1917] Mcrriam-Buwalda: White Bluffs of the Columbia 257 



to be Pleistocene in the region occupied by the White Bluffs sedi- 

 ments, and the possibility noted of confusing Pleistocene and White 

 Bluffs beds. Russell mentioned a locality at the southern end of 

 the White Bluffs exposures, about fifteen miles above Pasco, where 

 a number of large fossil bones, assumed to have been derived from 

 the White Bluffs beds, were found in a river terrace banked against 

 a cliff formed of horizontal White Bluffs strata. He stated that no 

 molluscan shells were found in the sediments, and suggested the 

 possibility that immense quantities of volcanic dust falling into the 

 water may have made it unfavorable for animal life. 



In 1903 George Otis Smith 3 referred to the White Bluffs exposures 

 described by Russell, and called attention to evidence indicating that 

 while in the Yakima region the Ellensburg formation is of fluviatile 

 origin, farther east along the Columbia the formation is of lacustrine 

 character. 



Calkins 4 discussed the White Bluffs in 1905, and gave from the 

 upper end of the cliffs a section 225 feet in thickness, consisting 

 of sands and clays with some ashy material. Other writers were 

 followed in correlating the White Bluffs exposures with the Ellens- 

 burg, but Calkins noted that "the general character of this section 

 offers some points of contrast with the typical section measured in the 

 Ellensburg Quadrangle." The materials included in the White Bluffs 

 exposures were shown to be fine and less commonly cross-bedded than 

 in the typical Ellensburg, and tuffaceous material was stated to be 

 less abundant. The suggestion was made that a part of the White 

 Bluffs beds may be of lacustrine origin, but that certain of the sandy 

 layers were probably laid down in rivers. Calkins found no fossils 

 in the White Bluffs exposures, but noted the reported occurrence of 

 shells and bones in the bluffs near Pasco. 



FAUNAS 



In examining the White Bluffs in June, 1916, the authors collected 

 mammalian material from exposures about midway between the base 

 and the summit of the bluffs on the east side of the Columbia three to 

 four miles below Hanford (loc. 3031). Later in the summer a small 

 collection was secured one or two miles north of Ringold School (loc. 

 2757) a few miles south of the first locality. 



a U. S. Geol. Surv. Professional Paper no. 19, p. .18, 1903. 

 4 Calkins, F. C, U. S. Geol. Surv. Water Supply and Irrigation Paper no. 118, 

 p. 35, 1905. 



