Calendar Update!

"Come to the History Workshop April 23!" --June Reynolds, President

•4th Grade Pioneer Days is May-June week.

•History Camp will begin June 27.

•Next business meetings will be April 25, May 23 and June 20. The announced program on The 40's has been canceled, owing to re-construction at Morback House Museum.

Clyde Ray List Commentary: Somewhere Albert Einstein is Smiling.

Believe it or not. Sherwood's bedrock once caught the attention of Albert Einstein. The rocky layer is part of what is known as the Columbia River Basalts. A controversial scientist named Immanuel Velikovsky wrote a paper about the basalt and presented it to Albert Einstein. E. was so impressed with this and other things V. said, that he mentions V. during his final (1955) interview with the Scientific American.

Last night, I asked the geologists, archeologists and paleontologists that meet under the roof provided by the Tualatin Historical Society whether they had ever seen the manuscript. I expected them to call me crazy, as so many people have done over the years. But this time they did not. They had never heard of Immanuel Velikovsky.

It was a very enjoyable and thought-provoking meeting.

SPECIAL BONUS! See what a Native American has to say about Pacific Northwest geology!

Walk with the Experts May 14

The Tualatin-Sherwood geology tour

Expert guidance in conjunction with the Song Bird Festival at the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge. A project encouraged jointly by the Tualatin and Sherwood Historical Societies.

How Ice Age Floods shaped Our Landscape

Dr. Robert G. Waits, whose research confirmed that multiple flood events carved our region over a 3,000 year period starting about 15,000 years ago, speaks at 7:00 pm, April 13 at Tualatin Public Library. Dr. Waits asserts that rich soils carried by the floods and scoured from hillsides along the way were the major reason people settled in the Willamette Valley. The evening program is sponsored by Tualatin Historical Society, Lower Columbia Chapter of the Ice Age Institute, and Tualatin Library. There is a $3 suggested donation.

Dr. Waitt has led ten Missoula Floods field trips in conjunction with the Ice Age Floods Institute and has been instrumental in bringing awareness of the floods story to the public. He was a featured expert in a documentary about the floods produced by OPB as well as the NOVA segment "Mystery of the Megafloods". He also served as a member of the Ice Age Floods Task Force that laid the foundation in 1992 for the Ice Age Floods National Geologic Trail which will create a trail covering the four state floods region: Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon.

Note: Dr. Scott Burns, Tualatin’s expert geologist, will be speaking April 23 at Tualatin Library.

NOTE: The etching is by Gustave Doré (1833-1883). It illustrates an event recorded in the 10th Chapter of Joshua, the Bible. It also illustrates a point being made by more and more geologists lately: The difference between geological time and historical time is not so easy to define anymore.