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Horsethief Butte, Washington, as seen from Washington State Highway 14.
Image taken May 24, 2005.
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Horsethief Butte ...
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Horsethief Butte and Columbia Hills State Park (formerly Horsethief Lake State Park) are located on the Columbia River at River Mile (RM) 194, three miles upstream of
The Dalles Dam. The waters of Horsethief Lake are the result of flooding of the area from the rising Lake Celilo, the reservoir behind the dam.
The great floods of the last ice age carved the basalts of Horsethief Butte and the surrounding Columbia River channel, creating the features we see today. The basalts themselves were created thousands of years earlier when a series of lava flows emerged from cracks in the earth's crust and blanketed the entire eastern Washington and northern Oregon region. Horsethief Butte is made up of a series of lava flows, visible in the cliffs.
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Horsethief Butte, Washington, as seen from Washington State Highway 14.
Image taken November 11, 2004.
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Horsethief Lake ...
Horsethief Lake was created by flooding by the waters of Lake Celilo, the reservoir behind the The Dalles Dam. Early names for the area were"Caldwash Bottom", "Colowelsh Bottom", and "Colowesh Bottom". In 1959 the U.S. Board of Geographic Names made the name "Horsethief Lake" official.
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"...
Oral history states that the park received its former name --
Horsethief Lake State Park -- from workers in the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers who developed the site. The workers thought the
terrain was similar to that of horsethief hideouts in popular 1950s
Hollywood westerns. The abundance of horses kept on the
premises by local Indians apparently gave the workers their
inspiration.
..."
[Washington State Parks Website, 2006]
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Mount Hood, Oregon, and Horsethief Lake, Washington.
View from Washington State Highway 14, at overlook of Horsethief Lake and Horsethief Butte.
Image taken May 24, 2005.
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Mount Hood, Oregon, and Horsethief Lake, Washington.
View from Washington State Highway 14, at overlook of Horsethief Lake and Horsethief Butte.
Image taken May 24, 2005.
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Campsite of October 24, 1805 ...
Lewis and Clark's campsite of October 24, 1805 was below Celilo Falls and the "Short Narrows" (Tenmile Rapids). The men had passed the rapids at Browns Island, and set up camp at the head of the "Long Narrows" (Fivemile Rapids) in the Horsethief Butte/Horsethief Lake area.
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proceeded down with the Canoes two at a time to a village of 20 wood housies in a Deep bend to the Stard. Side below which a rugid black rock about 20 feet hiter than the Common high fluds of the river with Several dry Chanels which appeared to Choke the river up quite across; this I took to be the 2d falls or the place the nativs above call timm, ...
I dispatched a Sufficent number of the good Swimers back for the 2 canoes above the last rapid and with 2 men walked down three miles to examine the river Over a bed of rocks, which the water at verry high fluds passes over
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The evening being late I could not examine the river to my Satisfaction, the Chanel is narrow and compressed for about 2 miles, when it widens into a deep bason to the Stard. Side, & again contracts into a narrow chanel divided by a rock
I returned through a rockey open country infested with pole-cats to the village where I met with Capt. Lewis the two old Chiefs who accompanied us & the party & canoes who had all arrived Safe; the Canoes haveing taken in Some water at the last rapids. here we formed a Camp near the Village, ..."
[Clark, October 24, 1805]
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"We had a fine morning and proceeded on early, found the water very rapid below the falls; and having gone 4 miles below the narrows, came to other narrows still more confined and the rocks higher. At the head of these narrows we halted about 2 o'clock at a great Indian village, and remained there all night."
[Gass, October 24, 1805]
Lewis and Clark's previous campsite was near Wishram, Washington, and their campsite of October 25, 1805, was across the river at Rock Fort.
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Campsite of April 19-20, 1806 ...
Lewis and Clark's camp of April 19 and 20, 1806 was above the Long Narrows in the vicinity of today's Horsethief Lake State Park, and near the camp of October 24, 1805.
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"... We deturmined to make the portage to the head of the long narrows with our baggage and 5 Small Canoes, the 2 large Canoes we Could take no further and therefore Cut them up for fuel. we had our Small Canoes drawn up very early and employed all hands in transporting our baggage on their backs and by means of 4 pack horses, over the portage. This labour we had accomplished by 3 P. M. and established our Camp a little above the present Skillute village which has been removed as before observed a fiew hundred yards lower down the river than when we passed it last fall. ..."
[Clark, April 19, 1806]
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"... This morning early we had our small canoes drawn out, and employed all hands in transporting our baggage on their backs and by means of the four pack horses, over the portage. This labour we had accomplished by 3 P. M. and established our camp a little above the present Skil-lute village which has been removed a few hundred yards lower down the river than when we passed them last fall ..."
[Lewis, April 19, 1806]
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"...a clear cold morning a little Snow fell on the hills last night. all hands went at packing the baggage past the portage which is about 2 miles towards evening we got all the baggag and canoes carried to the head of the narrows above the village & Camped carried our firewood past the portage also as it is so hard about the village that the Savages value it high. Capt. Clark bought 3 or 4 more horses this day. Capt. Clark and 3 men Set out this evening to go up to the Short narrows at a village in order to purchase horses untill our arival. ..."
[Ordway, April 19, 1806]
Lewis and Clark's previous campsite was near the Big Eddy, today's Spearfish Lake area. Their campsite of April 21, 1806 was near Haystack Butte.
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Horsethief Butte, Washington.
Image taken June 4, 2005.
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Columbia Hills State Park ...
(Horsethief Lake State Park) ...
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In 2003, Horsethief Lake State Park merged with Dalles Mountain Ranch and became Columbia Hills State Park, a 3,338-acre camping park with 7,500 feet of freshwater shoreline on the
Columbia River. Horsethief Butte dominates the skyline.
Below Horsethief Butte is the 90-acre, 0.6-mile across, Horsethief Lake. Horsethief Lake is impounded by the waters of
Lake Celilo, the reservoir behind the
The Dalles Dam.
Some of the oldest Native American pictographs in the Northwest are found within Columbia Hills State Park.
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Horsethief Lake State Park, Washington.
View from Washington State Highway 14 Overlook.
Image taken May 24, 2005.
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Horsethief Butte and Horsethief Lake, Washington.
Image taken June 4, 2005.
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Trees, Horsethief Lake State Park, Washington.
Image taken June 4, 2005.
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Cougar, Horsethief Lake State Park, Washington.
Image taken June 4, 2005.
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Turkeys, Horsethief Lake State Park, Washington.
Image taken June 4, 2005.
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National Register of Historic Places ...
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For centuries, the area around Horsethief Butte was the site of a Native American village, now flooded by the waters of The Dalles Dam.
In 1972 the "Wishram Indian Village Site", otherwise known as Horsethief Lake State Park, was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The site (District #72001278) covers the Native Indian period 1000 to 1499 A.D.
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Petroglyphs ...
In 1957 when The Dalles Dam was completed and the waters of
Lake Celilo were rising, the U.S. Government removed ancient Indian petroglyphs from the walls of a canyon downstream of Celilo. This canyon carried the Indian name of "Tamani Pesh-Wa" or "Written on the Rock". Locals called it "Petroglyph Canyon". In 2003 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cleaned and restored the petroglyphs and moved the to Horsethief Lake State Park. The collection is bordered by a paved trail for easy public viewing, and is less than a mile from the flooded Petroglyph Canyon.
[More]
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Petroglyphs, Horsethief Butte State Park.
Image taken June 4, 2005.
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Petroglyph, Horsethief Butte State Park.
Image taken June 4, 2005.
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Basalt near Horsethief Butte ...
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Washington State Highway 14 at Horsethief Butte, Washington.
View from Horsethief Lake State Park.
Image taken June 4, 2005.
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Basalt near Horsethief Butte, Washington.
View from Washington State Highway 14.
Image taken November 11, 2004.
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A fantastic view of Mount Hood, Oregon can be seen from the Washington State Highway 14 Overlook of Horsethief Butte and Horsethief Lake. Other views of Mount Hood and Horsethief Butte can be seen from turnouts on Washington State Highway 14, upstream of the park.
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Mount Hood, Oregon, from Horsethief Butte Overlook, Washington.
View from Washington State Highway 14, at overlook of Horsethief Lake and Horsethief Butte.
Image taken May 24, 2005.
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Columbia River looking west, with Mount Hood, Oregon, and Horsethief Butte, Washington.
Downstream view of the Columbia River as seen from Washington State Highway-14, upstream of Horsethief Butte.
Image taken April 24, 2004.
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Stone House near Horsethief Butte ...
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Stone House near Horsethief Butte, Washington.
View from Washington State Highway 14.
Image taken June 4, 2005.
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From the Journals of Lewis and Clark ...
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Clark, October 24, 1805, first draft ...
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a fine morning [Lewis and Clark's camp of the 23rd is near Wishram] the Indians approached us with caution. our 2 old Chiefs deturmin to return home, Saying they were at war with Indians below and they would kill them we pursuaded them to Stay 2 nights longer with us, with a view to make a peace with those Indians below as well as to have them with us dureing our Delay with this tribe.
Capt Lewis went to view the falls [Celilo Falls] I Set out with the party at 9 oClock a m at 2½ miles passed a rock which makes from the Stard Side 4 Lodges above 1 below and Confined the river in a narrow channel of about 45 yards this continued for about ¼ of a mile & widened to about 200 yards, in those narrows ["Short Narrows" or Tenmile Rapids] the water was agitated in a most Shocking manner boils Swell & whorl pools, we passed with great risque It being impossible to make a portage of the Canoes, about 2 miles lower passed a verry Bad place between 2 rocks one large & in the middle of the river here our Canoes took in Some water, I put all the men who Could not Swim on Shore; & Sent a fiew articles Such as guns & papers, and landed at a village of 20 houses on the Stard Side in a Deep bason where the river apprd. to be blocked up with emence rocks [near Browns Island] I walked down and examined the pass found it narrow, and one verry bad place a little <below> in the narrows
I pursued this Chanel which is from 50 to 100 yards wide and Swels and boils with a most Tremendeous manner; prosued this channel ["Long Narrows" or Fivemile Rapids] 5 ms & returned found Capt Lewis & a Chief from below with maney of his men on a visit to us ...
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Lewis, April 19, 1806 ...
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This morning early [from their camp near Spearfish Lake] we had our small canoes drawn out, and employed all hands in transporting our baggage on their backs and by means of the four pack horses, over the portage [around the "Long Narrows" or Fivemile Rapids]. This labour we had accomplished by 3 P. M. and established our camp a little above the present Skil-lute village [near Horsethief Lake] which has been removed a few hundred yards lower down the river than when we passed them last fall and like others below have the floors of their summer dwellings on the surface of the earth instead of those cellars in which they resided when we passed them. there was great joy with the natives last night in consequence of the arrival of the salmon; one of those fish was caught; this was the harbinger of good news to them. they informed us that these fish would arrive in great quantities in the course of about 5 days. this fish was dressed and being divided into small peices was given to each child in the village. this custom is founded in a supersticious opinion that it will hasten the arrival of the salmon. with much difficulty we obtained four other horses from the Indians today, we wer obliged to dispence with two of our kettles in order to acquire those. we have now only one small kettle to a mess of 8 men. in the evening Capt. Clark set out with four men to the Enesher village [near Wishram] at the grand falls [Celilo Falls] in order to make a further attempt to procure horses. ...
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Clark, April 19, 1806 ...
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We deturmined to make the portage to the head of the long narrows [Fivemile Rapids, now under the waters of Lake Celilo] with our baggage and 5 Small Canoes, the 2 large Canoes we Could take no further and therefore Cut them up for fuel [at their camp near Spearfish Lake]. we had our Small Canoes drawn up very early and employed all hands in transporting our baggage on their backs and by means of 4 pack horses, over the portage. This labour we had accomplished by 3 P. M. and established our Camp a little above the present Skillute village [near Horsethief Butte] which has been removed as before observed a fiew hundred yards lower down the river than when we passed it last fall. I left Capt L. at the bason [Spearfish Lake] and proceeded to the village early this morning with a view to recive the horses which were promised to be brought this morning for articles laid by last evining. in the Course of this day I purchased four horses at the Village, and Capt Lewis one at the bason before he left it. after the baggage was all Safely landed above the portage, all hands brought over the Canoes at 2 lodes which was accomplished by 5 P. M. as we had not a Sufficiency of horses to transport our baggage <I do> we agreed that I should proceed on to the Enesher villages at the great falls of the Columbia [Celilo Falls] and if possible purchase as maney horses as would transport the baggage from that place, and rid us of the trouble and dificuelty of takeing our Canoes further. I set out with Serjt Pryor, Geo Shannon Peter Crusat & Labiech at half past 5 P. M. for the Enesher Village [vicinity of Wishram] at which place I arrived at 8 P. M. Several Showers of rain in the after part of to day, and the S W wind very high. there was great joy with the nativs last night in consequence of the arrival of the Salmon; one of those fish was cought, this was the harbenger of good news to them. They informed us that those fish would arive in great quantities in the Course of about 5 days. this fish was dressed and being divided into Small pieces was given to each Child in the village. this Custom is founded on a Supersticious opinion that it will hasten the arrival of the Salmon.
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The long narrows [Fivemile Rapids] are much more formadable than they were when we decended them last fall, there would be no possibility of passing either up or down them in any vessel at this time.
I entered the largest house of the Eneeshers village [near Wishram] in which I found all the enhabitents in bead. they rose and made a light of Straw, they haveing no wood to burn. many men Collected. we Smoked and I informed them that I had come to purchase a fiew horses of them. they promused to Sell me Some in the morning.
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