Celilo Canal - History and Construction

History and Construction

In 1858, a nineteen-mile (30 km) long wagon road, the Oregon Portage Railroad, had been built around the falls on the south side of the river. This was replaced in 1863 by a thirteen mile (19 km) long portage railway owned by the Oregon Steam Navigation Company. A number of studies and false starts were made towards building a canal around the falls, but construction on what was to become known as the Celilo Canal did not begin until 1905, and then took ten years to complete. In 1909, Scientific American summarized the status of the work and its objectives:

The Columbia River, which is the most important waterway in the western part of the United States, extends a distance of 1,400 miles (2,300 km) from Its mouth to British Columbia, where it has its source. Including its tributaries, it forms a system of waterways available for steamboats and barges aggregating 2,132 miles (3,431 km). This is not continuous, however, for the channel is obstructed at two different points. One of these obstructions is formed by what is called the Cascades, a series of rapids located 60 miles (97 km) from the city of Portland. Here the government built, about twelve years ago, a lock canal. The canal has a depth of 8 feet (2.4 m) and is 3,000 feet (910 m) long, and it contains two locks, each of which is 462 feet (141 m) in length, and capacious enough for much larger craft than pass through it to the upper river. With the aid of the canal, steamers can travel from Portland to what are called the Dalles, a distance of about 200 miles (320 km). Here, however, the natural obstacles are very great, and to overcome them an elaborate engineering scheme Is now being carried out. The river, for a distance of several miles, flows swiftly through a series of gorges which it has cut out of the rock formation in this part of Oregon.

Scientific American was also optimistic about the prospective economic value of the canal:

very large area of Washington and Oregon may be reached by river craft. This area comprises not only an extensive wheat-growing country, but cattle and sheep ranches and fruit farms, as well as an extensive mining district. There are some counties in this region which are entirely destitute of railroads, and their commercial products are hauled from 50 to 75 miles (121 km) to the nearest stations by freighting outfits. As the improvement referred to will allow craft carrying nearly a thousand tons to ply upon the upper Columbia, It must be regarded as one of the most important engineering projects which has yet been undertaken by the government.