Click image to enlarge
|
Klickitat River, Washington, looking upstream.
Klickitat River, Washington, looking upstream, as seen from Washington State Highway 14 bridge at its confluence with the Columbia.
Image taken November 11, 2004.
|
Klickitat River ...
|
The Klickitat River is located on the east slope of the Cascade Range in south-central Washington and drains 1,350 square miles. The
Klickitat is one of the longest undammed rivers in the northwest, entering the Columbia River at River Mile (RM) 180.5. The Washington
community of Lyle sits on the Klickitat's left bank at its junction with the Columbia. Upstream are the basalts of the Rowena Gap and downstream are the basalts of the Bingen Gap. Between the two lie Rowland Lake, Major Creek, and Chamberlain Lake. Across from the Klickitat River is Oregon's Mayer State Park.
In 1986 the lower 10 miles of the Klickitat River were designated recreational under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, an Act created to preserve in a free-flowing condition selected rivers of the nation which "with their immediate environments, possess outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural, or other similar values".
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Klickitat River Valley, looking upstream.
Klickitat River Valley, Washington, as seen from the right bank, approximately one mile upstream from its confluence with the Columbia.
Image taken November 11, 2004.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Klickitat River, Washington, upstream one mile.
Klickitat River, Washington, looking downstream, as seen from the left bank, upstream one mile from the mouth of the river.
Image taken November 11, 2004.
|
Klickitat River Basin ...
|
The mainstem Klickitat River arises from the Cascades below Cispus Pass at
approximately 5,000 feet elevation and flows 95 miles to its confluence with the
Columbia River and the reservoir behind the
Bonneville Dam.
Major tributaries to the mainstem Klickitat include Swale Creek, Little Klickitat River, Outlet Creek, Big Muddy Creek, West Fork Klickitat River, and Diamond Fork.
The geology of the Klickitat drainage is dominated by extensive basalt strata having a total thickness of several thousand feet. Volcanic rocks of four distinct age groups underlie the basin. The Cascade crest is dominated by Mount Adams, a 12,000-foot dormant volcano with an extensive glacier system that drains into the Klickitat River. At the northwest corner of the basin lie the Goat Rocks, the deeply eroded remnants of an extinct volcano, that reach to about 8,000 feet. The northern boundary is the Klickton Divide, a 7,000-foot ridge of Columbia River Basalt that separates the Klickitat from the watershed of the Tieton River, a tributary to the Yakima. The Lost Horse and Lincoln plateaus, 5,000 to 6,000-foot-high plateaus underlain by Columbia River basalts, separate the Klickitat from the Ahtanum and Toppenish basins, which drain east to the Yakima River. In the southeast part of the basin, younger volcanic rocks, including many cinder cones, cover the older basalts on the divide separating the Klickitat from the Satus Basin. (Information courtesy Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority Website, 2004).
|
View from Rowena Crest, Oregon ...
Click image to enlarge
|
Klickitat River Drainage and Lyle, Washington.
Klickitat River, Washington, as seen from Rowena Crest, Oregon. Lyle is the town on the right.
Image taken March 20, 2004.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Klickitat River, Washington.
Klickitat River, Washington, as seen from Rowena Crest, Oregon. Lyle is the town on the right.
Image taken March 20, 2004.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Bridges, Klickitat River, Washington.
Klickitat River, Washington, as seen from Rowena Crest, Oregon.
Image taken August 23, 2008.
|
Early Klickitat River ...
|
Lewis and Clark passed the mouth of the Klickitat River on October 29, 1805, and named it "Cataract River".
-
"...
The last river we passed we Shall Call the Cataract River from the number of falls which the Indians say is on it ..."
[Clark, October 29, 1805]
On the Columbia River inset to the "Map of the Oregon Territory", 1841, by Charles Wilkes of the U.S. Exploring Expedition, the Klickitat River was labeled the "Rascals R.". Across from it was "Upper Cape Horn", the location which matches the impressive basalt lava flow of the Rowena Gap.
The 1855 "Map of a part of the Territory of Washington : to accompany report of
Surveyor General" had the river labeled
"Klick-a-tat R."
|
Klickitat River Railroad Bridge ...
|
The Klickitat River Railroad Bridge crossing the Klickitat River just west of Lyle was built in 1908 by the Contracting and Engineering Company of Tacoma as part of the Spokane, Portland, and Seattle Railway. The bridge is 200-feet long and has a 160-foot-long concrete arch. It was listed on the Washington Heritage Register in March 1981.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Klickitat River, Washington, looking downstream at railroad bridge.
Klickitat River, Washington, looking downstream, as seen from Washington State Highway 14 bridge at its confluence with the Columbia.
Image taken November 11, 2004.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Lyle, Washington, from Mayer State Park, Oregon.
The main channel of the Columbia River is behind the islands.
Image taken November 11, 2004.
|
|
Klickitat River Bridge 142/9 ...
|
|
The Washington State Highway 142 Klickitat River Bridge (also known as Bridge Number 142/9) is located near Klickitat River Mile (RM) 18, approximately five miles upstream of the town of Klickitat and two miles downstream from the junction of the Little Klickitat River with the Klickitat. Highway 142 connects the two Washington communities of Lyle and Goldendale.
According to the
Washington State Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation Website (2006) the Klickitat River Bridge was designed in part by Harry R. Powell and Leonard K. Narod and was completed in 1954.
The Klickitat River Bridge replaced an old timber truss bridge that had crossed the river at the same location. The new bridge, a pre-stressed concrete structure, was 141 feet and 8 inches long and used the concrete supports of the old bridge. Pre-stressed concrete bridges were developed in France and had been in use in Europe since the mid 1940s. They came into use in the United States in 1950 due to the steel shortages after World War II. The Klickitat River Bridge became the first of its kind in the State of Washington.
In 2002 the Klickitat River Bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places (Structure, #02000242), for its "association with and contribution to the beginning and growth of a vigorous precast pre-stressed concrete industry in the state".
|
|
"The Golden Age of Postcards" ...
|
|
The early 1900s was the "Golden Age of Postcards". The "Penny Postcard" became a popular way to send greetings to friends and family. The Penny Postcard today has become a snapshot of history.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Penny Postcard: Klickitat River, Washington, with Mount Hood, Oregon, in the background.
Penny Postcard, ca.1910. Caption reads "Klickitat River. Mt. Hood in the distance". #6094, The Portland Post Card Col., Portland, Oregon.
In the private collection of Lyn Topinka.
|
|
From the Journals of Lewis and Clark ...
|
Clark, October 29, 1805 ...
|
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].
...
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
...
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.
|
|
|
Return to