The name camas prairie refers to several different geographical areas in the

western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the We ...

which were named for the native

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also widel ...

camassia ''Camassia'' is a genus of plants in the asparagus family native to North America. Common names include camas, quamash, Indian hyacinth, camash, and wild hyacinth. It grows in the wild in great numbers in moist meadows. They are perennial p ...

or camas. The culturally and scientitifcally significant of these areas lie within

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Monta ...

and

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

. Camas bulbs were an important food source for Native Americans.

Idaho

History

Named for the blue flowering camas—an important food source for all Native Americans in the interior Northwest—the Camas Prairie is a traditional Nez Perce gathering place in

north central Idaho North Central Idaho is an area which spans the central part of the state of Idaho and borders Oregon, Montana, and Washington. It is the southern half of the Idaho Panhandle region and is rich in agriculture and natural resources. Lewis and Clar ...

. From the

Nez Perce National Historical Park The Nez Perce National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park comprising 38 sites located across the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington, which include traditional aboriginal lands of the Nez Perce people. The sit ...

: Camas Prairie is interpreted at a highway pullout on the north side of

U.S. Highway 95 US Route 95 (US 95) is a major north–south US Highway in the western United States. It travels through the states of Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Idaho, staying inland from the Pacific Coast. US 95 begins in San Luis ...

, about six miles (10 km) south of Grangeville. This large prairie was a Nez Perce gathering place, where camas roots were harvested for thousands of years. Several nontreaty bands gathered at Tolo Lake in early June 1877 in anticipation of moving to the Nez Perce reservation. In response to the forced move and other hostile actions, several young Nez Perce people took actions that precipitated the

Nez Perce War The Nez Perce War was an armed conflict in 1877 in the Western United States that pitted several bands of the Nez Perce tribe of Native Americans and their allies, a small band of the ''Palouse'' tribe led by Red Echo (''Hahtalekin'') and ...

. Camas Prairie is a large area, mostly privately owned, that extends many miles between the

Salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus '' Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Onco ...

and Clearwater River drainages. Most of the area is

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

and the northern section is within the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. Similar to the opening of lands in

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

, the U.S. government opened the reservation for white settlement on November 18, 1895. The proclamation had been signed less than two weeks earlier by President

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

. The area was home to the second subdivision of the Camas Prairie Railroad, known as the "railroad on stilts" due to its numerous trestles, most of which were timber. '' Breakheart Pass,'' a

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

film starring

Charles Bronson Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. Known for his "granite features and brawny physique," he gained international fame for his starring roles in action, Western, and wa ...

, was filmed on portions of the railroad on the Camas Prairie. The railroad ceased operations in the late 1990s. For more information:
National Park Service
- Nez Perce
U.S. Forest Service
- Nez Perce

Communities

* Grangeville * Fenn * Greencreek * Cottonwood *

Ferdinand Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...

* Craigmont *

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

* Reubens

Counties

* Idaho County * Lewis County * Camas County - in southern Idaho

Southern Idaho

In southern Idaho, east of Mountain Home, the high plain of Camas County around Fairfield is locally called the "Camas Prairie."

Protected Areas

Camas Prairie Centennial Marsh Wildlife Management Area Camas Prairie Centennial Marsh Wildlife Management Area at is an Idaho wildlife management area in Camas County south of the community of Hill City. The WMA is at the base of the Bennett Hills on the Camas Prairie south of the Soldier Mountain ...

Montana

The Camas Prairie covers the floor of the Camas Prairie Basin in Sanders County. This basin is a distinct north–south oriented elliptical basin that is drained by Camas Creek into the

Flathead River The Flathead River ( fla, label= Salish, člq̓etkʷ ntx̣ʷetkʷ, , kut, kananmituk), in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Montana, originates in the Canadian Rockies to the north of Glacier National Park and flows southwest into Fla ...

at Perma, Montana. Both the prairie and basin are surrounded by north-south trending mountain ranges except where Camas Creek drains into the Flathead River.LaFave, J.I.,Smith, L.N.,and Patton, T.W., 2004. ''Ground-Water Resources of the Flathead Lake Area: Flathead, Lake, Missoula, and Sanders Counties, Montana. Part A – Descriptive Overview and Water-Quality Data.'' ''Montana Ground-Water Assessment Atlas 2.'' Butte, Montana, Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology. 132 pp.United States Geological Survey, 1959. ''Perma Quadrangle Montana 15 Minute Series (Topographic).'' Reston, Virginia, United States Geological Survey, 1 sheet, scale 1:62,500. The basin is about in dimensions with an area of about .Harrison, J.E., Griggs, A.B. and Wells, J.D., 1986. ''Geology and structure map of the Wallace 1° x 2° Quadrangle, Montana and Idaho.'' U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigation Series, Map 1-1509. 21 pp. 2 sheets, scale 1:250,000. The center of this relatively flat basin lies at elevations just below .United States Geological Survey, 1989. ''Camas Prairie Flathead Indian Reservation 7.5 Minute Series (Topographic).'' Reston, Virginia, United States Geological Survey, 1 sheet, scale 1:24,000. The basin is bordered by the Salish Mountains on its eastern side and northern end and bordered by the Cabinet Mountains on its western side. These mountains rise above elevations of .United States Geological Survey, 2014. ''Markle Quadrangle Montana 7.5-Minute Series (Topographic).'' Reston, Virginia, United States Geological Survey, 1 sheet, scale 1:24,000. The Camas Prairie region is sparsely populated and lies within the

Flathead Indian Reservation The Flathead Indian Reservation, located in western Montana on the Flathead River, is home to the Bitterroot Salish, Kootenai, and Pend d'Oreilles tribes – also known as the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation. Th ...

. The two main populated places within this region are Camas (

Ktunaxa The Kutenai ( ), also known as the Ktunaxa ( ; ), Ksanka ( ), Kootenay (in Canada) and Kootenai (in the United States), are an indigenous people of Canada and the United States. Kutenai bands live in southeastern British Columbia, northern ...

: ''ya·qa·kmumaǂki'') and Perma (

: ''kxunamaʔnam'')

Bedrock Geology

The basin in which the Camas Prairie lies is a low-relief valley surrounded by mountains composed of

metasedimentary In geology, metasedimentary rock is a type of metamorphic rock. Such a rock was first formed through the deposition and solidification of sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and e ...

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as e ...

that belong to the Prichard Formation of the

Belt Supergroup The Belt Supergroup is an assemblage of primarily fine-grained sedimentary rocks and mafic intrusive rocks of late Precambrian (Mesoproterozoic) age. It is more than thick, covers an area of some 200,000 km2 (77,220 sq. mi), and is considered to ...

. These strata are intensively folded and thrust faulted. The basin is filled with undifferentiated

Cenozoic The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configu ...

red, greenish, and bluish

siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, ...

and

mudstone Mudstone, a type of mudrock, is a fine-grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Mudstone is distinguished from '' shale'' by its lack of fissility (parallel layering).Blatt, H., and R.J. Tracy, 1996, ''Petrology.' ...

and

volcanic rock Volcanic rock (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) is a rock formed from lava erupted from a volcano. In other words, it differs from other igneous rock by being of volcanic origin. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic ...

. A few

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class ...

y and

gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classifi ...

ly beds are also present. These strata

outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most places the bedrock or superficia ...

at the surface around the perimeter of the basin. Within the basin, they are cover by of

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million year ...

deposits that accumulated within

glacial A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betwe ...

Lake Missoula Lake Missoula was a prehistoric proglacial lake in western Montana that existed periodically at the end of the last ice age between 15,000 and 13,000 years ago. The lake measured about and contained about of water, half the volume of Lake Mic ...

.Lonn, J.D., Smith, L.N., and McCulloch, R.B., 2007. ''Geologic map of the Plains 30' x 60' quadrangle, western Montana. Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology Open-File Report 554'', 43 pp., 1 sheet, scale 1:100,000.

Quaternary Geology

The Camas Prairie is well-known for the large fields of Late

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

giant current ripples Giant current ripples are active channel topographic forms up to 20 m high, which develop within near-thalweg areas of the main outflow valleys created by glacial lake outburst floods. Giant current ripple marks are large scale analogues of small ...

that cover a substantical part of its surface.Bohorquez, P., Cañada-Pereira, P., Jimenez-Ruiz, P.J. and del Moral-Erencia, J.D., 2019. ''The fascination of a shallow-water theory for the formation of megaflood-scale dunes and antidunes.'' ''Earth-science reviews'', 193, pp.91-108 They were created during one of the many times when glacial Lake Missoula drained when its ice dam failed. From the northern edge of the Camas Basin, the fields of giant current ripples extend south (downcurrent) from four mountain passes that were once submerge inlets into the flooded Camas Basin. Southward, these fields of giant current ripples spread out and merge on the basin floor. These sedimentary bedforms are best seen in aerial images and at low sun angles.Lee, K., 2009
''Catastrophic Flood Features at Camas Prairie, Montana.''
Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado. 39 pp.Alho, P., Baker, V.R. and Smith, L.N., 2010. ''Paleohydraulic reconstruction of the largest Glacial Lake Missoula draining(s).'' ''Quaternary Science Reviews'', 29(23-24), pp. 3067-3078. These giant current ripples are large-to-very-large, subaqueous

dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

s and

antidune An antidune is a bedform found in fluvial and other channeled environments. Antidunes occur in supercritical flow, meaning that the Froude number is greater than 1.0 or the flow velocity exceeds the wave velocity; this is also known as upper flo ...

s. Although they once covered a significantly larger area, they cover about of the Camas Prairie basin. The wavelength of these dunes and antidunes ranges from and their height ranges from . They are all two-dimensional, flow transverse, sinuous,

sedimentary Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

bedforms. The wavelength and height of these giant current ripples decrease away (downcurrent) from the former inlets. Correspondingly, the size of the gravels comprising them decreases south (downcurrent) from

boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In ...

and cobble gravels to pebble gravels. Their foreset

bedding Bedding, also known as bedclothes or bed linen, is the materials laid above the mattress of a bed for hygiene, warmth, protection of the mattress, and decorative effect. Bedding is the removable and washable portion of a human sleeping environm ...

is poorly defined and their dip varies from 14 to 23 degrees. In addition to the gravel dunes and antidunes, delta-like, expansion bars accumulated below each of the former subaqueous inlets. They consist of foreset beds that consist of boulder-cobble-pebble gravels. The Pleistocene deposits and bedforms in the basin have not been dated using

radiometric dating Radiometric dating, radioactive dating or radioisotope dating is a technique which is used to date materials such as rocks or carbon, in which trace radioactive impurities were selectively incorporated when they were formed. The method compares ...

methods. The lack of absolute dates prevents the construction of a reliable

geochronology Geochronology is the science of determining the age of rocks, fossils, and sediments using signatures inherent in the rocks themselves. Absolute geochronology can be accomplished through radioactive isotopes, whereas relative geochronology is ...

for Lake Missoula lake drainage events in the Camas Prairie basin and correlation of the giant current ripples with bedforms and sedimentary deposits outside of it. The exposed gravel deposits underlying the giant current ripples at Camas Prairie exhibit at least two

beds A bed is an item of furniture that is used as a place to sleep, rest, and relax. Most modern beds consist of a soft, cushioned mattress on a bed frame. The mattress rests either on a solid base, often wood slats, or a sprung base. Many be ...

of gravelly deposits that are indicative of deposition by separate Missoula floods. They are separated by an erosional

unconformity An unconformity is a buried erosional or non-depositional surface separating two rock masses or strata of different ages, indicating that sediment deposition was not continuous. In general, the older layer was exposed to erosion for an interval ...

with a buried and dismembered

calcrete Caliche () is a sedimentary rock, a hardened natural cement of calcium carbonate that binds other materials—such as gravel, sand, clay, and silt. It occurs worldwide, in aridisol and mollisol soil orders—generally in arid or semiarid regions ...

, carbonate soil horizon. The calcrete is thick. It provides empirical evidence of at least two separate periods of giant current ripple activity and associated with separate Missoula Floods that occurred thousands of years apart based the thickness and development of the calcrete.Chambers, R.L., 1971. ''Sedimentation in glacial Lake Missoula.'' Masters of Science Thesis, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana. Chambers, R.L. and Curry, R.R., 1989. ''Glacial Lake Missoula: sedimentary evidence for multiple drainages.'' In Breckenridge, R.M., Atwater, B.F., Baker, V.R., Busacca, A.J., Chambers, R.L., Curry, R.R., Hanson, L.G., Kever, E.P., McDonald, E.V., Stradling, D.F. and Waitt, R.B., eds., ''Glacial Lake Missoula and the channeled scabland. International Geological Congress, 28th, Guidebook,'' 300, pp. 3-11. American Geophysical Union Washington DC. The giant current ripples of the Camas Prairie are analogous to similar giant Pleistocene bedforms described form Channeled Scablands of Washington. They are identical to the giant subaqueous bedrooms that formed on the bottom of Lake Kuray-Chuya during the Altai flood in Siberia, Russia. These giant bedforms, which are rare or unknown outside of theoretical and experimental studies, preserved a unique record of the paleohydraulology of a Missoula Flood associated with the catastrophic emptying of Lake Missoula.

References

External links

Visit North Central Idaho
– Camas Prairie

– Around Camas Prairie

– Camas Prairie Railroad
Historical Museum at St. GertrudeMonastery of St. Gertrude
– Camas Prairie ripple marks in Montana {{authority control Plants by habitat Regions of Idaho Regions of Montana Grasslands of the United States Grasslands of Idaho Grasslands of Montana Geography of Washington (state) Flora of the Northwestern United States Geography of Camas County, Idaho Geography of Idaho County, Idaho Geography of Lewis County, Idaho Nez Perce National Historical Park