Went to local attraction 17 mi north of Soap Lake called Dry Falls Visitor Center

About 20 million years ago,during the Miocene Epoch,the landscape of Central Washington consisted of mountains,valleys,streams and lakes. One of the largest basaltic lava floods ever to appear on the earths surface engulfed about 63,000 square miles of the Pacific Northwest. Beginning about 17 million years ago,and lasting about 11 million years,lava flow after lava flow poured from the earth. These piled one on top of the other til it was about 2 miles thick.

With the beginning of the Pleistocene Epoch about 1 million years ago,a cooling climate provided conditions favorable to the creation of great sheets of moving ice,called glaciers. A lake in northwest Montana,played an important role in the formation of Dry Falls. As the lake grew in size, it eventually broke through the ice dam, unleashing a tremendous volume of water. The Dry Falls was a result it is 3.5 miles wide and a drop of more than 400 ft.Compared to Niagara which is 1 mile wide and a drop of only 165 ft