Vantage, Washington — Trees Became Stone and the Town Moved Uphill

Vantage sits where Interstate 90 crosses the Columbia beside a landscape with several histories stacked on top of one another.

About fifteen million years ago, volcanic processes buried trees in the region. Mineral-rich water gradually replaced organic material, preserving wood as stone.

Those specimens became the centerpiece of Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park.

Much later, Vantage developed because people needed to cross the Columbia.

Ferries gave way to bridges.

Then Wanapum Dam raised the river, inundating the original townsite and forcing Vantage uphill.

The old crossing landscape disappeared beneath the reservoir.

Trees became stone.

A river became a reservoir.

A town changed elevation.

Interstate traffic now crosses the whole sequence in minutes.