The Rice Northwest Museum was featured recently on Travel Oregon’s Grant’s Getaways program for KGW-TV (Portland) as a “Gem Of A Museum.”
The video and article by Grant McOmie explores the Williamette Valley’s unique geological history, and how the Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals not just preserves that history but helps you understand its beauty and magic.
Gigantic, glacial Missoula Lake (in what is now Montana), backed up by an ice dam several miles wide and half a mile high, burst through its western wall and raced across the plains and valleys between Montana and the Pacific Ocean.
Geologists say some five hundred cubic miles of floodwater and icebergs roared across the Northwest, carrying away anything and everything in its path. As the ice flowed, it broke into thousands of pieces, and many of the pieces ended up stranded along the flood route.
These œerratics a geological term that describes a rock found a considerable distance from its place of origin “range from pebble- to baseball- to car-size boulders that still dot the Willamette Valley.
…Theres more geologic drama based at one of the most interesting historic homes of the Portland area; a home that houses one of the most magnificent collection of rocks and minerals in the region. The Rice NW Museum of Rocks and Minerals has been a drawing card for rock hounds for more than forty years “ it provides even the casual visitor a stunning visual treat.
To read the article and see reviews of the museum from Travel Oregon and Trip Advisor, see their Rice Northwest Museum Of Rocks And Minerals highlights and reviews.