cline, a new kind of indus-
try is emerging in Tualatin.
In addition to semiconductor manufactur-
ing, the city is poised to become an impor-
tant destination in a new, unusual kind of
travel experience: Ice Age Tourism.
As president of the Lower Columbia
Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute
Rick Thompson explains, Tualatin is at
the crossroads of a route as significant as
the Lewis and Clark Trail: the Ice Age
Floods Trail.
During massive floods that happened
about 15,000 years ago, an ice dam in the
Idaho panhandle gave way and sent the
500 cubic mile Lake Missoula on a two-
day deluge from what is now Idaho
through Washington and the Gorge. It
was as though two of the smaller Great
Lakes had emptied, and the flood made
its way through the Tualatin Valley by
way of Lake Oswego. Flood waters made
it as far south as Eugene. In Tualatin,
waters reached depths of 400 feet.
This massive natural disaster explains
a lot about Oregon: Why Willamette Val-
ley has soil fertile enough to sustain its
own renowned vineyards, for example. It
also explains Tualatin’s rich geological
heritage —why, for example, so many
non-indigenous rock formations have
turned up in the city. Like the large piece
of granite that now sits outside the Tual-
atin Heritage Center. The rock originated
in Missoula, Mont.
Although the Omnibus Public Land
Management Act of 2009 designated the
Ice Age flood path between Missoula,
Mont., and the Pacific Ocean as part of
the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Sys-
tem, lack of funding leaves it to cities like
Tualatin to play up the region’s role in
this unique period of pre-history.
Grants approved to the city and Cham-
ber of Commerce offer Tualatin a chance
to highlight its role as a point of geologi-
cal and prehistoric interest — although
the locally unearthed mastodon skeleton
on display in the library is a great start.
Ice Age Tourism could be
new resource for city
A different kind of Oregon trail, a unique industry
PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP PHOTO: PATRICK COTE
Yvonne Addington wants people to be more aware of the mastodon exhibit at the Tualatin
Public Library.