BY LOIS WADSWORTH
Geology
Love the land.
IN SEARCH OF ANCIENT OREGON:
A GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL
HISTORY by Ellen Morris Bishop. Timber Press,
2003. Hardcover, $39.95.
T
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30 NOVEMBER 6, 2003
o keep the record straight, I did not
read Ellen Morris Bishop’s 289-
page geological and natural history
of ancient Oregon from cover to cover,
although I would love to have the leisure to
read, study and engage with this book.
Looking at her excellent large-format cam-
era photographs and reading select pas-
sages stirred memories of an inspiring geol-
ogy class I took in the late 1960s, when
ideas about continent-building were seduc-
tive theories.
Now, plate tectonics, moving seafloors
and colliding continents are accepted geo-
logical tools that explain how the land we
now call Oregon was added to the continent
from its earlier forms as ocean bottom,
shallow water coral reefs, volcanic islands
and warm seas.
This lavishly illustrated and beautifully
designed book pulled me in. I was hooked
by her caption for the photo on pages 2-3:
“Glacial erratic, once part of Mt. Hood’s
eastern rampart, eroded and transported by
Pleistocene glaciers, now resting atop the
extensive moraine of Eliot Glacier.”
Bishop’s gift of straddling time in a few
succinct phrases makes sense of complex
geological processes.
The oldest rocks in this part of the new
world are Devonian limestone, about 400
million years old, found in the Blue
Mountains of northeast Oregon and the
Klamath Mountains of southwest Oregon,
which became part of the continental land-
mass at different times. Blue Mountains’
rocks were coral reefs and forested volcanic
islands that now “crown the Wallowa,
Elkhorn, Strawberry, Aldrich and
Greenhorn ranges,” Bishop writes.
Oregon’s Klamath Mountains, the Rogue
River Canyon, Kalmiopsis Wilderness,
Illinois River drainage and Mount Ashland
were a volcanic archipelago much like
Indonesia today. These islands and micro
continents merged offshore and were added
to the continent as a single, complex block.
In Search of Ancient Oregon will not
only help you master the lexicon of geolog-
ic terms such as “subduction zones,” the
place where the seafloor dives back into the
Earth’s mantle, but also lesser-used words
like exotic terrane, mélange and erratics.
Bishop brings these geologic features to life
in pictures of the landscape you might
encounter on a drive from Eugene to Burns,
for example.
Bishop selected photographs from more
than 3,000 large-format images. Her text is
lively, and the narrative builds logically. I
like how Bishop describes her intention
here: “The geologist’s mission is to trans-
late the mute stuff of stolid stones into a
planetary biography.” Her search for
ancient Oregon is a trip well worth taking.
Bishop presents a slide show and lecture
at 7 pm on Nov. 10 at Tsunami Books.
Jointly sponsored by Black Sun Books and
Tsunami Books, take this unique opportu-
nity to meet Bishop, see these magnificent
photographs. Reception follows.
ew
B oo k N o te s No v . 6 - D ec . 1 1: L a ur e n K es s le r (Cover
Girl, HarperCollins, 2003) will speak on “Crossing the
Line: From nonfiction to fiction and back again” at
6:30 - 9 pm on Nov. 6, Baker Downtown Center, $5
donation. …Poet Pa u l Dr es m an (The Silver Dazzle of
the Sun: Selected Poems ) reads at 7 pm on Nov. 6 at
Tsunami Books. …Essayist Ri c h ar d Ro d ri g u ez (The
Browning of America) speaks at 4 pm on Nov. 6 in
305 Pharmacy Hall, OSU, Corvallis. …Al Sandine
(Plundertown USA: Coos Bay Enters the Global
Economy) at 7 pm on Nov. 6 at UO Bookstore.
Fr an c es M ay e s (Under the Tuscan Sun) speaks at
…F
noon on Nov. 7 at Portland State’s Smith Memorial
Su za nn e Ki n g s bu r y
Student Union. (503.725.4949). …S
(The Gospel According to Gracey) reads at 7 pm on
Nov. 11 in Knight Library Browsing Room, UO campus.
…Veneta attorney D e a n V a n Le u ve n (Life Without
Anger: Your Guide to Peaceful Living) speaks at 7 pm
on Nov. 13 in UO Bookstore. …Literary Arts’ O r e g on
B oo k Aw ar ds Ce r e m o n y is at 7:30 pm on Nov. 13 at
the Scottish Rite Center, Portland (503.227.2583)
Award for lifetime achievement goes to playwright,
poet G e o rg e H i t c h c oc k (Harrisburg). Poetry nomi-
nees: Ja ne B ai le y, Ca s ey K w an g, R o b e r t M c D o w el l ,
R it a Ot t R a ms ta d, C l em en s S ta r c k. Novel: C a i
Em m on s (Eugene), A pr i l H e n ry , J an e K ir k p a tr i c k,
Al an S i po ri n (Eugene), L o n o Wa iw ai o l e . Short Fiction:
T r a c y Da u g he r t y, Do u gl a s R e n n ie , L i d ia Yu kn a vi t ch .
General Nonfiction: Ri ck H a r m on , Ba rb a r a S .
Ma h on ey , K i m S t a f f or d. Creative Nonfiction: C ar ol
An n Ba s se t t (Eugene). Ch r i s C he s te r, Ga br i e l le
Gl a se r , F l o yd S k l o o t, Ki m St af fo r d. Children’s
Literature: E ri c K i mm e l, Pe tr a M a th e rs , Va l er ie R a p p,
Ni c ol e R ub el, C yn th ia Ry la nt . Young Adult Literature:
Br ia n A. C on n ol l y , H ea t he r V og el F re de ri c k, K ez i
M at t h e ws , E l i z a be t h R u s c h , G r a h a m S a l i s b u r y .
…C l em S ta rc k (China Basin) reads at 7 pm on Nov. 15
at Newport Recreation Center and at noon on Dec. 4
W ay n e H ar ri s o n and
at OSU Bookstore, Corvallis. …W
Mi c h a el S p ri n g read 7-9 pm on Nov. 18 at Eugene
Public Library. …Historian and author D a v id Pe t er s o n
d el M ar (Oregon’s Promise) reads at 7 pm on Nov. 20
Ka t e Mo se s (Wintering: A Novel of
at UO Bookstore. …K
Sylvia Plath) reads at 7:30 pm on Nov. 20 at Powell’s
SE Hawthorne bookstore. …Novelist E dm u n d W hi te
(Fanny) reads at 7:30 pm on Nov. 21 at Powell’s
Ba r ry L o pe z introduces readers
Beaverton store. …B
from Best Essays Northwest, including K i m S ta f fo r d,
J oh n D a ni el and Bo b b ie W i ll is , at 7 pm on Nov. 25 in
Knight Library Browsing Room, UO campus.
…Memoirist, novelist T o bi a s W o l f f (Old School; Knopf,
2003) speaks at 7:30 pm on Dec. 2 at the Arlene
Schnitzer Concert Hall (503.227.2583). …Writer,
Jungian analyst J am e s H o ll i s (On This Journey We
Call Life) speaks at 7 pm on Dec. 4 at the Knight Law
Fl oy d S kl o o t (In the Shadow of Memory)
Center. …F
speaks at 7 pm on Dec. 4 at the Knight Library
4t h a n n u a l A ut ho rs an d A rt i st s
Browsing Room. …4
F a i r, 7-10 pm on Dec. 6 at the Eugene Public Library
(www.eplfoundation.org).