On March 10, 1957, hundreds of observers looked on as a rising Lake Celilo rapidly silenced the falls, submerged fishing platforms, and consumed the village of Celilo, ending an age-old existence for those who lived there.
Celilo Falls was a tribal fishing area on the Columbia River, just east of the Cascade Mountains, on what is today the border between the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington, approximately 13 miles upstream from the The Dalles, Oregon.
The falls formed a rough horseshoe shape across the river, with two nearby ancient Indian villages – Wyam, on the Oregon side of the river, and S’kin on the Washington side that disappeared into the reservoir behind the dam, now referred to as Lake Celilo. Indians fished along the entire stretch of the river from the falls to The Dalles, but were most active near the base of the falls and the Long Narrows. In the narrows areas, basalt outcroppings provided places to stand along and in the river’s flow, and the protruding rocks swirled the river into opaque turbulence that concealed the Indian’s nets from the sharp-eyed salmon. Farther upstream, others fished with spear, hook and net from perches on timber scaffold over the crashing water at the very base of the falls.
In addition to providing a bountiful and predictable supply of salmon the area around the falls became the center of an Indian trading network that stretched to British Columbia in the north, California to the south, and east as far as the Great Plains. Lewis and Clark took the first rough census of the population along this portion of the Columbia and estimated that in 1805 and 1806, between 7,400 and 10,400 Indians were living permanently or seasonally encamped between the Cascade Rapids (not far from Cascade Locks) and past The Dalles, Oregon.
After the catastrophic Vanport flood in 1948 the Columbia River and Willamette River ran wild claiming 52 lives and causing significant destruction. After many years of studies and meetings had taken place regarding the river and dams, it was the Flood Control Act of 1950 that Congress directed the Corp of Engineers to construct and operate at The Dalles site a multipurpose dam that would ease navigation, generate hydroelectric power, and help control Columbia River floods. When the dam was completed Celilo Falls was submerged and silenced forever and the waters downstream from the dam became Lake Celilo.
*colored photo donated by Doug Reid, framed photos donated by Greg Greenwood, and misc. prints from local photographer Chet Coats, other photos found in collection*
