Crown of the Continent E-Notes, Issue 1

Page 1

Crown Continent of the

The University of Montana

E – N ot e s fa l l 2 0 0 9 , N o. 1

Flathead Lake

O

n March 1, 1812, David Thompson, famed explorer and fur trader, crested a hill near presentday Polson. “we alighted on the E-Magazine Highlights top of A Bare Knowl, commanding a very Crown Issues, Research extensive view of the lake and country far around,” Thompson wrote when he saw an immense, crystalclear lake stretching north toward glistening white mountain tops. Dense conifer forests dominated the shoreline on both sides of this wide body of water. On the east, the slopes rose quickly, culminating in jagged snow-covered peaks thousands of feet above the valley floor. Today, these heights are called the Mission Mountains. The gentle rises he noted above the west side of the lake are the Salish Mountains. Thompson was the first white man to view a site that still holds today’s travelers in awe: Flathead Lake. The blue waters of this sparkling western Montana gem fill a huge

basin scoured out by a massive glacier that inched down the Rocky Mountain Trench from Canada about 40,000 years ago. About 12,000 years ago, the ice reached its maximum southern advance, dumping all matters of rubble and creating, just south of today’s Polson, what is known in geo-speak as a terminal moraine. At first sight, the ridge looks like a natural barrier holding back Flathead Lake. However, the moraine doesn’t dam the lake. In the southwest corner of the basin, glacial melt water broke through mud and sand to reach solid bedrock, then eroded a narrow gorge through the hard rock. An overlook of the passageway

The Crown of the Continent—what some call “The Backbone of the World”—serves as a living laboratory for climate change, a stage for urban-wildland interface issues and a tapestry of human and geographic history. The Crown of the Continent Initiative at the University of Montana launched a biannual electronic magazine that, like this newsletter, helps to shed light on and bring information, stories and photos from this incredible ecosystem. Look for the next issue this winter. To access the E-Magazine, go online to http:// issuu.com/crown_of_the_continent and click on the cover under publications. For more information on the initiative or to request an electronic copy of the E-Magazine and subsequent issues and newsletters, e-mail UMCROWN@umontana.edu. These publications are brought to you free of charge, but we appreciate your donations. Please see the next page for how to help.

Continued on PAGE 4 PAGE 1: Crown of the Continent E-Notes, NO. 1


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Crown of the Continent E-Notes, Issue 1 by UM Crown of the Continent and Greater Yellowstone Initiative - Issuu