Steamboats of the Columbia River
Many steamboats operated on the Columbia River and its tributaries, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America, from about 1850 to 1981. Major tributaries of the Columbia that formed steamboat routes included the Willamette and Snake rivers. Navigation was impractical between the Snake River and the Canada–US border, due to several rapids, but steamboats also operated along the Wenatchee Reach of the Columbia, in northern Washington, and on the Arrow Lakes of southern British Columbia.
Bailey Gatzert near Cascade Locks, circa 1910
Mascot, a typical Columbia river steamer, "wooding up," circa 1900.
Portland harbor, probably in the early 1900s, showing tall ships, steamship, and, on right leaving the dock, the sternwheeler Bailey Gatzert
Lot Whitcomb, circa 1853
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. The name refers to a series of cascades and waterfalls on the river, as well as to the native settlements and trading villages that existed there in various configurations for 15,000 years. Celilo was the oldest continuously inhabited community on the North American continent until 1957, when the falls and nearby settlements were submerged by the construction of The Dalles Dam. In 2019, there were calls by tribal leaders to restore the falls.
Dipnet fishing at Celilo Falls in the 1950s
Native salmon fishermen at Celilo Falls. Russell Lee, September 1941.
Fishing sites existed along the entire length of The Narrows. Russell Lee, September 1941.
Native Americans drying salmon, circa 1900