Destruction of Celilo Falls on the Columbia River
Posted by: 
Rose Red
N 45° 38.991 W 120° 58.737
10T E 657478 N 5057131
According to legend Celilo Falls was demolished. The rumor had it the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers blasted the falls to ruins. Recent detailed sonar maps reveal a virtually unchanged Celilo Falls beneath the murky water of the Columbia River.
Waymark Code: WM58N6
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 11/28/2008
Views: 39
Located between the states of Oregon and Washington, Celilo Falls (Wyam – "echo of falling water" or "sound of water upon the rocks") was a unique natural feature formed by the relentless push of the Columbia River through basalt-laden narrows (only 140 feet wide) east of the Cascade Mountains, onward towards the Pacific Ocean – the final leg of the river's 1,152 mile journey. The main waterfall, known variously as Celilo Falls, The Chutes, Great Falls, or Columbia Falls, consisted of three sections: a cataract, called Horseshoe Falls or Tumwater Falls (at low water the drop was about 20 feet); a deep eddy, the Cul-de-Sac; and the main channel. The falls were the sixth-largest by volume in the world, and among the largest in North America. The falls created a tremendous roar that could be heard many miles away.
Native settlements and trading villages existed along the river banks in various configurations for 11,000 years. The Wishram people lived on the north bank, while the Wasco lived on the south bank. The narrows was a tribal fishing area on the Columbia River. The Indians built wooden platforms out over the water and caught salmon with dip nets and long spears on poles as the fish swam up through the rapids and jumped over the falls. Historically, an estimated fifteen to twenty million salmon passed through the falls every year, making it one of the greatest fishing sites in North America.
In the 1930s and 1940s, civic leaders advocated for a system of hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River. They argued that the dams would improve navigation for barge traffic from interior regions to the ocean; provide a reliable source of irrigation for agricultural production; provide electricity for the World War II defense industry, shipbuilding and aluminum production; and alleviate the flooding of downriver cities.
The tremendous volume of water at Celilo Falls made The Dalles an attractive site for a new dam in the eyes of the Corps of Engineers. The lake that rose behind The Dalles Dam (commenced in 1952 and completed five years later) silenced the falls, submerged fishing platforms and consumed nearby settlements including the village of Celilo, ending an age-old existence for those who lived there. A small American Indian community exists today at nearby Celilo Village, on a bluff overlooking the former location of the falls.
According to the legend Celilo Falls was demolished. The rumor had it that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers blasted the falls to ruins with dynamite. Indians living in the village at Celilo Falls heard and felt the blasting for excavations at the dam and evidently associated it with the loss of the falls. In recent years the rumor was circulated so there would not be a fight for the removal of the hydroelectric dam to save the declining salmon runs and restore Celilo Falls. However recent, detailed sonar maps produced by the Corp of Engineers reveal a virtually unchanged Celilo Falls beneath the murky water of the Columbia River. The sonar images show rocky outcrops, carved basins and channels that match aerial photographs from the 1940s. Another rumor had it that the falls were completely silted however there is not the expected massive buildup of silt covering the falls.
Someday The Dalles Dam will be gone and when that day comes Celilo Falls will return.
Sources: Various Internet sites and "Sonar shows Celilo Falls are intact" by Joe Rojas-Burke "The Oregonian," Friday, November 28, 2008. Celilo Sonar Image: US Army Corps of Engineers in Public Domain. Map of Biggs, OR to The Dalles Dam: "Fire, Faults & Floods" by Marge & Ted Mueller, p. 228.
Website Source: [Web Link]
Additional Requirement?: Not listed
What's the Real Story?: Not listed
|
Visit Instructions:
Visit the location. If an action is required, test the action. Post a story and photograph of what happened. Do your best to keep your GPSr out of the photos.