Mammals of Washington, Volume 2: University of Kansas Publications Museum of Natural HistoryDalquest, Walter Woelber
Science
Mammals of Washington, Volume 2: University of Kansas Publications Museum of Natural History
Dalquest, Walter Woelber
Mammals -- Washington (State)
The Puget Sound Trough, or Puget Sound Province, is immediately west
of and parallel to the Cascade Mountains. It is part of a structural
downwarp that extends southward into Oregon. Most of the area is
below 1,000 feet elevation, and much of the northern part is below
sea level and therefore flooded by the marine waters of Puget Sound.
The most prominent feature of this area is Puget Sound. This is a
glacially-carved and drowned river valley, studded with islands,
peninsulas, fjords and bays that all possess a general north-south
orientation resulting from the direction of ice movement. Puget Sound
is connected with the Pacific Ocean by the Strait of Juan De Fuca, a
wide channel separating the state of Washington and Vancouver Island.
The San Juan Islands represent the glaciated remnants of mountains
that, in preglacial time, may have connected the mountains on Vancouver
Island with the Cascades of Washington. The San Juan Islands lie at the
junction of Puget Sound, the Strait of Georgia, and the Strait of Juan
De Fuca. As a result of a boundary dispute and subsequent arbitration,
the islands were apportioned, on the basis of the deepest channel
separating them, between Canada and the United States. The American
portion includes more than 400 islands. These vary in size from mere
rocks above high tide to Orcas Island, 60 square miles in area.
The Olympic Peninsula, or Olympic Province, lies between Puget Sound
and the Pacific Ocean. The Strait of Juan De Fuca separates this
peninsula from Vancouver Island on the north. In the south the valley
of the Chehalis River is a convenient boundary for the province. The
central portion of the peninsula is occupied by the Olympic Mountain
Range. This range is nearly oblong in shape, measuring some 70 miles
east to west by 45 miles north to south. The mountains are extremely
rough and jagged. They rise from sea level to above 6,000 feet. The
highest peak, Mount Olympus, is 8,150 feet in elevation.
South of the Olympic Province and west of the Puget Sound Trough is an
area of low, rough hills. Culver called it the Willapa Hills Province.
The northern third of the land east of the Cascade Mountains, or
northeastern Washington, is termed the Okanogan Highland Province by
Culver. Its southern boundary is set at the east-west flow of the
Spokane and Columbia rivers. The outstanding physiographic feature of
this area is its division into north-south trending areas of lowland
with intervening highlands and mountain ranges. The rivers are, from
east to west, the Clark Fork, Colville, Columbia, Kettle, San Poil and
Okanogan. Not all intervening highlands are separately designated as
mountains. Among these named are the Pend Oreille, Huckleberry, Kettle
River, and Okanogan ranges.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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