Missoula Floods and the Washington Park MAX Light Rail Station, Portland, Oregon - Glacial Lake Missoula Flood Features on Waymarking.com

The 3-mile-long tunnel connects downtown Portland with the western suburbs. There is one station in the tunnel, Washington Park. At 290 feet below the ground level entrance it is the deepest transit station in North America.

The layers of lava, silt, and soil which make up the Portland's West Hills - 15,600,000 years of geological history - are on display here.

The glass tubes that run along the MAX light rail station walls contains the actual material from the hills through which this tunnel passes.

Eighty seven core samples were drilled from the surface of the earth to depths well below the level of the tunnel.

The sample on view here was drilled in August of 1992, with each of the materials being set into the glass sequentially.

Each layer of material was once on the earth's surface, beginning at a time when things in this area were very different from the way they are today.

Between 12,000 and 16,000 years ago, glacier-formed ice dam burst, flooding the Columbia River plateau for thousands of miles.

Water rushed down the Columbia River Gorge, carrying huge boulders and blocks of ice in the torrent.

The Portland region was covered to depths of 400 feet by the floodwaters; only the tops of Mount Tabor, Rocky Butte, Kelly Butte, and Mt. Scott, along with portions of the West Hills, would have remained visible.

-- words taken from Washington Park MAX Light Rail Station wall

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