The Volcanoes of Lewis and ClarkNovember 1, 1805
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-- The Volcanoes of Lewis and Clark Map of the Journey -- Volcanoes, Basalt Plateaus, Major Rivers, etc. CALENDAR of the Journey -- October 1805 to June 1806 Along the Journey -- Pacific Northwest Maps - Columbia River, Volcanoes, Flood Basalts, Missoula Floods, Geology, etc. The Corps of Discovery -- The Journey of Lewis and Clark About the Reference Materials -- The Journals, Biddle/Allen, DeVoto, Gass, Moulton, Topo Maps, and others USGS Lewis and Clark Links -- Links to USGS Websites highlighting the Lewis and Clark Journey Resources Publications Referenced and Websites Visited |
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October 31 "Lower Falls of the Columbia", Cascade Locks |
November 1
Columbia River Gorge, Cascades Locks to Bonneville "Lower Falls of the Columbia", Cascade Locks, Bridge of the Gods, Table Mountain Landslide, Rapids below Cascade Locks, Bradford Island, Bonneville Vicinity and Bonneville Dam, Fort Rains and North Bonneville |
CONTINUE
November 2 Columbia River Gorge, Beacon Rock to Rooster Rock |
| On October 7, 1805, Lewis and Clark and the "Corps of Discovery" began their journey down the Clearwater River and into the volcanics of the Pacific Northwest. The Corps travelled from the Clearwater to the Snake and down the "Great Columbia", finally reaching the Pacific Ocean on November 15, 1805. Along the journey they encountered the lava flows of the Columbia Plateau, river channels carved by the great "Missoula Floods", and the awesome beauty of five Cascade Range volcanoes. |
| The Volcanoes of Lewis and Clark |
| To the Pacific - November 1805 |
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Columbia River Gorge Cascade Locks to Bonneville |
| The Lewis and Clark camp of October 30 and 31, 1805 was on an island on the Washington side of the Columbia River, just north of today's Bridge of the Gods. This area is today known as Cascade Locks. The island is now under the waters of Bonneville Dam. |
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Cascade Locks:
Cascade Locks: In 1896 the Federal Government built a series of locks around the treacherous Cascades rapids. In November, 1878, construction began. However, it was not until November 1896, that the locks were dedicated and opened for use. Delays in construction included reduction of appropriations by Congress, winter storms, high water, deep snows, and delays in receiving materials. During this time, the community grew from a small settlement of Native Americans and three white families to a booming construction town with all the flavor of the wild west. By 1893, there were about 1,000 inhabitants, many living in tents, shacks, and other temporary buildings. There were many saloons established, and it was during this time that the community was frequently called "Whiskey Flat". After the construction of the locks, the town became Cascade Locks. The Cascade Locks Marine Park has an Interpretive sign, trail, and museum. -- Oregon State Archives Website, 2002, Lewis & Clark Bicentennial of Oregon Website, 2002, and City of Cascade Locks Website, 2002 |
| The morning was cool and the wind high from the northeast. The Indians who arrived last night, took their empty canoes on their shoulders and carried them below the great shoot, where they put them in the water and brought them down the rapid, till at the distance of two and a half miles they stopped to take in their loading, which they had been afraid to trust in the last rapid, and had therefore carried by land from the head of the shoot. |
| "... Set all hands packing the loading over th portage which is below the Grand Shutes and is 940 yards of bad way over rocks & on Slipery hill Sides The Indians who came down in 2 Canoes last night packed their fish over a portage of 2 1/2 miles to avoid a 2d 'Shute'. four of them took their canoes over the 1st portage and run the 2d Shute ..." [Clark, November 1, 1805] |
| In 1926 the Bridge of the Gods was constructed at the base of the Cascade Locks area. |
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Bridge of the Gods:
Bridge of the Gods: The Bridge of the Gods is a cantilever toll bridge spanning the river just west of Cascade Locks, and occupies a place where, according to Indian legend, a natural bridge at one time arched the river. This bridge, they say, was cast into the river when Tyhee Sahale, the Supreme Being, became angry with his two sons, who had quarreled over the beautiful Loowit, guardian of a sacred flame on the bridge. The two sons and the girl, crushed in the destruction of the bridge, whose debris created the Cascades, were resurrected as Mount Hood, Mount Adams, and Mount St. Helens. The present man-made Bridge of the Gods was built in 1926, and was raised in 1938 to provide clearance over the rising waters behind Bonneville Dam. The huge rocks of the legendary, ancient natural bridge lie beneath the waters of the Columbia River just upstream from the new bridge. The Bridge of the Gods, located 2.6 miles above the Bonneville Dam, has a fixed span with a clearance of 135 feet over a middle width of 284 feet. -- Oregon State Archives Website, 2002, City of Cascade Locks Website, 2002, and NOAA Office of Coast Survey Website, 2003 |
| After their example we carried our small canoe, and all the baggage across the slippery rocks, to the foot of the shoot. The four large canoes were next brought down, by slipping them along poles, placed from one rock to another, and in some places by using partially streams which escaped along side of the river. We were not, however, able to bring them across without three of them receiving injuries, which obliged us to stop at the end of the shoot to repair them. |
| "... We got all our Canoes and baggage below the Great Shute 3 of the canoes being Leakey from injures recved in hauling them over the rocks, obliged us to delay to have them repaired a bad rapid just below us ..." [Clark, November 1, 1805] |
| "... we got all our baggage over the Portage of 940 yards, after which we got the 4 large Canoes over by Slipping them over the rocks on poles placed across from one rock to another, and at Some places along partial Streams of the river. in passing those canoes over the rocks &c.; three of them recived injuries which obliged us to delay to have them repared. ..." [Clark, November 1, 1805] |
| At this shoot we saw great numbers of sea-otters [seals]; but they are so shy that it is difficult to reach them with the musket: one of them that was wounded to-day sunk and was lost. Having by this portage avoided the rapid and shoot of four hundred yards in length, we re-embarked, passed at a mile and a half the bad rapid opposite to the old village on the right, |
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Rapids below Cascade Locks:
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| and making our way through the rocks, saw the house just below the end of the portage; the eight vaults near it; and at the distance of four miles from the head of the shoot, reached a high rock, which forms the upper part of an island [Bradford Island] near the left shore. |
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Bradford Island:
Bradford Island: Lewis and Clark's Strawberry Island is now Hamilton Island. Assertations that Bradford Island is the Strawberry Island of Lewis and Clark are not substantiated by the maps of the explorers. It is apparent from both text and maps that Lewis and Clark used the name Brant Island for what is now known as Bradford Island. Their Strawberry Island is now Hamilton Island, close to the north bank. However, on the return journey, Patrick Gass used the name Strawberry Island in error for what was then Brant Island, now Bradford. This was on the evening of April 9, 1806. -- McArthur, 1982, Oregon Geographic Name |
| Between this island [Bradford Island] and the right shore we proceeded, leaving at the distance of a mile and a half, the village of four houses on our right, [today Bonneville Dam spans Bradford Island] |
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Bonneville Dam:
Bonneville Dam: Bonneville Lock and Dam and Lake Bonneville are in the Columbia River Gorge, one of the most scenic areas in the Pacific Northwest. The walls of the gorge rise 2,000 feet above Lake Bonneville in many places and can be seen from any of the 10 recreation areas around the reservoir. Bonneville Dam spans the Columbia River from Oregon to Washington, a distance of 1,100 feet. Bradford Island, an old Indian burial ground separating the river's two channels, is at the center of the mammoth barrier. The south end of Bonneville Dam is on Bradford Island, as is much of the fish ladder structure. The north end of the powerhouse is also on the island. Bradford Island was named for Daniel F. and Putnam Bradford, brothers, who were pioneer steamboat operators on the Columbia River. Among other things they rebuilt the portage road at the Cascades in 1856. Later another portage road was built on the south side of the river, and eventually both were absorbed by the Oregon Steam Navigation Company. The dam was completed in 1938 and was the first of the major power dams on the Columbia. Bonneville was named for Captain Benjamin de Bonneville. -- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Website, 2002, Oregon State Archives Website, 2002, and McArthur, 1982, Oregon Geographic Names |
| and a mile and a half lower came to the head of a rapid near the village on the right. Here we halted for the night, [near the towns of Fort Rains and North Bonneville] having made only seven miles from the head of the shoot. During the whole of the passage the river is very much obstructed by rocks. |
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Bonneville Vicinity:
Bonneville Vicinity: Lewis and Clark's map of the area they referred to as the "Lower Falls of the Columbia". Bradford Island was called Brant Island and Hamilton Island was Strawberry Island. In 1896 the Cascade Locks were built, and in 1938 Bonneville Dam was completed. Fort Rains and North Bonneville: In 1855 Fort Cascades was established in the Bonneville area on the north bank of the Columbia River, at the Lower Cascades (below the present site of the Bonneville Dam). A month later, Fort Rains was built to defend the Middle Cascades (above the present site of the Bonneville Dam), and 6 months later, after Fort Cascades was burned to the ground and rebuilt, a new fort was built to protect the Upper Cascades. This fort (Fort Lugenbeel) was located on the north bank of the Columbia, on a hill, across from Little Ashes Lake. Skamania County was formed in 1854 with the first county seat being located at the town of Cascades, also known as the Lower Cascades. Cascades was one of the four earliest settlements in the Washington Territory and included the fort. At one time Cascades was the largest town in the Washington Territory, and was an important steamboat stop and terminus for the portage railroad that transported goods and people around the Cascade rapids on the Columbia River. The settlement was approximately where North Bonneville is located today. In April 1893, the county government moved to the newly platted town of Stevenson, approximately 10 miles upstream. In 1894 the greatest recorded flood on the Columbia River destroyed the town of Cascades, leaving behind only a small community -- a community which sprang back to life as North Bonneville in 1933 when work began on the Bonneville Dam. North Bonneville was a spontaneously assembled community, built with whatever materials were available and put together to meet the needs of construction workers arriving by the hundreds in the area. When the Bonneville Project was completed in 1938, the town remained. It was incorporated in 1935. Construction of a second powerhouse at Bonneville Dam began in the mid-1970's, with the new powerhouse covering over 90 percent of the town of North Bonneville. The town was force to relocate west of the old town on Hamilton Island and south of Greenleaf Slough. The new town of North Bonneville was dedicated in 1978. Today North Bonneville can be reached via Washington State Highway 14. -- Skamania County Chamber of Commerce Website, 2003, and City of North Bonneville Website, 2003 |
| The island [Bradford Island], which is about three miles long, reaches to the rapid which its lower extremity contributes to form. The meridian altitude of to-day gave us the latitude of 45o 44' 3" north. ...... |
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The Camp - November 1, 1805:
Washington side of the Columbia River, downstream of today's Bonneville Dam, near the towns of Fort Rains and North Bonneville. There is a plaque on Bradford Island commemorating this campsite. |
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