Hope in Bonner County, Idaho — The American West (Mountains)
Glacial Ice Dam
Filled This Basin as Far as You Can See
— Glaciers moved south from Canada spreading across the lake and rivers —
Glaciers advanced and retreated a dozen times or more
Damming Glacial Lake Missoula
Bursting with gargantuan force
Flooding areas 400 miles away
Shaping today's landscape in Idaho, Washington and Oregon
Glacial ice above lake level.
Tall as a 200 story building above lake level
Rose 4 times as tall as Seattle's 605ft Space Needle
Total depth of ice may have exceeded 3,500 feet when reaching to the lake's rock bed
Only the mountains with peaks rising above 4,500 ft. in elevation would have been visible from top of the glacier.
Erected by Federal Highway Administration, Idaho Transportation Department, University of Idaho, Hope-Clark Fork Chamber of Commerce Members.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Environment • Waterways & Vessels.
Location. 48° 15.423′ N, 116° 19.507′ W. Marker is in Hope, Idaho, in Bonner County. Marker is on State Highway 200, on the right when traveling south. Marker is near the center of an Idaho Route 200 pullout, overlooking the referenced lake, about one mile north of Hope, Idaho. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Hope ID 83836, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 5 other markers are within 4 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Glacial Lake Missoula (here, next to this marker); Lake Pend Oreille (within shouting distance of this marker); Hope & East Hope (approx. 1.4 miles away); David Thompson & Finnan MacDonald (approx. 1˝ miles away); Kullyspell House (approx. 3.7 miles away).
More about this marker. This marker is beside the related Glacial Lake Missoula marker.
Related marker. Click here for another marker that is related to this marker. To better understand the relationship, study each marker in the order shown.
Also see . . . Ice Dam.
About 13,000 years ago in North America, the Cordilleran ice sheet crept southward into the Idaho Panhandle, forming a large ice dam that blocked the mouth of the Clark Fork River, creating a massive lake 2,000 feet (610 m) deep and containing more than 500 cubic miles (2,100 km3) of water. Finally this Glacial Lake Missoula burst through the ice dam and exploded downstream, flowing at a rate 10 times the combined flow of all the rivers of the world. Because such ice dams can re-form, these Missoula Floods happened at least 59 times, carving Dry Falls below Grand Coulee. (Submitted on May 7, 2014, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)
Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. It was originally submitted on May 7, 2014, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 748 times since then and 18 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on May 7, 2014, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. • Bill Pfingsten was the editor who published this page.