Palouse Falls traveling lecture series

COLFAX — The Palouse Falls Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute is returning its traveling lecture series to Colfax with “The Five Great Lakes of the Missoula Floods” on Wednesday, Sept. 13, at 3 p.m. at the Whitman County Library, 102 South Main.

Palouse Chapter President Lloyd Stroess said that the chapter visited Colfax the last time around two years ago.

Stoess said the lecture will review Glacial Lake Missoula and Glacial Lake Columbia, “We’re going to look at some sites because of those lakes, and they’re all a little bit different,” he said.

Stoess said they’d also be talking about glacial and interglacial periods, “how some rivers changed courses because of the floods that have come through,” he said.

Both lakes formed for the same reason, but their history is very different, Stoess said, adding that when the waters in Glacial Lake Missoula were catastrophically released, they entered the Columbia River drainage system.

On their way to the Pacific Ocean, the floodwaters were restricted at three different locations, forming three temporary lakes.

Stoess said that the presentation would give an overview of all five Great Lakes and is a precursor to the fall bus tour on the first Saturday in October. “The bus tour goes down in the Tri-Cities,” he said, adding that attendees can see mammoth bones.

Those who want to sign up for the bus tour can sign up at the lecture, Stoess said, or at the Palouse Empire Fair, where they will host a booth.

“They can also go online and sign up,” Stoess said, adding that the site is http://www.iafi.org.

Stoess is hopeful many people will attend to learn something new about their incredible story.