Cascades Rapids

For the similarly named rapids on the Athabasca River, see Big Cascade Rapids.
Cascades Rapids. Greenleaf Peak and Red Bluffs are visible in the background.
Cascade Locks and Rapids, September 8, 1929

The Cascades Rapids (sometimes called Cascade Falls or Cascades of the Columbia) were an area of rapids along North America's Columbia River, between the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. Through a stretch approximately 150 yards (140 m) wide, the river dropped about 40 feet (12 m) in 2 miles (3.2 km).[1] These rapids or cascades, along with the many cascades along the Columbia River Gorge in this area of Oregon and Washington, gave rise to the name for the surrounding mountains: the Cascade Range.[2]

In 1896 the Cascade Locks and Canal were constructed to bypass the rapids. In the late 1930s, the construction of the Bonneville Dam led to the submerging of the rapids and most of the 1896 structures.

  1. ^ Ulrich, Roberta (2007). Empty Nets: Indians, dams, and the Columbia River. Corvallis, Oregon: Oregon State University Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-87071-469-6.
  2. ^ Majors, Harry M. (1975). Exploring Washington. Van Winkle Publishing Co. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-918664-00-6.