than downtown Portland. • 7 7 ' Northeast From the shores of the Columbia the land rises 200 feet to the ridge where the Alameda, Beaumont-Wilshire and Rose City Park neighborhoods are built. There are few tree islands* in the northeast, except along the Alameda ridge and down 100-150 feet into the Irvington and Grant Park neighborhoods. The lowland neighborhoods—Piedmont, Woodlawn, Concordia, Humboldt, King, Sabin, Eliot and Hollywood—are exposed to the sun with less obstruction from hills, trees and close buildings. During the summer, a Tualatin Mountain shadow resident on the west side of the Willamette experiences several hours of cooling conditions after the sun has passed behind the ridge, while the lowlands to the southeast and northeast are still in full daylight. *Tree Island: areas with more natural or man-made expanses of vegetation. River Bend The Willamette River bends in two places in Portland. In the north the University Park, Arbor Lodge, Overlook and Eliot neighborhoods border Mock's Crest, where Lewis and Clark surveyed and reported on the Willamette River. The land drops down to Mock's Bottom and Swan Island, a pattern that is duplicated further south where Sellwood, Westmoreland and Brooklyn border Oaks Bottom. At the Oaks Bottom river bend are Ross and Hardtack Islands, home of Portland's only Blue Heron Rookery. The area neighbors one of Portland's most extensive patchworks of tree islands. Southeast Tree Islands Oaks Bottom is separated by only a few blocks in the Sellwood neighborhood from Crystal Springs and Johnson Creek, the tree islands of Eastmoreland and Garthwick, the headwaters of Crystal Springs at Reed College, the golf course greenways of Waverley, and the parks of Eastmoreland and Johnson Creek, Tideman Johnson and Westmoreland. There are two other notable tree island areas in southeast: Laurelhurst and Ladd's Addition. The Laurelhurst neighborhood encircles the park and its small, spring-fed lake like a large amphitheater. Under Ladd's Addition is a cleverly disguised small watershed. Old maps of Portland (1868) show many springs in lower southeast starting around 12th and Hawthorne and running south to Reed College—all now dried up or encased in metal drainage tubes. Southeast Lowlands Northeast Portland is separated from Southeast, according to the street grid, by Burnside, but the decisive natural feature is Sullivan's Gulch (1-84). Between southeast and northeast there is a cement maze that includes several of the city's major thoroughfares (Sandy Blvd., Broadway, 1-84) and other developments (Lloyd Center, Memorial Coliseum), to create one of the heaviest air pollution areas in the city. Southeast Portland slopes up from the river in a series of steps that are most noticeable when bicycling up or down Belmont or Hawthorne streets, and which reach out toward Mt. Tabor (the only extinct volcano in a major American city) and the hills (Boring Lava rock formations) of far southeast. The gradual climb from the Willamette provides some parts of southeast Portland with south-facing slopes. Although the founders of Sunnyside neighborhood had only promotion in mind—"on the sunny side of the river"—the area happens to be at the center of some of the best solar real estate in the city. Far enough away from the shadow of the Tualatin Mountains, with large lots and a predominantly low-profile residential, rather than tall commercial, character, it provides good prospects for solar retrofitting of houses. Further east and south, in the Errol Heights and Lents neighborhoods, several slopes provide due south exposure to low winter sunlight and some protection from blistering east winds. Southeast Hills South and southeast of Mt. Tabor more hills arise: Mt. Scott and Errol Heights to the south, Kelly and Powell buttes to the southeast, and other hills which roll out toward the Clackamas River. The hills experience more rainfall— 50-54 inches compared to 46 inches in downtown Portland. Some of the area is more exposed to the east wind, while the hills also provide slight protection on the west side near Milwaukie. Some of the highlands, especially Errol Heights, provide low and moderate income people one of the few view- tops not dominated by wealthier development. Tualatin Ridge Shadow At the base of the Tualatin Mountains (sometimes referred to as the West Hills) lie the neighborhoods of Linnton, Goose Hollow, Corbett, Terwilliger and Lair Hill Park. The bench between the river and the ridge is narrow at both ends (at Linnton and Corbett-Terwilli- ger) and at its widest in the northwest industrial area, lower northwest and downtown. The northwest industrial area was once an extensive marshland with Guilds Lake at its center. Several small streams fed the marsh; only Balch Creek still flows, separating lower Northwest Portland from Forest Park. Other creeks included Tanner's, which crossed Burnside at about 13th, and Johnson Creek, which started in the same area as Tanner's Creek on Kings Height. The Corbett-Terwilliger area had a similar, but smaller, marshland near the Marquam Gulch, where several springs came together, including Ennois Creek, which flowed to the Willamette near Sheridan Street. Downtown Downtown Portland is situated on a small hill that rises gradually up from the Willamette, rising more sharply in the south near Portland State University. The "heat island" effect of an urban environment is most noticeable here; heat from buildings and automobiles, and the slower radiating quality of cement, create a distinct micro-climate. Temperatures at night here may be 10-15 degrees warmer than at Beaverton, west of the Tualatin Mountains. Tualatin Mountains When the great flood of ten thousand years ago rushed into the Portland area it met only a few obstacles, such as Rocky Butte and Mt. Tabor, where it deposited undigested glacial material; rock and gravel that is now being mined at the Lavelle landfill on 82nd Avenue. 27
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