Rattlesnake Mountain

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Rattlesnake Mountain
View of Rattlesnake Mountain from the Horn Rapids Golf Course in Richland

View of Rattlesnake Mountain from the Horn Rapids Golf Course in Richland

height 1076  m (according to Peakbagger.com and GNIS )
location Benton County , Washington , USA
Mountains Rattlesnake Hills
Dominance 2.5 km
Notch height 256 m
Coordinates 46 ° 24 '56 "  N , 119 ° 37' 49"  W Coordinates: 46 ° 24 '56 "  N , 119 ° 37' 49"  W
Topo map USGS Iowa Flats
USGS Snively Basin
Rattlesnake Mountain (Washington)
Rattlesnake Mountain
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Template: Infobox Berg / Maintenance / TOPO-MAP

The Rattlesnake Mountain (in the language of the natives Lalíik - German  land above the water ) is a 3,531 ft (1,076 m) high windswept treeless sub-alpine ridge above the Hanford Nuclear Site . Parts of the western slope are privately owned pastureland, while the eastern slope includes the federal Arid Lands Ecology Reserve , which is a sub-unit of the Hanford Reach National Monument , which is managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service . The mountain is the second highest point in Benton County in Washington state , whose neighbor Lookout Summit towers over it by only 98 ft (30 m).

The highest wind speeds measured on Rattlesnake Mountain are around 240 kilometers per hour.

history

The Yakama call the Rattlesnake Mountain Lalíik , which means "land above the water". Some historians speculate that this alludes to the flooding events on the Columbia River Plateau during the Missoula Floods , when the Rattlesnake was one of the few mountains not reached by the up to 366 m high tides. Up to this altitude, geologists found boulders swept along by the floods . However, there is little evidence of human settlements at the time of the floods, which occurred around 12,000… 13,000 years ago. The Lalíik is revered as sacred by the indigenous peoples of the Columbia Plateau, including the Nez Percé , Umatilla , Wanapum , Cayuse , Walla Walla and Yakama, and is still a spiritual center of these peoples today.

In 1943, Rattlesnake Mountain was expropriated by the United States government and declared a buffer zone for the nuclear projects on the Hanford site. In 1955 the US Army installed a Nike Ajax missile station at the southeastern end of the ridge, which was maintained until it was closed in December 1958.

Rattlesnake Mountain Observatory

The observatory at Rattlesnake Mountain was built on the summit in 1966 using parts of the rocket base infrastructure and remained there until it moved to the vicinity of Wallula in 2009 . The observatory's main telescope was installed in 1971 and was equipped with an 80-centimeter mirror within a 24-ft (7.3 m) diameter dome. The telescope is the largest permanently mounted telescope in Washington. It was used regularly during the early 1980s but was taken out of service afterwards. Because of its location, there were renovations and extensions to enable remote control. The observation operations are conducted by a non-profit group formed by scientists and engineers from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Hanford.

On March 14, 2008, it was announced that the Department of Energy would not renew its permit, license, or right to use the observatory or most of the other facilities operating communications facilities on the mountain. Instead, the ministry pushed for the area to be restored to a more natural state to accommodate cultural sensitivity. Relocation of the Rattlesnake Mountain Observatory began in late May 2009. Most of the work, including relocating the telescope itself, was completed by June of that year. At the end of 2012, the observatory moved into its new home near Wallula.

Public access

The Department of the Interior directs Section 3081, "Securing Public Access to the Summit of Rattlesnake Mountain in Hanford Reach National Monument," of the Carl Levin and Howard P. "Buck" McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (HR 3979 (113th)) to provide public access (including one via motorized vehicles) to the summit of Rattlesnake Mountain in Hanford Reach National Monument , Washington state. This law came into force on December 19, 2014 with the signature of the President. The indigenous peoples community has contradicted this law. It is expected that public access will be granted from autumn 2019.

Trivia

The Rattlesnake Mountain is often described as the highest treeless mountain in the world, but this is completely unfounded.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rattlesnake Mountain, Washington . PeakBagger.com. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  2. ↑ Rattlesnake Mountain ( English ) In: Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey . Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  3. ^ Hanford Site Virtual Tours . United States Department of Energy . Archived from the original on September 17, 2008. Retrieved October 13, 2007.
  4. ↑ Bruce Bjornstad, Karl Fecht: Ice-Age Floods Features in the Vicinity of the Pasco Basin and the Hanford Reach National Monument . October 19, 2002. Retrieved November 7, 2007.
  5. ↑ Kate Prengaman: Yakama's unhappy defense bill to open sacred summit to public . In: The Seattle Times , December 14, 2014. Retrieved February 8, 2019. 
  6. ↑ Nike Missile Bases: Washington State Cold War Defenses . HistoryLink . Retrieved February 8, 2019.
  7. ^ Automation of Rattlesnake Mountain Observatory — Science Education and Opportunity for the 21st Century . Retrieved October 12, 2007.
  8. ^ Annette Cary: DOE to evict Rattlesnake Mountain tenants . In: Tri-City Herald , March 22, 2008. 
  9. ^ Rattlesnake Mountain telescope gets new home . Retrieved January 6, 2013.
  10. ↑ HR 3979 (113th): Carl Levin and Howard P. “Buck” McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 . Retrieved February 8, 2019.
  11. ↑ Carl Levin and Howard P. “Buck” McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (2014 - HR 3979) .
  12. ↑ Pete Kasperowicz: To the top of Rattlesnake Mountain . In: The Hill , June 11, 2013. Retrieved June 13, 2013. 
  13. ↑ Congress Approves Bill to Force Opening Access to Yakama Nation Sacred Site - Last Real Indians .
  14. ↑ Brittany McIntosh: After 70 years public access to Rattlesnake Mountain summit will re-open next fall , KNDU-TV. 15th October 2018. 
  15. ^ Jean Carol Davis, Vickie Sillman Bergum: Benton County Place Names . East Benton County Historical Society,.

Web links

Commons : Category: Rattlesnake Mountain (Benton County, Washington)  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files