Cruising the Columbia

AlanLichty

AlanLichty

Moderator
Cascade Locks is near the former site of a major obstacle to shipping on the Columbia River. Table Mountain on the Washington side of the river is a highly unstable mountain that has a habit of sloughing off large scale landslides that have blocked off the Columbia River entirely on occasions with one large one known to us as the Bridge of the Gods. The river eventually broke through the natural dam washing most of the smaller debris downstream but leaving very large boulders that formed waterfalls that were impassable for ships that early Euro-American explorers and settlers were trying to use. The cascades of the falls are the origin of the name for the Cascade mountain range. The shipping solution was a set of locks that were built on what is now the Oregon side of the river to raise and lower the ships to bypass the falls which remained in use until the Bonneville Dam raised the river high enough to completely submerge the falls. The locks are still present but are mostly underwater these days with a small park surrounding a spit of land named Thunder Island. There are some rocks still poking up from the water near the Washington side of the river so boaters need to know where the clear channel is located or risk ripping their hulls open if they miss the channel.

I was shooting a sunrise one morning from Thunder Island and saw some interesting clouds enveloping Table Mountain so I decided to grab some shots overlooking what used to be the waterfalls. While I was shooting the stern wheel cruise ship American Empress was working its way upstream so I waited for it and grabbed this shot while it went past the scene.

C6D_CruisingColumbia102015.jpg


C&C always welcome.
 
larryj

larryj

Well-Known Member
AlanLichty said:
Cascade Locks is near the former site of a major obstacle to shipping on the Columbia River. Table Mountain on the Washington side of the river is a highly unstable mountain that has a habit of sloughing off large scale landslides that have blocked off the Columbia River entirely on occasions with one large one known to us as the Bridge of the Gods. The river eventually broke through the natural dam washing most of the smaller debris downstream but leaving very large boulders that formed waterfalls that were impassable for ships that early Euro-American explorers and settlers were trying to use. The cascades of the falls are the origin of the name for the Cascade mountain range. The shipping solution was a set of locks that were built on what is now the Oregon side of the river to raise and lower the ships to bypass the falls which remained in use until the Bonneville Dam raised the river high enough to completely submerge the falls. The locks are still present but are mostly underwater these days with a small park surrounding a spit of land named Thunder Island. There are some rocks still poking up from the water near the Washington side of the river so boaters need to know where the clear channel is located or risk ripping their hulls open if they miss the channel.

I was shooting a sunrise one morning from Thunder Island and saw some interesting clouds enveloping Table Mountain so I decided to grab some shots overlooking what used to be the waterfalls. While I was shooting the stern wheel cruise ship American Empress was working its way upstream so I waited for it and grabbed this shot while it went past the scene.

View attachment 92881

C&C always welcome.
Click to expand...
A very nice capture Alan, glad you waited for the boat it really makes the image. Thanks for sharing! ;)
 
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