OregonScape

Abstract

OREGONSCAPE RECORDED HISTORYMEETS geologic history in theColumbia RiverGorge. Millions of years ago, flowsof volcanic basalt covered the landscape, then IceAge floods carved a channel through the rock,allowing theriverto reach thesea.The cliffsalong theedge of theGorge provide evidence of those geologic forcesatwork. Explorers and pioneers named twobasalt landmarks in theGorge Cape Horn. Lower Cape Horn ison the Washington side of the river,opposite Bridal Veil, and Upper Cape Horn? shown inthis1867photograph byCarleton E.Watkins? was on theOregon side of the riverbetween Tenmile Rapids and Celilo Falls. Those fallsand narrows comprised a twelve-mile obstruction tonavigating theColumbia. As steamboats could not get through the rapids except during extremehighwater, theOregon SteamNavigation Company (OSN) built a portage railroad in theearly 1860s to transportfreight and passengers past therapids.The Oregon company transported Watkins, his camera and equip ment, and his travelingparty along the river when he visited in 1867. By the twentiethcentury,hydropower had became a priority forboosters and developers, and many of the landmarks familiar to pioneers disappeared as dams changed the character of the river fromwild and rocky towide and navigable.When thegates atThe Dalles Dam were closed in 1957,thewater began a rise of eighty-fivefeet,creating Lake Celilo and submerging Upper Cape Horn and Celilo Falls. Today, theonly Cape Horn leftalong theColumbia River Gorge is in Washington. ?Mikki Tint, Special Collections Librarian, OHS Research Library ...