Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
A view looking north from Forest Grove, Washington County, by J.S. Diller, 1896.
explorations were known as the Pacific Railroad
Surveys from 1853 to 1855, and the geologists em-
ployed to survey Oregon and northern California were
John Evans and John S. Newberry.
The first railroad survey of the northwest
funded by the U.S. government set out from St. Paul in
1853 with John Evans hired as the geologist of the
expedition that was overseen by Isaac Ingalls Stevens,
newly appointed as Governor of Washington territory.
Evans, whose training was in medicine,
"was intrusted
with the geological reconnaissance of Oregon...".
Once in
Oregon Territory, Evans began his work on the Colum-
bia River, exploring much of Washington before
finding himself 150 miles south on the Umpqua River.
He then traversed to Empire, near Coos Bay, before
returning north by way of the Willamette Valley and
Vancouver. Unfortunately the "Geological Survey of
Oregon and Washington Territories" by Evans was
never received by Stevens and was thought to have
been lost. A partial log of Evans' trip was found 50
years later and deposited at the Smithsonian. The log
was never officially published, although typewritten
copies entitled the "Route from Fort Vancouver, 1854-
56" are available. With so many gaps, however, and
only references to the lithology in the notes, the report
is only of limited geologic value.
A professor of geology and chemistry at the
School of Mines at Columbia College, New York,
Newberry was titled the geologist and botanist of the
survey which left San Francisco in 1855. This party was
under the leadership of Lieutenant R.S. Williamson
and Lieutenant Henry L. Abbot of the Army Corps of
Topographical Engineers.
Once over the Sierra and Klamath Mountains,
the men spent a month crossing and recrossing the
Cascades near the Three Sisters permitting Newberry
to study the geology of the Cascade and John Day
regions in great detail. The variety and color of the
John Day beds impressed Newberry.
"Some are pure
white, others pink, orange, blue, brown, or green. The
sections made by their exposure have a picturesque and
peculiar appearance...".
Following the "Mpto-ly-as"
(Metolius) and Deschutes rivers, Newberry reported on
the stratigraphy and structure of the canyons. The
warm springs of the Deschutes were examined and
analyzed separately by E. N. Horsford, who accompa-
nied the party. Newberry was the first to differentiate
between the coastal chain in California and the Oregon
Cascades. He correctly identified glacial features in the
Cascades and erosional evidence in the Columbia River
canyon. His most significant economic contribution was
an account of the coal mining possibilities of "Coose
Bay", Vancouver Island, and Cape Flattery.
Volume VI of the Pacific Railroad Survey
included the "Reports on the Geology, Botany, and
Zoology of Northern California and Oregon", made to
