Dry Falls tale questioned

Being an armchair history buff, I was delighted to see Ms. Nappi’s article on Dry Falls (Aug. 13). I’ve been past the turnoff several times, but never took the time to stop. Now I will.

I’ve also been to the site of ancient Lake Missoula as well as having watched the PBS special on J Harlen Bretz, the geologist who first postulated the flood theory. Also, having lived on the west side of the state for 20-plus years, I’ve read about the local Indian tribes’ stories of a great flood.

So imagine my surprise when I read the article and found one glaring error: “humans weren’t alive during the floods.” I don’t believe that is true. Especially if the floods took place 18,000 to 12,000 years ago, as humans were certainly wandering around. Unfortunately, I would imagine anyone or anything caught in the flood of trees and car-size boulders would have been ground to dust and covered with multiple layers of mud, in some places more than 100 feet deep.

But all in all, Ms. Nappi did a fine job of bringing to light some of the benefits of living in the eastern part of the state.

R.S. Ellard

Spokane