A sunny fall day in October greeted the Sea Lion as she cruised east along the Columbia River. We had noticed an unusual amount of barge traffic along the river since the following evening departure from Portland. There had been many barges tied up to grain ships in the port city of Portland. Grain was being moved from barge to silo to ship destined for foreign ports to the east. Today we began to see the reason for that off loading of grain in, river traffic, as barge tows fully loaded with grain were being pushed by tow-boats down river. The high plateau all along the river above the Bretz flood line is a well-known growing area of the Inland Pacific Northwest. The Columbia River Plateau often called the breadbasket of the Northwest, grows an enormous diversity of grains. One of the largest crops grown is the soft white wheat used for noodles in Asia. During the last two weeks grain prices have been the highest farmers have seen in several years. Hence the farmers have been moving large quantities of wheat due to good market prices along with a push to beat weather changes due in a month! Once again we were witnessing the richness of this Northwest area. Nearly two hundred years ago, Lewis and Clark had traveled in the fall down the Columbia River and described in their journals the potential they saw possible for farming in the Columbia River Plateau.
“The rolling hills south of the Snake River, like those above it produced the bunch wheat grass, with its varied and rich cover—from the scattered tufts of the desert margins to the luxuriant carpet of the eastern hills—which reflected all the variations of sun and rain, slope and elevation.” Fall of 1805, Lewis and Clark Journals.
