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Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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Columbia Gorge Hotel ...
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Columbia Gorge Hotel and Wah Gwin Gwin Falls, as seen from Washington State.
View from near the Spring Creek Fish Hatchery, Washington.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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Wah Gwin Gwin Falls and Phelps Creek ...
The 208-foot-high "Wah Gwin Gwin" Falls ("rushing water") is the falls on Phelps Creek and is located on the Hotel property. Wah Gwin Gwin Falls is one of the many falls in the Columbia River Gorge.
The Lewis and Clark journals comment on Wah Gwin Gwin Falls on October 29, 1805.
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"... 6 miles to a high Clift of rocks Std bend passed a large creek
at 1 mile on the Stard. Side in which the Indians catch fish, a
large Sand bar from the Lard. Side for 4 miles, at which
place a small stream of water falls over a rock of 100 feet on
the Lard Side passed 4 Indian Houses at 5 miles in a bot-tom on the Lard Side ..."
[Clark, October 29, 1805, first draft]
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"... a butifull cascade falling over a rock of about 100 feet ..."
[Clark, October 29, 1805]
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"... Saw a beautiful Spring on the Lard. Side, which run off a high clift of rocks, and fell of the clift upwards of a hundred feet perpinticular ..."
[Ordway, October 29, 1805]
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"... and a Spring on Lard. Side which ran of a high clift of rocks which looked curious ..."
[Whitehouse, October 29, 1805, first draft]
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"... & a spring which lay on the South side of the River, which ran from off a high Clift of Rocks & had a curious appearance ..."
[Whitehouse, October 29, 1805]
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Wah Gwin Gwin Falls, Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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Wah Gwin Gwin Falls, Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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Looking over Wah Gwin Gwin Falls at Phelps Creek, Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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Pattern, Wah Gwin Gwin Falls, Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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Phelps Creek, Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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The Hotel ...
From the Columbia Gorge Hotel Website (2005):
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"... The stately site on which the Columbia Gorge Hotel now stands was originally developed in 1904 by Bobby Rand, a Hood River pioneer, as the Waw Gwin Gwin Hotel (a Native American name "rushing water" for the 208' waterfall on the grounds). These were the days of steamers navigating the waters of the Columbia River from the Cascades to The Dalles. To alert the hotel, the captains would sound the whistle once for each guest he had on board. Maids would then quickly make up the appropriate number of beds. In 1920, Rand sold his interests in the hotel to Simon Benson. Benson had just helped complete what many of the era claimed to be the world's most beautiful road, the Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway. Benson's dream was to create an opulent hotel for travelers at the end of this road. He hired some of the same Italian stone masons that had built the highway to embellish his hotel. ...
As with numbers of establishments, the depression and the ensuing war took its toll on the hotel. After a number of changes in ownership, Boyd Graves bought the property in 1981. The Columbia Gorge Hotel, brilliantly restored to a new opulence, stands proudly atop a bluff overlooking the mighty Columbia River greeting its visitors with warmth and elegance. ..."
["ColumbiaGorgeHotel.com" Website, 2005"]
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Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
Image taken June 4, 2005.
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Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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Cupola, Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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Flowers Flowers Flowers ...
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Tulip, Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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Tulips, Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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Tulips, Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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Tulips, Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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Flowers and Ferns, Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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Views Around the Hotel ...
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Front door, Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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Light, Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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Stone Arch, Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
Stone arch walkway across Phelps Creek.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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Ducks, Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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Columbia River as seen from the Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
Wells Island is on the right.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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Hood, Washington, as seen from the Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
View of the Broughton Lumber Mill.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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Spring Creek Fish Hatchery, Washington, as seen from the Columbia Gorge Hotel, Hood River, Oregon.
Image taken May 10, 2006.
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From the Journals of Lewis and Clark ...
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Clark, October 29, 1805 ...
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A cloudy morning wind from the West but not hard, we Set out at day light [from their camp on Rocky Island at Crates Point], and proceeded on about five miles Came too on the Stard. Side at a village of 7 houses built in the Same form and materials of those above, here we found the Chief we had Seen at the long narrows [The Dalles] ...
they are hospitable and good humered Speak the Same language of the inhabitants of the last village, we call this the friendly village [vicinity of Dougs Beach].
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after brackfast we proceeded on, the mountains are high on each Side [high basalt cliffs of the Rowena Gap, with Rowena Crest on the south and the Chamberlain Lake area on the north], containing Scattering pine white oake & under groth, hill Sides Steep and rockey; at 4 miles lower we observed a Small river falling in with great rapidity on the Stard. Side [Klickitat River] below which is a village of 11 houses [today the town of Lyle is on the upstream side of the Klickitat], here we landed to Smoke a pipe with the nativs and examine the mouth of the river, which I found to be 60 yards wide rapid and deep, The inhabitants of the village are friendly and Chearfull; those people inform us also those at the last village that this little river is long and full of falls, no Salmon pass up it, it runs from N. N. E. that ten nations live on this river and its waters, on buries, and what game that Can kill with their Bow & arrows
we purchased 4 dogs and Set out- (this village is the of the Same nation of the one we last passed) and proceeded on The Countrey on each side begin to be thicker timbered with Pine and low white Oake; verry rockey and broken [passing Mayer State Park on the Oregon side]. passed three large rocks in The river the middle rock is large long and has Several Squar vaults on it. we call this rockey Island the Sepulchar [Memaloose Island] - The last river we passed we Shall Call the Cataract River [Klickitat River] from the number of falls which the Indians say is on it- passed 2 Lodges of Indians a Short distance below the Sepulchar Island [Memaloose Island] on the Stard. Side river wide, at 4 mile passed 2 houses on the Stard. Side, Six miles lower passed 4 houses above the mouth of a Small river 40 yards wide on the Lard. Side [Hood River] a thick timbered bottom above & back of those houses; those are the first houses which we have Seen on the South Side of the Columbia River, (and the axess to those dificuelt) for fear of the approach of their common enemies the Snake Indians, passed 14 houses on the Std. Side Scattered on the bank- from the mouth of this little river which we shall Call Labeasche River [Hood River], the falls mountain [Mount Hood] is South and the top is covered with Snow. one mile below pass the mouth of a large rapid Stream on the Stard. Side [White Salmon River], opposit to a large Sand bar [from Hood River], in this creek the Indians above take their fish, here we Saw Several canoes, which induced us to call this Canoe Creek [White Salmon River] it is 28 yards wide, about 4 miles lower and below the Sand bar is a butifull cascade falling over a rock of about 100 feet [Wah Gwin Gwin Falls, location of the Columbia Gorge Hotel],
[On the route map (Map#78, Moulton, Vol.1) a "C___ Spring" is shown on the north side of the river, today the location of Spring Creek and Spring Creek Fish Hatchery, with no mention of it in any text. On the south side, at the location of Wah Gwin Gwin Falls, only "Cascade" is labeled and "4 Houses of Indians".]
a Short distance lower passed 4 Indian houses on the Lard. Side in a timbered bottom, a fiew miles further we came too at 3 houses on Stard. Side, back of which is a pond [today the location of Drano Lake. The Little White Salmon River empties into Drano Lake.] in which I Saw Great numbers of Small Swan, Capt. Lewis and went into the houses of those people
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Here the mountains are high on each Side, those to the Lard. Side has Some Snow on them at this time, more timber than above and of greater variety.
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