Sullivan's Gulch, Portland, Oregon

Infobox Neighborhood Portland OR


neighborhood_name = Sullivan's Gulch
association_name = Sullivan's Gulch Neighborhood Association
association_website = http://www.sullivansgulch.org
coalition_name = Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods
coalition_website = http://www.necoalition.org
area = 0.83
map_url = http://www.portlandonline.com/shared/cfm/image.cfm?id=58651
portlandmaps_x = 7653462.534
portlandmaps_y = 687381.467
censusyear = 2000
pop_total = 3043
pop_density = 3666
households_total = 1804
occupancy = 95
households_owned = 475
households_owned_pct = 26
households_rented = 1329
households_rented_pct = 74
household_size = 1.69
footnotes =

Sullivan's Gulch is a neighborhood (north of the gulch of the same name) in the Northeast section of Portland, Oregon. The name commemorates Timothy Sullivan, an early farmer in the area. Sullivan settled his donation land claim on January 27, 1851. He aws born in Ireland in 1805, received citizenship in the United States in 1855, and most likely received title to the claim around 1863. [cite book
last = McArthur
first = Lewis A.
authorlink =
coauthors = Lewis L. McArthur
title = Oregon Geographic Names
origyear = 1928
edition = Seventh Edition
year = 2003
publisher = Oregon Historical Society Press
location = Portland, Oregon
id = ISBN 0-87595-277-1 (trade paperback), ISBN 0-87595-278-X (hardcover) ]

The compact, densely populated neighborhood borders the Lloyd District (with which it overlaps somewhat) on the west, Irvington and Grant Park on the north, and Kerns on the south.

The gulch extends east from the Willamette River and originally was a forested riparian area featuring a spring-fed pool and waterfalls. During the Great Depression it was home to a "Hooverville" shanty town. [http://www.sullivansgulch.org/AboutUs/history.htm] Presently the gulch is a major urban transportation corridor, used by the MAX Light Rail system as well as Interstate 84 (the Banfield Expressway).

Geology

The gulch itself was formed between 15,000 and 13,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age when the ice dam containing Glacial Lake Missoula thawed some 40 times, causing some of the largest floods known on earth. The flood waters spilled across Idaho and eastern Washington, surged down the Columbia River and through the Gorge, flooding the Willamette Valley as far south as Eugene. This flood covered Portland with approximately Convert|400|ft|m|0| of water, laying down large amounts of silt and gravel, creating the Alameda Ridge, as well as carving out Sullivan's Gulch. [ [http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM15RX Waymarking.com] - "Missoula Flood Glacial Erratic, Tualatin, Oregon"] [http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Oregon/Portland/description_portland_vicinity.html USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.sullivansgulch.org/AboutUs/history.htm History of Sullivan's Gulch]