gests* it seems to us to be a matter of course that the most of those which were not thrown down by the motion and agitation would have been standing in various inclined posi« tions. But on the contrary we lind them all standing erect And again it is probable that the slides were very nearly simultaneous, as the trees are all about in the same state of preservation. The most of them stand opposite where we consider the shores too gradual to admit of a slide."
Geological Explanation. Many modern scientists do not find sufficient evidence to justify the conclusion that the Columbia was once panned by a natural bridge. Among them is ira A. Williams, Geologist for the Oregon Bureau *of Mines and Geology. After a thorough examination of the Columbia from The Dalles to the mouth of the river, he reports: "Above die Cascades for miles there are in places erect stumps of trees that were obviously killed by die encroachment of the water about their base, just as would happen were an obstruction unexpectedly thrown across the river at some point below. That the low water level of the Columbia above its cascades was remarkably raised for a time there seems little question. Whether it has receded since to any considerable extent can be said only after a more detailed study of it than has been made. That the cause was the choking of its channel by a barrier at the site of the present cascades available evidence seems to point. And not beyond the range of reality is the possibility that at one time this barrier may have constituted the causeway about which s:rew the encliantino tale of the Indian maiden Lowit and the contestlnr^ rivals for her hand. But far from fabulous'*Bridge of the Gods'*was this, rather instead—plain tottering blocks of lava and a crumbling, sloughing claystamed bouldery assemblage from yon proud cliff was its make up, over the rise or fall of which, in our humble judgment, inexorable gravity, not Sahale the Great Indian Spirit, exercised complete controL'*
