When It Rains It Doesn't Pour « I've reached the land of rain and mud where flowers and trees so early bud. It rains and rains both night and day in Oregon, it rains always. Oh Oregon, wet Oregon, as through the rain and mud I run, I look about behind around and see the rain soak in the ground, I look about and see it pour and wish it wouldn't rain anymore. Oh, Oregon girls, wet Oregon girls, with laughing eyes and soggy curls; They'll sing and dance both night and day 'Til some webfooter comes their way; They'll meet him at the kitchen door Saying "wipe your feet or come no more.” —Manuscript from the Randall U. Mills Archives, University of Oregon Where Currents Merge: The Maritime Northwest by Steve Johnson Ten thousand years ago the last great advance of ice had peaked and was dechning. Most of Canada and much of the United States was covered with ice and snow. But even then the area we call the Maritime Northwest, a thin strip of land 100 miles west to east, and extending the length of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and northern California, was relatively moist, more humid than today, and green. The glaciers extended into Washington, but in Oregon did not reach out much beyond the higher elevations of the present Cascade mountain range. The storm track, bringing moderate marine air into the region, was eight degrees further south than it is today. The climate of western Oregon shifted accordingly and was more like the present day climate of the British Columbia coastal area. It was this narrow strip of land that allowed the migration of tribes from the Asian continent; with its north and south running mountains, the green belt of land also allowed for the migration of plants and animals, throwing their seed forward in advance of the glaciers, like a vital dossier, keeping their DNA instructions just ahead of extinction. The effects of the glacial activity are still visible in both Washington and Oregon. The North Cascades remain uncovered by earth, and this region is today the largest glaciated area in the continental United States. Puget Sound is the result of glacial flooding that covered a series of river valleys. The Scablands in eastern Washington are the result of a flood that emptied a lake one-half the size of Lake Michigan out over the eastern part of Washington, down the Columbia River, and up the Willamette. This same flood rushed out across Washington, through the Columbia Gorge and, at the confluence with the Willamette, was deflected up the valley, creating a lake (400 feet deep) extending as far as Junction City in Lane County. Deposits of material transported from such floods fill the valley floors of the Maritime, creating sometimes shallow topsoil on top of undigested upper elevation material (gravels), or deposits of very fine material, known in the geological trade as "rock flour." The Maritime has many characteristics that remain constant throughout, but there may be as much climatic variation within the region as there is between the region itself and other regions. Coastal Region Running north and south is a thin strip of flatland that extends between the high tide and the Coast Range. The flow of flat and rolling land on this strip is interrupted by jutting rocky headlands, made of more resistant material, laced between sand dunes and flooded river valleys, where harbors open up to the sea and most of the coastal people live. The air off the Pacific Ocean moves 21
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