Ice Age Floods Explorer

Mammoth Undertaking for Cheney Students

In the early 1990s, second-graders in Mrs. Sara Jane Aebly's class at Windsor Elementary School discovered that Washington State did not have an official state fossil. Encouraged by their teacher,…

Granite Boulder in the Scablands: Mountain Top or Glacial Erratic?

By Justin Luppens

Due to the ice age floods, when a large granitic rock is found near the Spokane Airport it can be hard to determine if it is an old mountain top surrounded by younger geological features or rafted in…

The Joso High Bridge

By Josh M Bliesner

Around 1910 when construction began on this massive span, it was still the golden age of railroads. The Oregon-Washington Railroad and Navigation Company planned a new track between Portland, Oregon,…

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William’s Lake Plunge Pool

By Kelsey Gardner

Just off William’s Lake Road, between William’s and Badger lake lies the William’s Lake plunge pool. Cheney’s Mayor Tom Trulove signed a purchase and sale agreement to purchase 15 acres of land containing the plunge pool. The purchase was important…

Old Bones Cemetery

By Jessica L. Bell

The Palouse Indian Village at the confluence of the Palouse and Snake Rivers was home to many generations of Indians until the mid-1940s. The river provided the village with ample fish and waterfowl to live on. Chief Old Bones, or Charley Old Bones…

Doing Hard Time in a Small Town

By Josh M Bliesner

The oldest building in Starbuck isn't the bank, the grange hall, or even the horse stable. It is the jail. Built before 1900, the old jail is made of concrete fourteen inches thick with reinforced iron bars, the same iron used on railways. A large…

The Joso High Bridge

By Josh M Bliesner

HU Ranch Cataract Gorge

By Alexander Fry

Welcome to HU Ranch! Looking out across the landscape, you will see the cattle ranch in a very linear canyon to the south. The canyon, known as HU Ranch Cataract Gorge (Bretz et al., 1956), or the Davin Coulee (on topographic maps), is an elongated…

Hawk Creeks Winding Recession From the Columbia River

By Lana Williamson

Five miles south of the Spokane- Columbia River confluence is a little inlet known as Hawk Creek; a place where people come to spend time doing everything from kayaking to hiking to bird watching. While basking in the sun and fun, it’s interesting to…

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Ice Age Floods Explorer

Ice Age Floods Explorer is a web and mobile platform for telling stories of the Missoula Floods and is an ongoing endevour focusing on student research. Ice Age Floods Explorer is a project of the Public History program and Department of Geology at Eastern Washington University. Most of the stories were created by EWU students. Co-editors are Drs. Chad Pritchard, Larry Cebula, and Paul Lindholdt from Eastern Washington University. Dr. Chad Pritchard is an Assistant Professor in the Geology Department. Dr. Larry Cebula is Editor of Spokane Historical. He is a Professor of History at Eastern Washington University and the Assistant Digital Archivist for the State of Washington. Dr. Paul Lindholdt is a Professor or English. Assistant Edit... Read more About Us