Cascades Rapids

The rapids were an important fishing site for Native Americans, who would catch salmon as they swam upriver to spawn. ==Obstacle on Oregon Trail==

recounted a tale of a family whose boat wrecked during the emigration of 1843 in Eleven years in the Rocky Mountains and a life on the frontier, Chapter 26. They also posed a major obstacle to the development of the Oregon Trail; initially, pioneers would gather at The Dalles to await small boats to carry them to the Willamette Valley; in 1846, Sam Barlow and his associates built the Barlow Road around the south side of Mount Hood, which allowed travelers along the Trail to bypass the rapids on the last leg of their journeys. ==Boat portage==

Boat travelers were required to either portage boats and supplies or pull boats up with ropes. Conflicts over portage rights Conflicts continued thereafter between the Chinookan natives and Europeans and Americans, who generally refused to recognize the natives' authority over passage through the area. By 1813–14, fur traders passing through were resorting to violent force against the Indians. Although more diplomatic approaches eventually prevailed, a malaria outbreak in the 1830s so reduced the populations of the Cascade and other Indian tribes, that they ceased to be a powerful force along the river. However, three forts, Fort Cascades, Fort Raines and Fort Lugenbeel were constructed between present day Stevenson, Washington and North Bonneville over 1855–6 to protect the portage road around the rapids. Natives burned Fort Cascades in 1856, but it was rebuilt. This attack prompted the construction of Fort Lugenbeel. ==Steamboat navigation==

running the Cascades of the Columbia, May 26, 1888 The Cascades were a significant barrier to river navigation. Steamboats could not go upriver through the rapids, and could be brought downriver only at great risk, although this was done a number of times by highly skilled captains. A canal and lock around the rapids was completed in 1896 at what is now Cascade Locks, Oregon. By 1938 the rapids were gone, submerged under the Bonneville Reservoir as it formed behind Bonneville Dam. Bonneville Lock at the dam, completed in 1937, replaced the old Cascade Locks around the rapids. ==See also==