Cascade Locks and Canal

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Cascade Locks Marine Park
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Remnants of the locks as of 2011
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LocationOn the Columbia River, Cascade Locks, Oregon
Area64.5 acres (26.1 ha)
Built1896 (1896)
NRHP reference No. 74001686 [1]
Added to NRHPMay 15, 1974
Dalles City and Regulator in Cascade Locks Cascade Locks and steamboat Dalles City.jpg
Dalles City and Regulator in Cascade Locks

The Cascade Locks and Canal was a navigation project on the Columbia River between the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington, completed in 1896. It allowed the steamboats of the Columbia River to bypass the Cascades Rapids, and thereby opened a passage from the lower parts of the river as far as The Dalles. The locks were submerged and rendered obsolete in 1938, when the Bonneville Dam was constructed, along with a new set of locks, a short way downstream. [2]

Contents

Design and construction

Sunset over the eastern lock entrance, now flooded Cascadelocks1.png
Sunset over the eastern lock entrance, now flooded

As rail competition grew, and forced steamboats off their old routes, shippers and steamboat lines began agitating Congress to allocate funds for improvements to the river, in the form of canals and locks, that would restore their competitive position relative to the railroads. The two main improvements sought on the Columbia were the Cascade Locks and, about twenty years later, the Celilo Canal and Locks.

Studies for a canal at the Cascades had begun in 1875, but interest tapered off when Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company (O.R.& N.) finished the railroad to The Dalles and took its boats off the middle river. Anti-monopoly shippers eventually got Congress to allocate funds in 1893 to begin the canal and locks at the Cascades, which were completed in November 1896. The locks had a lift chamber carved in solid rock 460 feet (140 m) long, and 90' wide, with 8 feet (2.4 m) of draft, deep enough for any vessel then on the river, and large enough to accommodate several at once. The locks could raise a vessel 14' at high water and 24' at low water. [3]

The lock gates were 56 feet (17 m) wide and 90 feet (27 m) high. The locks were carefully designed to address the great variation in the height of the river, the difference between high and low water being 55 feet (17 m). This condition made it necessary to build a series of three sets of gates, increasing in height from the lower entrance to the huge upper guard gate, only two sets being used at one time. When the river was low, the upper guard gates remained open continually and the lower sets were operated. When the water rose enough to drown the lower gates, they were swung open and the lifting work was done by the others. The upper approach was formed by masonry wall extending from the guard gate in a long sweep of 1,200 feet (370 m), and the bank behind was armored against floods with riprapped stone. [4]

Effect on river traffic

Bailey Gatzert in Cascade Locks, circa 1915, with Columbia River in background Bailey Gatzert in Cascade Locks circa 1915.jpg
Bailey Gatzert in Cascade Locks, circa 1915, with Columbia River in background

In an 1897 article written shortly after their completion, Scientific American was optimistic about the future of the locks, saying:

With cheaper rates, adjacent counties will ship from here, and, considering that this is but one point on a river navigable for several hundred miles, we see that the total of the freight of this country is very large. Doubtless the railroads will still handle a large part of the business, but water transportation is always a most salutary regulator of freight rates, and everything consumed or produced in an area of probably 100,000 square miles (260,000 km2) will be affected by these locks which open the great Columbia River to commerce. In particular will the vast quantity of wheat raised in Eastern Oregon and Washington feel the improved rates of transportation to the coast, whence it seeks a market in Europe. The people of the "Inland Empire" may well congratulate themselves on the completion of the Cascade Locks. [5]

[ permanent dead link ]

As it turns out, completion of the locks and the 3,000-foot (910 m) canal leading from the east end of the locks, produced some increase in traffic, [6] but not as much increase in riverine traffic as had been hoped. The North Bank railroad was also completed along the Columbia, which took more business away from the boats. As a result, the Regulator Line, which had been running Dalles City, Regulator, and Bailey Gatzert on the lower Columbia, and, through the locks, on the middle Columbia, sold out to James J. Hill, owner of the Great Northern and other railroads. Not long later, in 1912, the Panama Canal Act made it illegal for a railroad to be owned in common with a competing steamboat line, so in 1915, Great Northern sold its boats. [7]

Current status

Dipnet fishing platforms on the canal 2017-11-11 Cascade Locks 05.jpg
Dipnet fishing platforms on the canal

The lower lock and the canal were flooded when the Bonneville Dam was completed in the 1930s. The upper part of the higher lock is still visible and part of Cascade Locks Marine Park in the city of Cascade Locks, Oregon. The park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

See also

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<i>Bailey Gatzert</i> (sternwheeler)

The Bailey Gatzert was a famous sternwheel steamboat that ran on the Columbia River and Puget Sound from the 1890s to the 1920s. This vessel was considered one of the finest of its time. It was named after Bailey Gatzert, an early businessman and mayor of Seattle, who was one of the closest friends and business associates of John Leary – the person who financed the ship.

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<i>R. R. Thompson</i> (sternwheeler)

R. R. Thompson was a large sternwheel steamboat designed in the classic Columbia River style. She was named after Robert R. Thompson, one of the shareholders of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, the firm that built the vessel.

<i>Colonel Wright</i> (sternwheeler)

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<i>Idaho</i> (sidewheeler)

The sidewheeler Idaho was a steamboat that ran on the Columbia River and Puget Sound from 1860 to 1898. There is some confusion as to the origins of the name; many historians have proposed it is the inspiration for the name of the State of Idaho. Considerable doubt has been cast on this due to the fact that it is unclear if the boat was named before or after the idea of 'Idaho' as a territory name was proposed. John Ruckel also allegedly stated he had named the boat after a Native American term meaning 'Gem of the Mountains' he got from a mining friend from what is now Colorado territory. This steamer should not be confused with the many other vessels of the same name, including the sternwheeler Idaho built in 1903 for service on Lake Coeur d'Alene and the steamship Idaho of the Pacific Coast Steamship Line which sank near Port Townsend, Washington.

<i>Nez Perce Chief</i> (sternwheeler)

Nez Perce Chief was a steamboat that operated on the upper Columbia River, in Washington, U.S., specifically the stretch of the river that began above the Celilo Falls. Her engines came from the Carrie Ladd, an important earlier sternwheeler. Nez Perce Chief also ran up the Snake River to Lewiston, Idaho, a distance of 141 miles from the mouth of the Snake River near Wallula, Wash. Terr.

<i>Charles R. Spencer</i>

Charles R. Spencer was a steamboat built in 1901 to run on the Willamette and Columbia rivers from Portland, to The Dalles, Oregon. This vessel was described as an "elegant passenger boat". After 1911 this vessel was rebuilt and renamed Monarch.

<i>Oregon Pony</i>

The Oregon Pony was the first steam locomotive to be built on the Pacific Coast and the first to be used in the Oregon Territory. The locomotive, a geared steam 5' gauge locomotive with 9"X18" cylinders and 34" drivers, was used in the early 1860s to portage steamboat passengers and goods past the Cascades Rapids, a dangerous stretch of the Columbia River now drowned by the Bonneville Dam. Steamboats provided transportation on the Columbia between Portland, Oregon and mining areas in Idaho and the Columbia Plateau. Portage was also necessary at other navigation obstructions, including Celilo Falls.

<i>Sarah Dixon</i> (sternwheeler)

Sarah Dixon was a wooden sternwheel-driven steamboat operated by the Shaver Transportation Company on the Columbia and lower Willamette rivers from 1892 to 1926. Originally Sarah Dixon was built as a mixed use passenger and freight vessel, and was considered a prestige vessel for the time.

<i>Harvest Queen</i> (sternwheeler)

Harvest Queen was the name of two stern-wheel steamboat built and operated in Oregon. Both vessels were well known in their day and had reputations for speed, power, and efficiency.The first Harvest Queen, widely considered one of the finest steamers of its day, was constructed at Celilo, Oregon, which was then separated from the other portions of the navigable Columbia River by two stretches of difficult to pass rapids.

<i>Regulator</i> (sternwheeler)

Regulator was a sternwheel-driven steamboat built in 1891 which operated on the Columbia River until 1906, when it was destroyed by explosion which killed two of its crew, while on the ways undergoing an overhaul at St. Johns, Oregon.

<i>Telephone</i> (sternwheeler)

Telephone was a sternwheel-driven steamboat built in 1884 by Captain Uriah Bonsor "U.B." Scott for service on the Columbia River. Reputedly the fastest steamboat in the world in its time, Telephone served on the Columbia River and San Francisco Bay. Telephone was rebuilt at least twice. The first time was after a fire in 1887 which nearly destroyed the vessel. The reconstructed and much larger second vessel was sometimes referred to as Telephone No. 2. The third vessel, Telephone No. 3, built in 1903 and using components from the second steamer was larger but little used during its time on the Columbia river.

<i>Relief</i> (1906 sternwheeler)

Relief was a stern-wheel steamboat that operated on the Columbia and Willamette rivers and their tributaries from 1906 to 1931. Relief had been originally built in 1902, on the Columbia at Blalock, Oregon, in Gilliam County, and launched and operated as Columbia, a much smaller vessel. Relief was used primarily as a freight carrier, first for about ten years in the Inland Empire region of Oregon and Washington, hauling wheat and fruit, and after that was operated on the lower Columbia river.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. Columbia River History, Northwest Power and Conservation Council. Accessed January 11, 2008.
  3. Newell, Gordon R., ed., H.W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest, at page 5, Superior Publishing, Seattle, WA 1966
  4. "Cascade Locks," Scientific American, page 167, March 13, 1897 [ permanent dead link ]
  5. "Cascade Locks," Scientific American, page 167, March 13, 1897 [ permanent dead link ]
  6. McCurdy, at 5
  7. Timmen, Fritz, Blow for the Landing, at page 32-36, Caxton Printers, Caldwell, ID, 1972 ISBN   0-87004-221-1

Photographs

Coordinates: 45°40′07″N121°53′47″W / 45.66850°N 121.89644°W / 45.66850; -121.89644