Lewis and Clark's Columbia River
Lewis & Clark's Columbia River - "200 Years Later"
"Boring Lava Field, Washington and Oregon"
Includes ... Boring ... Boring Lava Field ... Battle Ground Lake ... Beacon Rock ... Bear Prairie ... Biddle Butte ... Bobs Mountain ... Broughton Bluff ... Brunner Hill ... Chamberlain Hill ... Devils Rest ... Green Mountain ... Kelly Butte ... Larch Mountain ... Mount Norway ... Mount Pleasant ... Mount Scott ... Mount Tabor ... Mount Talbert ... Mount Zion ... Nichols Hill ... Pepper Mountain ... Powell Butte ... Prune Hill ... Rocky Butte ... Willamette National Cemetary ...
Image, 2006, Boring Lava Cones east of Portland, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Boring Lava Cones east of Portland, Oregon. Late afternoon view from the Interstate 205 Bridge crossing the Columbia River. Image taken August 8, 2006.


Boring Lava Field ...
The Boring Lava Field surrounds Portland, Oregon, and contains nearly 80 vents. The field averages one to two million years old, with the youngest vent in the northeast part of the field being approximately 57,000 years old, and the oldest at the southern end of the field being nearly three million years old. As Lewis and Clark paddled down the Columbia River, west of the Columbia River Gorge, they passed many cones of the Boring Lava Field, from shield volcanoes such as Larch Mountain, to smaller cones like Rocky Butte.

Portland area ...
"The Portland area has its share of volcanic buttes, including Mount Tabor, Rocky Butte, and Mount Sylvan. These and dozens more local buttes are part of the Boring volcanic field, named for the town of Boring. They first developed about 2 million years ago as faulting pulled the Portland Basin apart, and may have opened the Willamette Valley to the south as well. However, many of these small volcanic vents have proven to be quite young. Rocky Butte, on the east side of Portland, erupted a mere 98,000 years ago. To the north, near Vancouver, Washington, Battle Ground Lake State Park protects a volcanic vent only about 105,000 years old. Some geologists regard the Boring volcanic field as still potentially active."


Source:    Ellen Morris Biship and John E. Allen, 2004, Hiking Oregon's Geology, The Mountaineers Books.

"Starting about 3 million to 2.4 million years ago, small eruptions of olivine-rich basalt and basaltic andesite began to occur throughout the Portland Basin, forming the Boring volcanic field. Most of the eruptions produced small cinder cones and a few lava flows, although some produced small shield volcanoes, plugs, or flows that covered significant areas. The ages are distributed fairly evenly form the onset to the most recent, at about 120 thousand years."


Source:    Ian P. Madin, 2009, "Portland, Oregon, geology by tram, train, and foot", Oregon Geology, Vol.69, No.1, Fall 2009, Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries.

Boring ...
The Boring Lava Field gets its name from the town of Boring, Oregon, which in turn was named for W.H. Boring, an old resident of the area. The district was known to old setters as the Boring neighborhood, and in 1903 a townsite was platted and called Boring Junction. The Boring Post Office was established in March 1903. Builders of the interurban railway adopted "Boring" as the name of the community.

Image, 2017, Boring, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		"Welcome to Boring, Oregon". Image taken October 18, 2017.
Image, 2017, Boring, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Boring, Oregon". View heading east on Oregon Highway 212. Image taken October 18, 2017.


Informational excerpts from Evarts, 2009 ...
In 2009, Russ Evarts and others wrote a Boring Lava road guide published in the Geological Society of America's Field Guide #15. Here are some excerpts, not necessarily in the order written and occasionally paraphrased (like meters into feet, Ma in million years ago, etc.) for easier reading.

  • "More than 80 small volcanoes are scattered throughout the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area of northwestern Oregon and southwestern Washington. These volcanoes constitute the Boring Volcanic Field."

  • We have identified nearly 80 individual centers in the Boring Volcanic Field.

  • "The Boring Volcanic Field is an assemblage of late Pliocene and Pleistocene volcanic vents and associated lava flows dispersed throughout the greater Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area of northwestern Oregon and southwestern Washington. The name derives from a group of volcanic-capped hills near the community of Boring, approximately twelve miles southeast of downtown Portland. The limits of the volcanic field are well defined except on the east where it merges into coeval volcanic rocks of the Cascade volcanic arc.

  • We arbitrarily place the eastern boundary of the Boring Volcanic Field at longitude 122°W.

  • The youngest centers, 50-130 thousand years old, are found in the northern part of the field.

  • The youngest dated volcano in the Boring Volcanic Field is the massive plug of Beacon Rock at 57 thousand years, its enclosing cinder cone eveidently having been stripped by the latest Pleistocene Missoula Floods.

  • The undated maar at Battle Ground Lake, which was blasted through an around 100 thousand years lava flow, is the only other known vent likely to be much younger than approximately 100 thousand years.

  • The Portland Basin was severely impacted by the colossal latest Pleistocene (17,000-12,000 Carbon14 years B.P.) Missoula Floods, which would have obliterated small cinder cones, tuff cones, and maars or buried them beneath as much as 100 feet of slack-water silt. Centers with extensive lava flows or vent-filling plugs, however, (Prune Hill, Rocky Butte, Beacon Rock) survived the onslaught.

  • Most mapped volcanic centers in the Boring Volcanic Field consist of variably degraded monogenetic cinder cones and spatially associated lava flows. Other vents are marked by small shields, domes, or exhumed subvolcanic intrusions. Olivine-phyric basalt and basaltic andesite dominate the field; andesites are rare but make up one of the larger edifices, the shield volcano at Larch Mountain.

  • As is common in monogenetic volcanic fields, identified vents are not randomly dispersed but instead concentrated in clusters of 3-6 vents, commonly aligned, that erupted compositionally similar magma over short time spans. Examples are the Bobs Mountain and Portland Hills clusters.

  • Eruptions of individual monogenetic centers typically last only a few days to a few months but larger outpourings such as those that built Mount Sylvania and Larch Mountain may have extended for years to decades.

Eruption Ages ...
From Evarts, et.al., (2009, GSA Field Guilde 15):

  • Local volcanism within the Boring Volcanic Field began in the southern part of the ancestral Portland Basin in latest Pliocene time. Between 2.6 million years and 2.4 million years, these eruptions produced extensive basalt flows, a large basaltic andesite shield volcano at Highland Butte, several monogenetic basaltic andesite cinder cones and flows, and an andesite flow.

  • No documented volcanic activity occurred in the Portland Basin during the ensuing 750 thousand years.

  • Volcanic activity in the Boring Volcanic Field resumed at around 1.6 million years with the eruption of moderately alkalic basalts in the eastern part of the area and construction of the Mount Scott shield volcano in the Portland Basin a few miles north of the late Pliocene centers. These were followed shortly thereafter by eruptions in the Cascade foothills, including those that built the Larch Mountain andesitic volcano.

  • After approximately 1.3 million years, volcanism became more widely distributed and compositionally diverse. By 1.0 million years, volcanic centers had appeared in all parts of the Boring Volcanic Field. Activity has continued sporadically since that time, interrupted only by an apparent lull near 500 thousand years.

Some Viewing Spots ...
Evarts 2009 report and road log also lists a couple of good view points to see various Boring Lava Cones, such as Rocky Butte (a Boring cone itself) and Crown Point and Vista House.

View from Rocky Butte:

  • The view from the observation deck encompasses most of the Boring volcanic field as well as Mount St. Helens to the north and Mount Hood to the east. The low forested hills to the southeast are the Boring Hills, from which the name of the volcanic field is derived. Many of the isolated low hills scattered through the urban area are volcanic centers or consist of fluvial gravels that have volcanic rocks on them. The include, closkwise from the north, Green Mountain, Prune Hill (Fisher Quarry), Chamberlain Hill, Devils Rest, Larch Mountain (with its pronounced prow), Pepper Mountain, Powell Butte (in front of the Boring Hills), Kelly Butte, and Mount Tabor. To the west, downtown Portland sits at the base of the Portland Hills, a northwest-striking anticlinal ridge capped by a few small Boring centers. Directly east is the mouth of the Columbia River Gorge. About 17,000 years ago, the colossal glacier-outburst Missoula Floods poured out of the gorge taking dead aim at the Rocky Butte volcano, stripping away the cinders that likely enclosed the massive basaltic andesite we stand on and producing a pronounced arcuate moat-like depression on the butte's east side. The summit park is probably within the throat of the vent.

View from Crown Point:

  • Several volcanoes of the eastern part of the Boring Volcanic Field can be seen from here including Mount Pleasant and Biddle Butte (Mount Zion), with Bobs Mountain in the background, across the Columbia River in Washington. Upriver to the east is Beacon Rock, a basaltic andesite neck that is the youngest date Boring center, at 57 thousand years. Boring centers that are also visible south of the river in Oregon include Devils Rest, Pepper Mountain, and Larch Mountain.


Boring Lava Cones ... (alphabetical)

Washington State:
  • Battle Ground Lake ...
  • Beacon Rock ...
  • Bear Prairie ...
  • Biddle Butte (Mount Zion) ...
  • Bobs Mountain ...
  • Brunner Hill ...
  • Green Mountain ...
  • Mount Norway ...
  • Mount Pleasant ...
  • Nichols Hill ...
  • Pohls Hill ...
  • Prune Hill ...

Oregon:

  • Chamberlain Hill ...
  • Devils Rest ...
  • Kelly Butte ...
  • Larch Mountain ...
  • Mount Scott ...
  • Mount Tabor ...
  • Mount Talbert ...
  • Pepper Mountain ...
  • Powell Butte ...
  • Rocky Butte ...
  • Willamette National Cemetery ...

Gresham's Boring and non-Boring Buttes:

  • Butler Butte ...
  • Clatsop Buttes ...
  • Gabbert Butte (Gabbert Hill) ...
  • Grant Butte ...
  • Gresham Butte (Walters Hill) ...
  • Hogan Butte ...
  • Jenne Butte ...
  • Sunshine Butte ...
  • Towle Butte ...

Other Oregon Boring Cones named in Allen, 1975:

  • Cooks Butte ...
  • Elk Point ...
  • Highland Butte ...
  • Hunsinger Peak ...
  • Lenhart Butte ...
  • Lookout Point ...
  • Mount Sylvania ...
  • Nesmith Point ...
  • Ross Mountain ...
  • Scout Camp ...
  • Swede Hill ...
  • TV Hill ...
  • Walker Peak ...


Washington

  • Battle Ground Lake ...
  • Beacon Rock ...
  • Bear Prairie ...
  • Biddle Butte (Mount Zion) ...
  • Bobs Mountain ...
  • Brunner Hill ...
  • Green Mountain ...
  • Mount Norway ...
  • Mount Pleasant ...
  • Nichols Hill ...
  • Pohls Hill
  • Prune Hill ...


Battle Ground Lake, Clark County, Washington ...
Battle Ground Lake is a small maar volcano of the Boring Lava Field. A maar volcano is the result of hot lava or magma pushing up near the surface of the earth and then coming into contact with underground water. This results in a large steam explosion, leaving a crater that later forms a lake.

According to Evarts, et.al., (2009, GSA Field Guide 15):

"The youngest dated volcano in the Boring Volcanic Field is the massive plug of Beacon Rock at 57 thousand years, its enclosing cinder cone evidently having been stripped by the lastest Pleistocene Missoula Floods. The undated maar at Battle Ground Lake, which was blasted through an approximately 100 thousand years lava flow, is the only other known vent likely to be much younger than approximately 100 thousand years."

[More Battle Ground Lake]


Image, 2013, Battle Ground Lake, Washington, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Dock, Battle Ground Lake State Park, Washington. Image taken October 21, 2013.
Image, 2013, Battle Ground Lake, Washington, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Battle Ground Lake, Washington. Image taken October 21, 2013.


Beacon Rock, Skamania County, Washington ...
Research on Beacon Rock finds it one of the youngest Boring Lava cones. Between 12 and 15 thousand years ago the Missoula Floods eroded away the softer outer material leaving visible the harder rock.

According to Evarts, et.al., (2009, GSA Field Guide 15):

"The youngest dated volcano in the Boring Volcanic Field is the massive plug of Beacon Rock at 57 thousand years, its enclosing cinder cone evidently having been stripped by the lastest Pleistocene Missoula Floods. The undated maar at Battle Ground Lake, which was blasted through an approximately 100 thousand years lava flow, is the only other known vent likely to be much younger than approximately 100 thousand years."

[More Beacon Rock]


Image, 2010, Beacon Rock, Washington, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Beacon Rock, Washington, as seen from boat dock. Beacon Rock is a large 840-foot-high basalt plug. The Missoula Floods eroded away the softer outer material. View from Beacon Rock boat dock. Pierce National Wildlife Refuge is at the waters edge. Image taken November 2, 2010.
Image, 2010, Beacon Rock, Washington, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		"Nothing left but the core" ... Beacon Rock, Washington, as seen from boat dock. Beacon Rock is a large 840-foot-high basalt plug. The Missoula Floods eroded away the softer outer material. Image taken November 2, 2010.


Bear Prairie, Clark/Skamania County, Washington ...
  • Bear Prairie:
    source: USGS GNIS database (2016)
    Skamania County, Washington
    453806N
    1221425W
    1,109 feet elevation
    Variant Name: Bear Meadow (from County Highway Maps)

  • Bear Prairie:
    source: Allen, 1975
    T2N R4E, Sec.24 (SE)
    1,300 feet elevation

  • Bear Prairie:
    source: Landes, 1917
    "A prairie about 6 miles north of Mount Pleasant Station, in southwestern Skamania County."

According to Evarts, et.al. (2013, USGS Scientific Investigations Map 3257):

"Beginning about 2.6 million years ago, mafic volcanic activity spread westward from the Cascade Range into the Portland Basin to form the Boring Volcanic Field ... Volcanic rocks of this age in the Washougal quadrangle include the products of several eruptive centers, two of which, Mount Norway [Washington] and Chamberlain Hill [Oregon], are within the map area. The oldest Boring flow in the Washougal quadrangle is the basalt of Bridal Veil Creek [Oregon], which erupted from a vent east of the map area at about 2.25 million years ago. Between 1.3 and 1.1 million years ago, basalt and basaltic andesite issued from the vent at Chamberlain Hill [Oregon] and from a vent at Bear Prairie [Washington] north of the map area. A lava flow from Pepper Mountain [Oregon] entered the map area from the east at about 850 thousand years ago. The youngest volcanic activity in the quadrangle, at 693 ± 9 thousand years, produced two small cinder cones and the thick basaltic andesite flow of Mount Norway [Washington], which partially buried the basalt of Bear Prairie [Washington]."

"The oldest Boring volcanic unit in the Washougal quadrangle north of the Columbia River is the basaltic andesite of Bear Prairie, which erupted from vents located in the adjacent Larch Mountain quadrangle to the north, [approximately 1,220 ± 8 thousand years ago, 40Ar/39Ar]. The Bear Prairie flow, having been erosionally isolated from its source area by the Washougal River, underlies the area west of Mount Norway."

Image, 2016, Bear Prairie, Washington, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Bear Prairie scenic looking north, as seen from Skye Road, Skamania County, Washington. Image taken May 7, 2016.
Image, 2016, Bear Prairie, Washington, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Bear Prairie pond as seen from Skye Road, Skamania County, Washington. Image taken May 7, 2016.


Biddle Butte (Mount Zion), Skamania County, Washington ...
Biddle Butte (also known as "Mount Zion") is a small olivine shield volcano that postdates the Troutdale Formation, and lies on the Washington side of the Columbia River at approximately River Mile (RM) 132. A small basaltic-andesite intracanyon flow can be seen emanating from Biddle Butte. Similar vents in the Portland, Oregon, area are inferred to be less than 730,000 years old.

  • Biddle Butte (Mount Zion):
    source: USGS GNIS database (2016)
    Skamania County, Washington
    453447N
    1221229W
    1,368 feet elevation
    Variant Name: Cape Horn Mountain
    Variant Name: Mount Zion
    Official Name: Biddle Butte, Board Decision, 1989

  • Mount Zion:
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1N R5E, Sec.9 (SW)
    1,465 feet elevation

  • Mount Zion:
    source: Landes, 1917
    "Skamania County, 1,458 feet elevation."

The 1860 cadastral survey map for T1N R5E (courtesy U.S. Bureau of Land Management, 2016) shows "Cape Horn Mountain".

The 1909 Skamania County Map (courtesy "rootsweb.com", 2016) shows "Cape Horn Mtn.".

Good views of Biddle Butte are from Rooster Rock State Park and Bridal Veil Falls area, on the Oregon side of the Columbia River. Also known as "Mount Zion", in 1989 the USGS Board of Geographic Names made the name "Biddle Butte" official.

[More Biddle Butte]


Image, 2003, Mount Zion, Washington, from Rooster Rock, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Biddle Butte (Mount Zion), Washington, from Rooster Rock, Oregon. Columbia River and mudflats below Rooster Rock are in the foreground. Image taken October 18, 2003.
Image, 2004, Mount Zion, Washington, from Bridal Veil, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Cape Horn, Washington, with Biddle Butte (Mount Zion) above, from Bridal Veil, Oregon. Image taken October 11, 2004.
Image, 2016, Biddle Butte, Washington, from The Summit, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Biddle Butte, Washington, as seen from The Summit, Historic Columbia River Highway, Oregon. Image taken March 17, 2016.


Bobs Mountain, Skamania County, Washington ...
Bobs Mountain is a partial summit crater located on the Washington side of the Columbia River, 20 miles northwest of Portland, Oregon. It can nicely be seen from the pullout at Cape Horn, along Washington State Highway 14, east of Washougal, Washington.

  • Bobs Mountain:
    source: USGS GNIS database (2016)
    Skamania County, Washington
    453903N
    1221106W
    2,077 feet elevation

  • Bob's Mountain:
    source: Allen, 1975
    T2N R5E, Sec.22 (NW)
    2,110 feet elevation

  • Bob's Mountain (North):
    source: Allen, 1975
    T2N R5E, Sec.22 (W 1/2)
    1,775 feet elevation

  • Bob's Mountain (South):
    source: Allen, 1975
    T2N R5E, Sec.16 (NE)
    1,690 feet elevation

  • Bobs Mountain:
    source: Landes, 1917
    "A mountain about 8 miles northeast of Mount Pleasant, in southwestern Skamania County; elevation, 2,107."

Who was Bob ???

  • The 1911 USGS Mount Hood and Vicinity, 1:125,000 topographic map has "Bobs Mtn".
  • Mark Parsons in Across Rushing Waters, A History of Washougal River and Cape Horn (1982, Post-Record, Camas) states the hill was first called "Ross' Mountain" after Alexander Ross.

    "The first men into the valley of the Washougal, besides the Indians, were French-Canadian trappers. ... The Indian trails became their trails ... A trail from the Washougally camp skirted the north shore of the river and climbed into the hills above the "bluffs" two miles up the Washougal. From here they crossed over Cougar Creek and into the prairie later to be known as Bear Prairie for tis large bear population. The trail then skirted the north side of a mountain named for Alexander Ross but later to be known as Bob's Mountain. From here the trail can only be guessed at in its trek towards Indian Heaven." (Parsons, 1982, p.17-19).

    HOWEVER: the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's General Land Office Records (GLO) database (2016) shows David Ross being granted title to 160 acres of T2N R5E Sec.22 (SW1/4), Skamania County, on April 23, 1891 (1862 Homestead EntryOriginal).


Image, 2003, Bobs Mountain, Washington, as seen from Cape Horn, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Bobs Mountain (cone on left), Washington, as seen from Cape Horn, Washington. View from the Cape Horn Overlook, Washington State Highway 14. Image taken July 5, 2003.
Image, 2004, Bobs Mountain, Washington, as seen from Cape Horn, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Bobs Mountain, Washington, as seen from Cape Horn, Washington. Image taken October 27, 2004.


Brunner Hill, Clark County, Washington ...
  • Brunner Hill:
    source: USGS GNIS database (2016)
    Clark County, Washington
    453830N
    1222402W
    689 feet elevation

  • Brunner Hill (2 vents):
    source: Allen, 1975
    T2N R3E, Sec.23 (SE)
    680 feet elevation

Fern Prairie Cemetery records (obtained 2016 from "Rootsweb.com") show six Brunners buried at the Cemetery, with the "patriarch" being John Brunner (born 1859, died 1933) and the "matriarch" being Catherina Kasper Brunner (born 1855 in Bavaria, died 1929).

From the "Spokesman-Review", December 17, 1909 (courtesy "Google News", 2016):

"FERN PRAIRIE. Wash. -- Miss Kate Brunner, who has been at Mill Plain the last month, visited at home the other day. ... John and August Brunner left recently for Vancouver, where they will work this winter."

The 1937 U.S. Geological Survey Topographic Map "Camas, 1:62500", shows "Brunner Hill".

According to Evarts (2006, USGS Scientific Investigations Map 2924):

"Three small Quaternary volcanoes are located in the southern part of the map area at Green Mountain, Brunner Hill, and along upper Matney Creek. They represent the northern part of the late Pliocene to Quaternary Boring Volcanic Field, which consists of several dozen monogenetic vents scarttered throughout the greater Portland area."

"Brunner Hill is a cinder cone that marks the vent of a short lava flow. ... An 40Ar/39Ar age of 627 ± 9 thousand years was obtained for this flow."

"Another vent is marked by a small hill about 1.5 kilometers (less than one mile) northeast of Brunner Hill, which is the apparent source for a flow that runs along the south bank of upper Matney Creek. This flow is a basaltic andesite that is petrographically and chemically similar to the Brunner Hill flow ... This flow has not been dated but its proximity and chemical similarity to the Brunner Hill flow suggests that the basalt of Matney Creek is derived from the same magmatic source and is thus about the same age."

Image, 2016, Brunner Hill, Washington, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Brunner Hill, Fern Prairie, Washington, a Boring Lava Cone, as seen from the south. View from Washington Highway 500 approaching NE Brunner Road. Image taken May 7, 2016.
Image, 2016, Brunner Hill, Washington, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Brunner Hill, Fern Prairie, Washington, a Boring Lava Cone, as seen from the west. View from NE 259th Avenue. Image taken May 7, 2016.
Image, 2016, Brunner Hill, Washington, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Brunner Hill, Fern Prairie, Washington, a Boring Lava Cone, as seen from the west. View from NE 259th Avenue at NE Brunner Road. Image taken May 7, 2016.


Green Mountain, Clark County, Washington ...
Green Mountain, Washington, is a volcanic cone of the Boring Lava Field. It is located approximately five miles north of Prune Hill (another Boring Cone) and Camas, Washington, and ten miles northeast of downtown Vancouver. Green Mountain is 804 feet high.

  • Green Mountain:
    source: USGS GNIS database (2016)
    Clark County, Washington
    453917N
    1222724W
    804 feet elevation

  • Green Mountain:
    source: Allen, 1975
    T2N R3E, Sec.2 (SE)
    804 feet elevation

The 1937 U.S. Geological Survey Topographic Map "Camas, 1:62500", shows "Green Mountain".

According to Evarts (2006, USGS Scientific Investigations Map 2924):

"Three small Quaternary volcanoes are located in the southern part of the map area at Green Mountain, Brunner Hill, and along upper Matney Creek. They represent the northern part of the late Pliocene to Quaternary Boring Volcanic Field, which consists of several dozen monogenetic vents scarttered throughout the greater Portland area."

"The conical hill at the west end of Green Mountain marks the vent for a lava flow of olivine-phyric basaltic andesite that extends about one kilometer (just over 1/2 mile) to the northwest. Nonscoriaceous, platy lava crops out at the summit, presumably filling the vent. Sparse but persistent quartzite pebbles, derived from the underlying gravels, lie scattered on the slopes and occur in the lava at the summit. An 40Ar/39Ar plateau age of 575 ± 7 thousand years was obtained for a sample from the lava flow west of Green Mountain. The flow has normal magnetic polarity."

[More Green Mountain]


Image, 2016, Green Mountain, Washington, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Green Mountain, south side, Clark County, Washington. Image taken May 7, 2016.
Image, 2016, Green Mountain, Washington, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Green Mountain, southeast side, Clark County, Washington. View showing main peak and eastern "ridge". Image taken May 7, 2016.


Mount Norway, Clark County, Washington ...
  • Mount Norway:
    source: USGS GNIS database (2016)
    Clark County, Washington
    453643N
    1221733W
    1,096 feet elevation

  • Mount Norway (2 vents):
    source: Allen, 1975
    T2N R4E, Sec.34 (SE)
    1,111 feet elevation

The 1937 U.S. Geological Survey Topographic Map "Camas, 1:62500", shows "Mount Norway".

According to Evarts, et.al. (2013, USGS Scientific Investigations Map 3257):

"Beginning about 2.6 million years ago, mafic volcanic activity spread westward from the Cascade Range into the Portland Basin to form the Boring Volcanic Field ... Volcanic rocks of this age in the Washougal quadrangle include the products of several eruptive centers, two of which, Mount Norway [Washington] and Chamberlain Hill [Oregon], are within the map area. The oldest Boring flow in the Washougal quadrangle is the basalt of Bridal Veil Creek [Oregon], which erupted from a vent east of the map area at about 2.25 million years ago. Between 1.3 and 1.1 million years ago, basalt and basaltic andesite issued from the vent at Chamberlain Hill [Oregon] and from a vent at Bear Prairie [Washington] north of the map area. A lava flow from Pepper Mountain [Oregon] entered the map area from the east at about 850 thousand years ago. The youngest volcanic activity in the quadrangle, at 693 ± 9 thousand years, produced two small cinder cones and the thick basaltic andesite flow of Mount Norway [Washington], which partially buried the basalt of Bear Prairie [Washington]."

"Mount Norway is a degraded cinder cone that issued a thick flow of platy, aphyric, basaltic andesite that is well exposed in the headwall of the landslide north of Mount Norway. Nichols Hill is a subsidiary cone of similar composition. The basaltic andesite of Mount Norway is more silicic than most Boring volcanic rocks ... West of Mount Norway, it overlies the basaltic andesite of Bear Prairie. A sample collected from a roadcut directly northwest of Mount Norway yielded [an age of 693 ± 9 thousand years, 40Ar/39Ar)."

Image, 2016, Mount Norway, Washington, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Mount Norway, southeast side, as seen from SE 20th Street, Clark County, Washington. Image taken May 6, 2016.


Mount Pleasant, Skamania County, Washington ...
Mount Pleasant is a nearly 1,000-foot elevation Boring Lava cone located on the Washington side of the Columbia River, at approximately Columbia River mile (RM) 130. It is located east of Prune Hill and the communities of Camas and Washougal, and west of Cape Horn and Mount Zion. On the Oregon side of the Columbia lies Rooster Rock.

  • Mount Pleasant:
    source: USGS GNIS database (2016)
    Skamania County, Washington
    453422N
    1221355W
    978 feet elevation

  • Mount Pleasant:
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1N R5E, Sec.18 (NE)
    1,010 feet elevation

  • Mount Pleasant:
    source: Landes, 1917
    "A station on the S.P.&S. Ry, 22 miles east of Vancouver, in southwestern Skamania County; elevation, 48 feet."

[More Mount Pleasant]


Image, 2004, Rooster Rock State Park from Crown Point, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Mount Pleasant, Biddle Butte, Cape Horn, and Rooster Rock State Park as seen from Crown Point, Oregon. Washington State's Cape Horn (cliff face bordering river) is in the background along with Mount Pleasant (the rounded Boring Lava hill on the left) and Biddle Butte (a small Boring Lava cone rising above Cape Horn in upper middle of image). Rooster Rock State Park, Oregon, is in the middleground. Beacon Rock is in the distance upper right. Image taken October 11, 2004.


Mount Zion, Skamania County, Washington ...
(see Biddle Butte, above)


Nichols Hill, Clark County, Washington ...
  • Nichols Hill:
    source: USGS GNIS database (2016)
    Clark County, Washington
    453620N
    1221629W
    1,109 feet elevation

  • Nichol's Hill:
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1N R4E, Sec.2 (NE)
    1,113 feet elevation

The 1922 platt map for Clark County (courtesy "Rootsweb.com") shows "W.K. Nickle" owning acres in the northern section of T1N R4E, Section 2.

The 1937 U.S. Geological Survey Topographic Map "Camas, 1:62500", shows "Nichols Hill".

The 1940 U.S. Census shows "William K. Nickel" of Washougal, age 77, widowed.

According to Evarts, et.al. (2013, USGS Scientific Investigations Map 3257):

"Mount Norway is a degraded cinder cone that issued a thick flow of platy, aphyric, basaltic andesite that is well exposed in the headwall of the landslide north of Mount Norway. Nichols Hill is a subsidiary cone of similar composition. The basaltic andesite of Mount Norway is more silicic than most Boring volcanic rocks ... West of Mount Norway, it overlies the basaltic andesite of Bear Prairie. A sample collected from a roadcut directly northwest of Mount Norway yielded [an age of 693 ± 9 thousand years, 40Ar/39Ar)."

Image, 2016, Nichols Hill, Washington, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Nichols Hill, west side, as seen from SE 377th Avenue and SE 20th Street, Clark County, Washington. Image taken May 6, 2016.
Image, 2016, Nichols Hill, Washington, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Nichols Hill, west side, as seen from SE 20th Street, Clark County, Washington. Image taken May 6, 2016.


Pohls Hill, Skamania, Washington ...
  • Pohls Hill:
    source: USGS GNIS database (2016)
    Skamania County, Washington
    453818N
    1221347W
    1,348 feet elevation
    Variant Name: Pohis Hill (appears on 1:100,000 USGS Mount Hood & Vicinity Map, 1984)

  • Pohl's Hill:
    source: Allen, 1975
    T2N R5E, Sec.19 (SE)
    1,395 feet elevation

  • Pohls Hill:
    source: Landes, 1917
    "A hill on Bear Prairie, 6 miles north of Mount Pleasant, in southwestern Skamania County; elevation, 1,405 feet."

According to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's General Land Office (GLO) Records database (2016), August Pohl was granted title to 80 acres of T2N R5E, SE1/2 SE1/4 of Section 19, Skamania County, on March 17, 1899 (1862 Homestead Entry Original).


Image, 2016, Pohls Hill, Bear Prairie, Washington, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Pohls Hill, west side, as seen from Skye Road, Skamania County, Washington. Pohls Hill is center background. Image taken May 7, 2016.


Prune Hill, Clark County, Washington ...
The base of the Boring Lava cone "Prune Hill" can be seen rising behind Lady Island and Camas, Washington. The first name given to this area was "Rock Quarry District" for the large quarry located on the Columbia River near Fisher. The name "Prune Hill" was adopted in 1900. In the 1880s and 1890s the west slopes and top of the hill were planted prune trees, with a Mr. Boyer being the first man in the area to put in a big prune orchard. Other settlers followed. At one time there were seven dryers in the Prune Hill area alone (none remain today). By the turn of the century Clark County, Washington, was known as the prune capitol of the world, a title which continued until the Depression when the bottom fell out of the prune market. Today only a few prune trees remain. Good views of Prune Hill can be had from another Boring Lava Cone, Rocky Butte, located south of the Portland International Airport.

  • Prune Hill:
    source: USGS GNIS database (2016)
    Clark County, Washington
    453539N
    1222615W
    751 feet elevation

  • Prune Hill (East):
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1N R3E, Sec.9 (SE)
    610 feet elevation
    Top of hill is Troutdale Formation

  • Prune Hill (West):
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1N R3E, Sec.8 (NE)
    555 feet elevation

According to Evarts and O'Connor (2008, USGS Scientific Investigations Map 3017):

"Beginning about 2.5 million years ago, mafic volcanic activity spread westward from the Cascade Range into the Portland Basin to form the Boring Volcanic Field ... The Camas quadrangle is in the northern part of the volcanic field and contains volcanic rocks of two centers, one located on the west side of Prune Hill in Washington and the other at Chamberlain Hill, about 3 kilometers east of the map area in Oregon. The basaltic andesite of Broughton Bluff erupted at about 1.28 million years ago from the vent at Chamberlain Hill. The Prune Hill volcano west of Camas is younger, about 595 thousand years."

[More Prune Hill]


Image, 2017, Prune Hill, Washington, from Chinook Landing, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Prune Hill, Washington, from Chinook Landing, Oregon. Lady Island is the low trees in the middleground. Image taken October 25, 2017.
Image, 2005, Prune Hill, a Boring Lava Cone, as seen from Rocky Butte, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Prune Hill, Washington, a Boring Lava Cone, as seen from Rocky Butte, Oregon Image taken June 15, 2005.


Oregon

  • Chamberlain Hill ...
  • Devils Rest ...
  • Kelly Butte ...
  • Larch Mountain ...
  • Mount Scott ...
  • Mount Tabor ...
  • Mount Talbert ...
  • Pepper Mountain ...
  • Powell Butte ...
  • Rocky Butte ...
  • Willamette National Cemetery ...


Chamberlain Hill, Multnomah County, Oregon ...
Chamberlain Hill is one of the cones of the Boring Lava Field and is located in Multnomah County, Oregon, just east of the Sandy River. Chamberlain Hill was named for Elijah D. and Sarah Ellen Chamberlain, who came to Oregon from Kansas in 1881 and settled in the Springdale area, south of the hill. The northwest corner of Chamberlain Hill which borders the Sandy is called "Broughton Bluff". It can be reached from the Lewis and Clark State Recreation Area on the east side of the Sandy River.

  • Chamberlain Hill:
    source: USGS GNIS database (2016)
    Multnomah County, Oregon
    453159N
    1222034W
    909 feet elevation

  • Chamberlain Hill:
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1N R4E, Sec.32 (SW)
    890 feet elevation

According to Evarts and O'Connor (2008, USGS Scientific Investigations Map 3017):

"Beginning about 2.5 million years ago, mafic volcanic activity spread westward from the Cascade Range into the Portland Basin to form the Boring Volcanic Field ... The Camas quadrangle is in the northern part of the volcanic field and contains volcanic rocks of two centers, one located on the west side of Prune Hill in Washington and the other at Chamberlain Hill, about 3 kilometers east of the map area in Oregon. The basaltic andesite of Broughton Bluff erupted at about 1.28 million years ago from the vent at Chamberlain Hill. The Prune Hill volcano west of Camas is younger, about 595 thousand years."

According to Evarts, et.al. (2013, USGS Scientific Investigations Map 3257):

"Beginning about 2.6 million years ago, mafic volcanic activity spread westward from the Cascade Range into the Portland Basin to form the Boring Volcanic Field ... Volcanic rocks of this age in the Washougal quadrangle include the products of several eruptive centers, two of which, Mount Norway [Washington] and Chamberlain Hill [Oregon], are within the map area. The oldest Boring flow in the Washougal quadrangle is the basalt of Bridal Veil Creek [Oregon], which erupted from a vent east of the map area at about 2.25 million years ago. Between 1.3 and 1.1 million years ago, basalt and basaltic andesite issued from the vent at Chamberlain Hill [Oregon] and from a vent at Bear Prairie [Washington] north of the map area. A lava flow from Pepper Mountain [Oregon] entered the map area from the east at about 850 thousand years ago. The youngest volcanic activity in the quadrangle, at 693 ± 9 thousand years, produced two small cinder cones and the thick basaltic andesite flow of Mount Norway [Washington], which partially buried the basalt of Bear Prairie [Washington]."

[More Chamberlain Hill]


Image, 2003, Chamberlain Hill, Oregon, as seen from Washougal, Washington, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Chamberlain Hill, Oregon, as seen from Washougal, Washington. The Sandy River delta is to the right. Image taken July 3, 2003.
Image, 2005, Broughton Bluff from Lewis and Clark State Park, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Broughton Bluff and Lewis and Clark State Recreation Area, Oregon. Broughton Bluff is the northwest corner of Chamberlain Hill, one of the Boring Lava Cones. Image taken October 22, 2005.


Devils Rest, Multnomah County, Oregon ...
Devils Rest is a Boring Lava Cone which sits above Angels Rest, a lava flow of Columbia River Basalt. At one time Angels Rest was called "Fort Rock". The trail to the top includes a 2,100-feet elevation gain.

  • Devils Rest:
    source: USGS GNIS database (2016)
    Multnomah County, Oregon
    453343N
    1220745W
    2,395 feet elevation

  • Devil's Rest (2 vents):
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1N R5E, Sec.24 (NE)
    2,450 feet elevation

According to the "PortlandHikersFieldGuild.org" website (2014):

"...Devil's Rest sits on land which was once owned by Charles Coopey, for whom Coopey Creek and Coopey Falls are named. Coopey, an Englishman, named the summit Eagle Eyrie. He eventually gave the land to the City of Portland, which also owned Multnomah Falls in the 1920s. In 1939 the City of Portland transferred all of its Columbia Gorge holdings south of the railway to the U.S. Forest Service. ..."

[More Devils Rest]


Image, 2004, Angels Rest and Devils Rest, Oregon, from Tunnel Point, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Angels Rest (ridge left) and Devils Rest (cone on top), as seen from Tunnel Point, Oregon. Angels Rest is Columbia River basalt and lies uphill from Dalton Point, Oregon. Devils Rest is a Boring Lava cone. Image taken October 10, 2004.


Kelly Butte, Multnomah County, Oregon ...
The city of Portland, Oregon, had grown up around some of the Boring Cones, such as Kelly Butte, Rocky Butte, and Mount Tabor. Kelly Butte was named after Plympton Kelly, the son of pioneer Clinton Kelly. The elder Kelly arrived in Oregon in 1848 and took a Donation Land Claim (DLC) in east Portland.

  • Kelly Butte:
    source: USGS GNIS database (2016)
    Multnomah County, Oregon
    452958N
    1223317W
    568 feet elevation

  • Kelly Butte (2 vents):
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1S R2E, Sec.9 (NE)
    400 feet elevation
    Top of hill is Troutdale Formation

According to Madin (2009, Oregon Geology):

"Kelly Butte is another Troutdale Formation high, with a thin, undated Boring lava flow draped over its wester end."

Image, 2005, Boring Lava Field from Willamette National Cemetery, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Boring Lava Field -- Mount Tabor, Kelly Butte, and Rocky Butte. Rocky Butte is just visible on the right behind Kelly Butte. View from the Willamette National Cemetery, another Boring Lava Cone. Image taken December 8, 2005.
Image, 2005, Boring Lava Field from Willamette National Cemetery, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Boring Lava Field -- Kelly Butte and Rocky Butte. View from the Willamette National Cemetery, another Boring Lava Cone. Image taken December 8, 2005.


Larch Mountain, Multnomah County, Oregon ...
Larch Mountain, Oregon, is a shield volcano of the Boring Lava Field. A good view of Larch Mountain is from the Tunnel Point Pullout on the west-bound lane of Interstate 84, just east of Portland, Oregon.

  • Larch Mountain:
    source: USGS GNIS database (2016)
    Clackamas County, Oregon
    453151N
    1220525W
    3,947 feet elevation

  • Larch Mountain:
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1N R6E, Sec.32 (NE)
    4,056 feet elevation

According to Evarts, et.al., (2009, GSA Field Guide 15):

"Larch Mountain is a small shield volcano and one of the larger centers in the Boring Volcanic Field. Its flows are petrographically distinctive, containing phenocrysts and glomerocrysts of coars olivine ± augite in a plagioclase-microphyric groundmass. Chemically the flows are relatively uniform low-silica andesites. Conrey et.al. (1996) obtained a conventional K-Ar age of 1.53 ± 0.05 million years from this outcrop. Larch Mountain flows are magnetically reversed.

The road continues [to] Sherrard Point at the summit of Larch Mountain. Five Cascade stratovolcanoes (Rainier, St. Helens, Adams, Hood, and Jefferson) can be seen from that viewpoint, which sits atop a cirque carved into an andesite plug that fills the vent of Larch Mountain volcano."

[More Larch Mountain]


Image, 2003, Larch Mountain, Oregon, as seen from Washougal, Washington, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Larch Mountain shield volcano, Oregon, as seen from Washougal, Washington. Image taken July 3, 2003.
Image, 2003, Larch Mountain, Oregon, with Crown Point, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Larch Mountain shield volcano, Oregon (background), with Crown Point (foreground). View from Tunnel Point, Interstate 80, Oregon. Image taken June 15, 2003.


Mount Scott, Clackamas County, Oregon ...
Mount Scott, located in Clackamas County, is a Boring Lava shield volcano. Mount Scott was named for Harvey W. Scott, the editor of the Oregonian between 1866 and 1872. In 1910 Scott compiled the six-volume "History of the Oregon Country". The Willamette National Cemetery is located on the top of another small Boring cone on the northeastern flank of Mount Scott.

  • Mount Scott:
    source: USGS GNIS database (2016)
    Clackamas County, Oregon
    452716N
    1223302W
    1,093 feet elevation

  • Mount Scott (2 vents):
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1S R2E, Sec.27 (W 1/2)
    1,095 feet elevation

According to Madin (2009, Oregon Geology):

"Mount Scott is a 280-meter-high Boring volcano dated at approximately 1.6 million years that still retains its summit crater."

Image, 2014, Mount Scott, a Boring Lava Cone, as seen from Interstate 205, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		North side of Mount Scott, Oregon, as seen from Interstate 205 heading south. Image taken July 28, 2014.


Mount Tabor, Multnomah County, Oregon ...
  • Mount Tabor:
    source: USGS GNIS database (2016)
    Multnomah County, Oregon
    453046N
    1223535W
    643 feet elevation

  • Mount Tabor:
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1S R2E, Sec.5 (NW)
    535 feet elevation
    Top of hill is Troutdale Formation

According to Madin (2009, Oregon Geology):

"Mount Tabor is a Troutdale Formation structural high, with a small Boring cinder cone at its north end, which the USGS team has dated at 203 ± 5 thousand years."

[More Mount Tabor]


Image, 2014, Mount Tabor, a Boring Lava Cone, as seen from Interstate 205, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Southeast side of Mount Tabor, Oregon, as seen from Interstate 205 heading south. Image taken July 28, 2014.
Image, 2013, Mount Tabor, a Boring Lava Cone, as seen from Interstate 205, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Mount Tabor, Portland, Oregon. Image taken November 1, 2013.


Mount Talbert, Clackamas County, Oregon ...
  • Mount Talbert:
    source: USGS GNIS database (2016)
    Clackamas County, Oregon
    452536N
    1223306W
    732 feet elevation

  • Mount Talbert:
    source: Allen, 1975
    T2S R2E, Sec.3 (NW)
    745 feet elevation
    Top of hill is Troutdale Formation

Image, 2006, Mount Talbert, Oregon, and Interstate 205, from the south, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Mount Talbert, Oregon, as seen from Interstate 205 heading north. Image taken February 19, 2006.
Image, 2014, Mount Talbert, a Boring Lava Cone, as seen from Interstate 205, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		South side of Mount Talbert, Oregon, as seen from Interstate 205 heading north. Image taken July 28, 2014.
Image, 2014, Mount Talbert, a Boring Lava Cone, as seen from Interstate 205, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		South side of Mount Talbert, Oregon, as seen from Interstate 205 heading north. Image taken July 28, 2014.


Pepper Mountain, Multnomah County, Oregon ...
Pepper Mountain can nicely be seen from the Washington side of the Columbia River. Highpoint is the right-most of the two humps. From the parking area of Steigerwald Lake NWR, Pepper Mountain blocks the left base of Mount Hood. Pepper Mountain was once the home to an Oregon Department of Forestry Lookout Tower. Built in 1937 the tower was a 10-foot L-4 tower. It was abandoned in 1955. No trace of it remains today.
  • Pepper Mountain:
    source: USGS GNIS database (2016)
    Multnomah County, Oregon
    453138N
    1221024W
    2,152 feet elevation

  • Pepper Mountain (2 vents):
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1N R5E, Sec.34 (NE)
    2,137 feet elevation

According to Evarts, et.al. (2013, USGS Scientific Investigations Map 3257):

"Beginning about 2.6 million years ago, mafic volcanic activity spread westward from the Cascade Range into the Portland Basin to form the Boring Volcanic Field ... Volcanic rocks of this age in the Washougal quadrangle include the products of several eruptive centers, two of which, Mount Norway [Washington] and Chamberlain Hill [Oregon], are within the map area. The oldest Boring flow in the Washougal quadrangle is the basalt of Bridal Veil Creek [Oregon], which erupted from a vent east of the map area at about 2.25 million years ago. Between 1.3 and 1.1 million years ago, basalt and basaltic andesite issued from the vent at Chamberlain Hill [Oregon] and from a vent at Bear Prairie [Washington] north of the map area. A lava flow from Pepper Mountain [Oregon] entered the map area from the east at about 850 thousand years ago. The youngest volcanic activity in the quadrangle, at 693 ± 9 thousand years, produced two small cinder cones and the thick basaltic andesite flow of Mount Norway [Washington], which partially buried the basalt of Bear Prairie [Washington]."

Image, 2009, View upstream from Steigerwald Lake NWR, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Columbia River, view upstream from across the dike at Steigerwald Lake NWR, Washington. Image taken August 23, 2009.

On the skyline on the Oregon side of the Columbia are three Boring Lava features ... Devils Rest cone (small point, left skyline), Larch Mountain (a shield volcano), and Pepper Mountain (the double-humped peak). A Columbia River basalt feature, Crown Point (with Vista House) can also be seen on the right.
Image, 2016, Pepper Mountain and Mount Hood, Oregon, from Steigarwald Lake NWR, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Pepper Mountain and Mount Hood, Oregon, as seen from Steigerwald Lake NWR, Washington. Pepper Mountain, a Boring Lava cone, blocks the base of Mount Hood. Image taken January 25, 2016.
Image, 2015, Pepper Mountain, Oregon, as seen from Skamania County, Washington, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Pepper Mountain, Oregon, as seen from Skamania County, Washington. View from Marble Road. Image taken October 3, 2015.


Powell Butte, Multnomah County, Oregon ...
Powell Butte is a Boring Lava Cone located in southeast Portland near Johnson Creek. In 1987 the City officially established Powell Butte as a nature park and the 608-acre park was opened to the public in 1990. Powell Butte is home to Portland Water Bureau underground reservoirs. The first was built in the 1970s and went online in 1981. The second underground reservoir is currently being built and officials hope to have it online by 2014.

  • Powell Butte:
    source: USGS GNIS database (2016)
    Multnomah County, Oregon
    452913N
    1223014W
    627 feet elevation

  • Powell Butte:
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1S R2E, Sec.13 (NW)
    560 feet elevation
    Top of hill is Troutdale Formation

According to Madin (2009, Oregon Geology):

"Powell Butte is a fault-bounded Troutdale Formation structural high with an undated Boring lava flow draped over its northern flank."

[More Powell Butte]


Image, 2018, Powell Butte, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Powell Butte, Oregon. Image taken March 15, 2018.
Image, 2016, Powell Butte, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Trails, Powell Butte Nature Park, Powell Butte, Oregon. Image taken March 26, 2016.


Rocky Butte, Oregon ...
Rocky Butte is a volcanic cone of the Boring Lava Field. Once known as "Wiberg Butte", today it is called "Rocky Butte" after the quarry on the east side. The slightly-over-600-feet-high butte is about 1.3 million years old, with two vents at the top.

  • Rocky Butte:
    source: USGS GNIS database (2016)
    Multnomah County, Oregon
    453247N
    1223355W
    600 feet elevation

  • Rocky Butte (2 vents):
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1N R2E, Sec.28 (NE)
    612 feet elevation

According to Madin (2009, Oregon Geology):

"Rocky Butte is a dramatic Boring plug that rises over 100 meters above the surrounding Bretz/Missoula deposits and may have barely stood above the water at the peak of the great floods. It has been dated at 125 ± 40 thousand years by Russ Evarts and Bob Fleck of the USGS."

According to Evarts, et.al., (2009, GSA Field Guide 15):

"Rocky Butte, a prominent isolated hill within the Portland city limits is the eroded intrusive core of a late Pleistocene basaltic andesite center. ... The summit park is probably within the throat of the vent judging from the abundant oxidized scoriaceous rock in nearby roadcuts."

"Rocky Butte consists of olivine-phyric, calc-alkaline basaltic andesite, a composition typical of many Boring centers."

[More Rocky Butte]


Image, 2005, Plane landing at Portland International Airport, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Columbia River, Portland International Airport, Rocky Butte, and landing plane. View from Wintler Park, Washington. Image taken October 21, 2005.
Image, 2014, Rocky Butte, a Boring Lava Cone, as seen from Interstate 205, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		South side of Rocky Butte, Oregon, as seen from Interstate 205 heading north. Image taken July 28, 2014.


Willamette National Cemetery, Multnomah/Clackamas County, Oregon ...
The Willamette National Cemetery is located on the top of a small Boring Lava cone on the northeastern flank of Mount Scott, a Boring Lava shield volcano. Good views of other Boring cones -- Mount Tabor, Kelly Butte, and Rocky Butte -- can be had (see above). Willamette National Cemetery also offers views of Portland, and the Cascade Range volcanoes such as Mount St. Helens and Mount Hood.

  • Cemetery:
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1S R2E, Sec.22 (SE)
    910 feet elevation

[More Willamette National Cemetery]


Image, 2003, Willamette National Cemetery, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Willamette National Cemetery, Memorial Day, 2003. Image taken May 23, 2003.


Gresham's Boring and non-Boring Buttes

  • Butler Butte ...
  • Clatsop Buttes ...
  • Gabbert Butte (Gabbert Hill) ...
  • Grant Butte ...
  • Gresham Butte (Walters Hill) ...
  • Hogan Butte ...
  • Jenne Butte ...
  • Sunshine Butte ...
  • Towle Butte ...


Gabbert Butte (Gabbert Hill), Oregon ...
Gabbert Butte:
source: City of Gresham (2016)
T1S R2E, Section 21.
45.28.31, 122.26.15.
992 feet elevation
Variant Name: Gabbert Hill

GABBERT BUTTE BRIEF HISTORY.

"Mr. and Mrs. Don and Jeanette Gabbert purchased 45 acres of property on the butte in 1964. In the late 1960s, the Gabberts gave land on the butte to the City to site the water tank - which still resides at its summit - and for an access road. Personal accounts from Don Gabbert (who lives part of the year in Gresham) and his son Doug Gabbert (who lives and works in Gresham year round) indicate that there was no known name for the hill at the time the family purchased the land.

The Gabbert name was incorporated into the natural area established on the hill -- the Metro Gabbert Butte Natural Area. The Gabbert name is also used for Gabbert Road on the east and west side of Regner Road.

The geographic feature has been referred to as both Gabbert Butte and Gabbert Hill. The application lists Gabbert Butte as the primary name and Gabbert Hill as a variant name."

"The Gabbert family purchased property in 1964 from the Mercers. In the late 1960s, the Gabberts deeded some land to the City of Gresham for a water tank at the top of the butte and for the access road from Regner Road to the tank. No known names for the feature existed before this time. Additionally, the Metro-owned natural area at the site is called Gabbert Butte Natural Area."


Source:    City of Gresham Gabbert Butte Application to the Oregon Geographic Names Board, February 17, 2016.



Grant Butte, Oregon ...
Grant Butte is located west of the community of Gresham, north of Gresham Butte (Walters Hill), and northeast of Powell Butte. Grant Butte was named after an early Multnomah County settler, Thomas Grant.

The 1889 Multnomah County Map produced by Robert Habersham (courtesy "HistoricMapWorks.com" website, 2016) shows "Grant Butte" located on the property of "T. Grant".

AGED PIONEER DIES
Thomas Grant Spends 100 Years of Active Life.
PROMINENT EARLY SETTLER.
Estate Declared Valuable, Will Be Divided Among Four Children Who Gathered at Bedside. Funeral Today.

"GRESHAM, Or., Sept 18. --(Special.)-- Thomas Grant, Eastern Multnomah's only centenarian, died at his home two miles west of Gresham, last Saturday evening. His death was not unexpected, as he had been failing reapidly for several weeks ...

His exact age was not known because of a lack of records and forgetfulness during the last 40 years of his life, yet certain events in his career have fixed his age a few months past the century mark. He passed away with all the honors and distinction of having attained that great age and, as one of the earliest settlers of this vicinity, nearly half of his life being spent here quietly and unobtrusively after a varied career of good fortune and hardships.

Thomas Grant was born at Newery, County Down, Ireland, supposedly in 1810. He came to America about 1840 and spent the first nine years in the East, traveling to California with the Argonauts of 1849. After about two years in the mines there he came to Oregon. Of the next 14 years there is no record left but it is known that he came here in 1865 with Captain Michael Conley, and bought a tract of land to which he added other purchases in after years, and made his home until called by death. His holdings became valuable and he died surrounded with every comfort ...   Grant Butte, a prominent landmark along the Section Line road, is a part of the farm he owned. It will remain as his lasting monument. ..."


Source:    "The Morning Oregonian", September 19, 1911, courtesy Historic Oregon Newspapers Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, 2016.



The pipeline between the Bull Run Watershed and the Mount Tabor Reservoirs once crossed Grant Butte.

"PIPE LINE SURVEY MADE."
"New Conduit Will Follow More Direct Course Than Present One, According to Report."
"GRESHAM, Or., Nov. 7. --(Special.)-- A surveying crew has been at work for the past three days making a preliminary survey of a new route for the proposed new pipline to be laid from Bull Run to Portland. The present line does not follow the most direct route, and disfigures several of the best blocks in Gresham. ... When the present pipline was laid it was thought necessary to run it over Grant Butte, so as to check the force of the water before it reached the reservoirs at Mount Tabor. This was found to be a mistake, and the new line will be laid more nearly on a level and more direct. ..." ["The Sunday Oregonian", November 8, 1908, courtesy Historic Oregon Newspapers Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, 2016.

"PIPELINE SURVEY BEGINS."
"GRESHAM, Or., May 9 -- (Special.) -- Surveyors have been engaged during the past week locating the proposed route for the new Bull Run pipeline. For nearly the entire distance the new pipe will parallel the old one, 30 feet to the north, but a different route will be taken through Gresham so as to avoid several curves and make it unnecessary to go over Grant Butte as the present pipe does." ["The Morning Oregonian", May 10, 1910, courtesy Historic Oregon Newspapers Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, 2016.

Image, 2016, Grant Butte from Powell Butte, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Grant Butte as seen from the summit of Powell Butte, Oregon. Image taken March 26, 2016.
Image, 2018, Grant Butte from Powell Butte, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Grant Butte as seen from Powell Butte, Oregon. Image taken March 15, 2018.


Gresham Butte (Walters Hill), Oregon ...
In 2000 the USGS Board of Geographic Names made the name "Gresham Butte" the official name. Previously Gresham Butte was known as "Walters Hill".

  • Gresham Butte (Walters Hill):
    source: USGS GNIS database (2016)
    Multnomah County, Oregon
    452914N
    1222622W
    860 feet elevation
    Variant Name: Walters Hill
    Official Name: Gresham Butte, Board Decision, 2000

The 1927 Multnomah County Metsker Map (courtesy "HistoricMapWorks.com" website, 2016) shows the Roland F. Walters property located in the northeast section of T1S R3E, Section 16.


Image, 2016, Gresham Butte from Powell Butte, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Gresham Butte as seen from the summit of Powell Butte, Oregon. Image taken March 26, 2016.
Image, 2016, Gresham Butte from Powell Butte, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Gresham Butte as seen from the summit of Powell Butte, Oregon. Image taken March 26, 2016.
Image, 2018, Gresham Butte and un-named Butte from Powell Butte, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Gresham Butte and un-named Butte as seen from Powell Butte, Oregon. Image taken March 15, 2018.


Hogan Butte, Oregon ...
Hogan Butte:
source: City of Gresham (2016)
T1S R3E, Section 22.
45.28.23, 122.25.29.
930 feet elevation

HOGAN BUTTE BRIEF HISTORY.

"Eli Hogan, a turn-of-the-century pioneer and lumberman, established a sawmill in the vicinity of what is now Hogan Road and Johnson Creek. He forested land located on what is now known as Hogan Butte. Rough lumber from the sawmill was taken along a slab-wood road called the "Devil's Cut-Off" to a finishing plant on the vicinity of what is now SE 72nd Avenue and Foster Road in Portland. Lumber from his operations was used to build the forms for the water reservoirs on Mt. Tabor.

In addition to Hogan Butte, the Hogan name lends itself to the City's Official Tree -- The Hogan Cedar, Hogan Road, and Hogan Plaza."


Source:    City of Gresham Hogan Butte Application to the Oregon Geographic Names Board, February 17, 2016.



Jenne Butte, Oregon ...
Jenne Butte:
source: City of Gresham (2016)
T1S R3E, Section 18.
45.29.02, 122.26.47.
612 feet elevation

Jenne BUTTE BRIEF HISTORY.

"Lemuel Jenne was born in New York in 1821, and was granted 320 acres as part of the Oregon Donation Land Claim Act in 1852. Claim maps show the land in the vicinity of what is now commonly known as Jenne Butte. The Jenne name was also once used as a stop for the Portland Railway, Light and Power Company electric trolly.

Jenne Butte has been referred by that name in City documents since 1980, including: Volume 1, Findings, of the Gresham Community Development Plan (1980); the Inventory of Significant Natural Resources and Open Spaces (1988), and the Gresham Trails Master Plan (1997). Books such as Gresham: Stories of our Past (published 1993) refer to the feature as Jenne Butte."


Source:    City of Gresham Genne Butte Application to the Oregon Geographic Names Board, February 17, 2016.

The 1927 Multnomah County Metsker Map (courtesy HistoricMapWorks.com, 2016) shows a "Jennelynd Acres" development being located in the eastern half of T1S R3E, Section 18. The map also shows Viola L. Jenne owning property in the upper part of Section 19.



Towle Butte, Oregon ...
Towle Butte:
source: City of Gresham (2016)
T1S R3E, Section 21.
45.27.56, 122.28.46.
998 feet elevation

TOWLE BUTTE BRIEF HISTORY.

"Dave E. Towle, working with other community businessmen, helped to transform the Gresham Fruit Growers organization (established in 1914) into the Gresham Co-op, or Gresham Cooperative Verry Growers in 1919. Mr. Towle served as its general manager until his death in 1936. Cash turnover from the cooperative increased from $29,000 in 1919 to $800,000 in 1934, and the cooperative was one of the city's principal economic assets. His management of the Gresham Co-op was so appreciated by the community that Cathey Road was renamed to Towle Road. Towle Road runs north-south immediately to the north of the natural feature known as Towle Butte."


Source:    City of Gresham Towle Butte Application to the Oregon Geographic Names Board, February 17, 2016.



Walters Hill, Oregon ...
(see Gresham Butte, above)


Other Oregon Boring Cones named in Allen, 1975


  • Cook's Butte (2 vents):
    source: Allen, 1975
    T2S R1E, Sec.16 (SW)
    718 feet elevation

  • Elk Point (2 vents):
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1S R1W, Sec.1 (SE)
    975 feet elevation

  • Highland Butte (4 vents):
    source: Allen, 1975
    T3S R2E, Sec.9 (E 1/2)
    1,594 feet elevation

  • Hunsinger Peak:
    source: Allen, 1975
    T3S R2E, Sec.2 (NE)
    657 feet elevation

  • Lenhart Butte:
    source: Allen, 1975
    T2S R5E, Sec.35 (SW)
    2,117 feet elevation

  • Lookout Point:
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1S R5E, Sec.13 (NE)
    2,645 feet elevation

  • Mount Sylvania (2 vents):
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1S R1E, Sec.32 (SW)
    975 feet elevation

  • Nesmith Point:
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1N R6E, Sec.12 (NE)
    3,880 feet elevation

  • Ross Mountain:
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1N R5E, Sec.31 (SE)
    1,380 feet elevation

  • Scout Camp (3 vents):
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1S R2E, Sec.36 (N 1/2)
    945 feet elevation

  • Swede Hill:
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1S R1W, Sec.1 (NW)
    995 feet elevation

  • TV Hill:
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1N R1W, Sec.36 (center)
    1,275 feet elevation

  • Walker Peak:
    source: Allen, 1975
    T1S R5E, Sec.24 (NE)
    2,450 feet elevation


From the Journals of Lewis and Clark ...

Clark, April 2, 1806 ...



Vancouver PlainsReturn to
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*River Miles [RM] are approximate, in statute miles, and were determined from USGS topo maps, obtained from NOAA nautical charts, or obtained from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers website, 2003

Sources:
  • Allen, J.E., 1975, Volcanoes of the Portland Area, Oregon: State of Oregon, Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, The ORE-BIN, v.37, no.9, September 1975;
  • Beeson and Tolan, 1987, IN: GSA Centennial Field Guide, vol.1;
  • Bishop, E.M., and Allen, J.E., 2004, Hiking Oregon's Geology, The Mountaineers Books.
  • Center for Columbia River History website, 2005;
  • Evarts, R.C., 2006, Geologic Map of the Lacamas Creek Quadrangle, Clark County, Washington: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 2924;
  • Evarts, R.C., Conrey, R.M., Fleck, R.J., and Hagstrum, J.T., 2009, The Boring Volcanic Field of Portland-Vancouver area, Oregon and Washington: Tectonically anomalous forearc volcanism in an urban setting: IN: The Geological Society of America Field Guide 15;
  • Evarts, R.C., and O'Connor, J.E., 2008, Geologic Map of the Camas Quadrangle, Clark County, Washington, and Multnomah County, Oregon: U.S. Geological Survey Sceintific Investigations Map 3017;
  • Evarts, R.C., O'Connor, J.E., and Tolan, T.L., 2013, Geologic Map of the Washougal Quardrangle, Clark County, Washington, and Multnomah County, Oregon: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 3257;
  • "firelookout.com" website, 2014;
  • Historic Oregon Newspapers Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, 2016;
  • "HistoricMapWorks.com" website, 2016;
  • Hitchman, R., 1985, Place Names of Washington, Washington State Historical Society;
  • Landes, H., 1917, "A Geographic Dictionary of Washington", Washington Geological Survey, Bulletin No.17;
  • Madin, I.P., 2009, Portland, Oregon, geology by tram, train, and foot: Oregon Geology, Volume 69, No.1, Fall 2009, Oregon Department of Geology and Minteral Industries;
  • McArthur, L.A., and McArthur, L.L., 2003, Oregon Geographic Names, Oregon Historical Society Press, Portland;
  • Norman, D.K., and Roloff, J.M., 2004, A Self-Guided Tour of the Geology of the Columbia River Gorge -- Portland Airport to Skamania Lodge, Stevenson, Washington: Washington Division of Geology and Earth Resources, Open-File Report 2004-7, March 2004.
  • Parsons, M.E., 1982, Across Rushing Waters, A History of Washougal River and Cape Horn, Post-Record, Camas;
  • "PortlandHikersFieldGuide.org" website, 2014;
  • Portland Parks and Recreation website, 2014;
  • Swanson, D., et.al., 1989, IGC Field Trip T106: Cenozoic Volcanism in the Cascade Range and Columbia Plateau, Southern Washington and Northernmost Oregon: American Geophysical Union Field Trip Guidebook T106;
  • U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information Systems website, 2013, 2016;


All Lewis and Clark quotations from Gary Moulton editions of the Lewis and Clark Journals, University of Nebraska Press, all attempts have been made to type the quotations exactly as in the Moulton editions, however typing errors introduced by this web author cannot be ruled out; location interpretation from variety of sources, including this website author.
/Regions/Places/ boring_lava_field.html
March 2018