Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1937-03-18
Points Of Interest.


lee, what is known as the "Coulee
Monocline' must be considered al
some length, as it plays an impor-
tant part in the development Of
the whole lower coulee section
The "Coulee Monocline'', or one.
way fissure, is just north Of the
town of Coulee City. 1t runs in a
northeast and southwesterly d.
rection extending the whole dis
lance along the west walls of the
lower Grand Coulee to Soap Lake
and beyond. A visitor will notice
in the lower coulee along the high
way where some of the island
rocks lie at an angle Of As degrees
and the whole west wall has de-
cided dip to the east and south.
where the highway descends the
grade into the lower coulee. This
dip is about so degrees.
From this monocline southwark
and west all along the line there
was decided breaking or bending
of the basalt flows and more or
less warping of the region to the
south and west of Dry Falls.
Crosses North of Town
The monocline crosses the cou.
lee just month of the town of Cou-
lee City and about opposite the big
orchard of the Columbia Basin Or
chard company, extending in a
southwesterly direction. Here the
break is easily seen and the east
wall there disappears under what
is known as the gravel flat. The
west side dip is very pronounced
extending down and past Dry Falls
to where the highway descends in
to the lower coulee.
This dip is so long and gradual
that it gives fine approach to-
the high plateau to the west that
the Sunset highway or Federal
Road No. 10 reaches the top on an
easy grade, the maximum being
less than five per cent.
''Pilot" Rock Holds Record
On the west side Of the Grand
Coules and almost ron top Of this
monoclinal break Ia "Haystack, !"
or pilot" rock, which can be seen
for many miles in any direction.
This rock is about seventy feet
high and is the largest erratic In
the world. 1t was carried there by
the glacier that occupied all nor
thern Douglas county during the
ice age.
From the top of this monocline
the view is most interesting. One
gets birds-eye view Of the whole
area which is decidedly rugged,
having many channelways, trans
verse coulees. extinct cataracts.
knobs and basins. These all de-
note the tremendous effect Of DOW
erful floodstream action.
From the top of this monocline
the story Is plain. When the ice
dam shut off the Columbia river,
it naturally raised to the level of
the ridge and began pouring over
the slope. and then was the north
Grand Coulee born. Onward from
there the entire north Grand Cou-
lee was excavated back into the
Columbia valley proper as 1t APP
pears today.
To the southwark the story is
mare complex, with different land
patterns, and coulees that are
transverse to the main coulee. In
the lower coulee two coulees par.
allel with each other For several
miles, which invites some inter.
esting questions as to how it al
came about.
The basin extending from her,
eastward is known as Hartltn'
Structural Basin, and was the firs
to be filled from gravels, sand
and from the excavation of tn.
north coulee. The early waters
poured in great volumes over tn,
ridge south of town, excavatin,
Trail canyon and others to tn
south, leaving the country rugged
as It now appears.
Gradually, however, as thu
Dry Falls region and the lowe
coulee gathered Roadway, takin
care of the flood waters, the uppe
portions were abandoned.
This no doubt is why the uppe
Deep lake canyon has highe
talus than the lower section, a
Dry Falls and the lower coule
functioned last.