
Kalapuyan Eyewitnesses to the Megaflood in the Willamette Valley
Native oral history is based on actual historic events of their tribal past. For the Kalapuyans this is also true. Some 15,000 to 12,000 years ago a series of megafloods occurred (upwards of 40 in some theories) in western Oregon. The glacial dams created by the glacial masses which reached the Columbia River during this period, caused a massive lake or series of lakes to form up to Missoula, Montana, which scholars call Lake Missoula. When the earth began warming, the glaciers began receding causing cracks to form in the ice dams. A series of catastrophic breaches of the dams … Continue reading Kalapuyan Eyewitnesses to the Megaflood in the Willamette Valley