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Taken from Daroga Park on the opposite bank of the Columbia River this picture shows Earthquake Point exceptionally well. The wires running from a transmission tower just to my back reach more than 3300 feet across the river the immense towers opposite. My use of an HO scale transmission tower on the N scale module is clearly justified by this photograph.
Geologically, Ribbon Cliff and Earthquake Point are composed of granodiorites, schists, and gneisses collectively referred to as the Chelan Batholith. The light colored rock exposed here is granodiorite (a more sodic version of a granite). The dark ribbons for which the cliff is named are thin intrusions, called dikes, of a dark volcanic rock called basalt. These basalts flooded vast expanses of eastern Washington and Oregon during the Miocene. Although eroded off above the cliffs, the flood basalts that covered this site were those of the Yakima Basalt. (Yes, we geologists give specific layers or bodies of rock names based on their location and rock type. The Chelan Batholith is best exposed on the banks and hills around Lake Chelan a few miles north of Ribbon Cliff, and the Yakima Basalt is best exposed in Yakima Canyon, ironically the route of the Northern Pacific Railroad.)
In this photo the level of the tracks are shown as the strongly horizontally aligned dark green growth just above the water line. Just above that is the white guard rail on US 97. As you can see, there is very little room between the river, the tracks, the road, and the rocks. On the module, this is where I used a bridge to hide where the two rearward rail lines (yellow and blue) passed into and beneath Earthquake Point.
Photograph copyright © 1992-98 by Peter K. Matthews. All Rights Reserved.