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Wishram, Washington, in the spring, with Mount Hood, Oregon, in the distance.
Looking down on Wishram from Washington State Highway 14. Mount Hood shows through Fairbanks Water Gap and the Oregon Trunk Line bridge is in the middleground. Fulton Ridge is the long ridge on the left.
Image taken May 24, 2005.
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Wishram ...
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Wishram, Washington, with Mount Hood, Oregon, in the distance.
Looking downstream at the area which once was Celilo Falls.
View from Washington State Highway 14. Celilo Park, Oregon, is on the left shoreline.
Wishram, Washington, is green area on the right. Notch in the Oregon ridge is Fairbanks Gap, location of a Missoula Flood spillover.
Image taken May 24, 2005.
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Wishram, Washington.
Looking downstream at Wishram, Washington. The railroad bridge connecting the area which once was Celilo Falls with Wishram Washington. Lewis and Clark's camp of October 22 and 23 was just on the downstream side of the bridge, on the right.
View from Washington State Highway 14.
Image taken May 24, 2005.
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Columbia River Basalt and Wishram, Washington.
View from Celilo Park.
Image taken October 2, 2006.
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Campsite of October 22-23, 1805 ...
Lewis and Clark's route map [Map#78, Moulton, Vol.1] shows their camp of October 22 and 23, 1805, to be on the right bank, just downstream of a large village labeled "26 Mat Lodges of Indians of the E-nee-sher Nations ..." and "Portage of 1200 yds". Using this map with a modern-day map, the location appears to be at the railroad bridge located just downstream of Celilo and Wishram.
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"... Took our Baggage & formed a Camp below the rapids in a cove on the Stard Side ..."
[Clark, October 22, 1805, first draft]
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"... droped down to the head of the rapids and took every article except the Canoes across the portag where I had formed a camp on ellegable Situation for the protection of our Stores from Thieft ..."
[Clark, October 22, 1805]
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" ... we got all except the canoes below the falls and camped close under a high range of clifts of rocks, where the body of the River beat against it and formed a verry large eddy ..."
[Ordway, October 22, 1805]
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"... We got all our baggage safe below these falls, in the Evening and encamped on the North side of the River, close to a high range of Clifts of rocks, where the Main body of the Water ran against them & formed a very large Eddy ... The perpendicular hight of the Clifts were we are encamped, is about 250 feet high. We came about 35 Miles this day our course being as usual West
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[Whitehouse, October 22, 1805]
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"... landed Safe with all the Canoes at our Camp below the falls by 3 oClock P.M. ..."
[Clark, October 23, 1805]
Lewis and Clark's previous campsite was located near the location of today's John Day Dam. Their campsite of October 24, 1805, was near Horsethief Butte, Washington.
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Downstream side, Oregon Trunk Line Railroad Bridge, Washington side, approximate location of Lewis and Clark's campsite.
The Oregon Trunk Bridge connects the area which once was Celilo Falls with Wishram Washington. Lewis and Clark's camp of October 22 and 23 was on the downstream side of the bridge, in the foreground in this image.
View from Washington State Highway 14.
Image taken May 24, 2005.
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Clark's Campsite of April 19 and 20, 1806 ...
While Captain Lewis and the men spent April 19 and 20, 1806, near Horsethief Butte, Captain Clark went on ahead to the "Enesher village" to try and barter for horses.
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"... we agreed that I should proceed on to the Enesher villages at the great falls of the Columbia 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 at which place I arrived at 8 P. M. ..."
[Clark, April 19, 1806]
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Meaning of Wishram ...
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According to Hitchman in Place Names of Washington (1985), the name "Wishram" is a Chinook dialect word, meaning "louse" or "flea". Hitchman also states that other Indian dialect names for the town were "Niculuita" and "Tlaqluit".
Hitchman does not say when the name "Wishram" came into use or where the meaning of "fleas" came from. Captain Clark wrote about the fleas often - not just at Wishram - which plagued them on their journey down the Columbia.
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"... Took the Canoes over the Portage on the Lard. Side ... Great numbers of flees on the Lard Side ..."
[Clark, October 23, 1805, first draft]
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"... landed Safe with all the Canoes at our Camp below the falls by 3 oClock P.M. nearly covered with flees which were So thick amongst the Straw and fish Skins at the upper part of the portage at which place the nativs had been Camped not long Since; that every man of the party was obliged to Strip naked dureing the time of takeing over the canoes, that they might have an oppertunity of brushing the flees of their legs and bodies ..."
[Clark, October 23, 1805]
However, according to an article from The Oregonian, Portland, Oregon, July 19, 1926 (courtesy "Rootsweb.com"), "Wishram" is a mis-spelling of the Indian name of "Wish-kam", and means "stationary people who never move", and "Wish-ram was a typographical error in Washington Irving's Astoria". Wish-kam then became the town of "Speedis", the name of the leading Indian family of that district, before becoming "Spearfish" by the Great Northern Railroad officials.
Washington Irving described Wishram in his 1836 publication "Astoria, or Anecdotes of an enterprise beyond the Rocky Mountains".
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"...We have given this process at some length, as furnished by the first explorers, because it marks a practiced ingenuity in preparing articles of traffic for a market, seldom seen among our aboriginals. For like reason we would make especial mention of the village of Wishram, at the head of the Long Narrows, as being a solitary instance of an aboriginal trading mart, or emporium. Here the salmon caught in the neighboring rapids were "warehoused," to await customers. Hither the tribes from the mouth of the Columbia repaired with the fish of the sea-coast, the roots, berries, and especially the wappatoo, gathered in the lower parts of the river, together with goods and trinkets obtained from the ships which casually visit the coast. Hither also the tribes from the Rocky Mountains brought down horses, bear-grass, quamash, and other commodities of the interior. The merchant fishermen at the falls acted as middlemen or factors, and passed the objects of traffic, as it were, cross-handed; trading away part of the wares received from the mountain tribes to those of the rivers and plains, and vice versa: their packages of pounded salmon entered largely into the system of barter, and being carried off in opposite directions, found their way to the savage hunting camps far in the interior, and to the casual white traders who touched upon the coast. ..."
[Washington Irving, 1836]
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Early Wishram ...
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Today's town of Wishram has had many locations and many names. The original Wishram was an Indian fishing settlement. With the advent of
railroads and the Oregon Trunk Line Bridge spanning the Columbia, the rail stations of "Falbridge" and "Speedis" evolved downstream of today's Wishram location.
In 1841, Charles Wilkes, of the U.S. Exploring Expedition wrote:
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" ... The country between these places is decidedly volcanic, and the banks on
either side of the river are rocky and high. ... There are a number of
villages in this neighbourhood, and among them Wisham, mentioned in
Irving's Astoria. This is situated on the left bank of the river, and its
proper name is Niculuita; Wisham begin the name of the old chief, long
since dead. There are now in this village about forty good lodges, built
of split boards, with a roof of cedar bark ..."
From the newspapers of the time --
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"Fallbridge is the latest arrival in the way of new towns in Klickitat county. It was located, named, and constructed according to plans and specifications laid down by John F. Stevens at the Washington end of the new Oregon Trunk railroad bridge across the Columbia river, now building. It is nearly opposite Celilo Falls, on the Oregon side, where Uncle Sam is digging a canal which will presently open up an immense territory to cheap water transportation, and is the junction point with the Oregon Trunk road, now under active construction to Bend, Ore.,which will without doubt be extended to California later, and is already developing a lively traffic with central Oregon. Fallbridge has a new,
first-class hotel, a railroad, Y.M.C.A. building, and a new depot. A roundhouse and yards for a sub-terminal of the North Bank and Oregon Trunk will be provided as soon as the bridge is completed, or about September."
[Goldendale Sentinel, The Bickleton News, Bickleton, WA., June 23, 1911, page 8, courtesy "Rootsweb.com"]
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"Good bye Fallbridge and hello, Wishram. At dawn March 1st names significant of early history of the mid-Columbia river district were adopted for two stations on the S.P. & S. Railroad. A memorial will be erected near the present station of Fallbridge now Wishram in memory of discoverers and pioneers of Columbia river territory. Under the name changes Fallbridge has become Wishram and the station west of Fallbridge formerly called Speedis has been changed to Spearfish. Fallbridge, or Wishram, will be one of the historical spots to be visited by the special train of students and notables coming west for the dedication of the Gray Memorial at Astoria this summer. Our post office also has taken the name of Wishram. In honor of changing the name of the citizens staged a pow-pow at the schoolhouse Wednesday evening. Several very good numbers were rendered. The returns were added to the school fund."
[Goldendale Sentinal, Goldendale, Washington, March 4, 1926, courtesy "Rootsweb.com"]
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SP&S Railway Bridge (Oregon Trunk Line) ...
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The Portland & Seattle Railway was incorporated in 1905 with the purpose of connecting Spokane, Seattle and Portland by railroad. In early 1908 the company name was changed to the "Spokane, Portland, & Seattle" (SP&S) after the railroad started construction of a line from Portland to Spokane along the north bank of the Columbia River. Meanwhile in 1906 the Oregon Trunk line was being developed in Central Oregon, and was merged into the SP&S system in 1908. The Oregon Trunk originally connected with the SP&S using boats to cross the river, until 1912, when a bridge was constructed across the Columbia River, connecting the northern SP&S line with the southern Oregon Trunk line. The southern end of the bridge touches the Oregon shore downstream of Celilo Park. The northern end of this bridge is located just downstream of Wishram.
[More]
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Celilo area and Mount Hood, Oregon.
From Washington State Highway 14, near Wishram and Haystack Butte, looking down on the Oregon Trunk Line Railroad, Celilo area. Mount Hood, Oregon, shows in the notch of the Fairbanks Water Gap.
Image taken May 24, 2005.
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Fairbanks Water Gap and Mount Hood, Oregon.
Looking downstream from Washington State Highway 14 at Mount Hood, Oregon, visible through Fairbanks Gap.
Image taken May 24, 2005.
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From the Journals of Lewis and Clark ...
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Clark, October 22, 1805 ...
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A fine morning calm and fare we Set out [downstream of the John Day Dam] at 9 oClock passed a verry bad rapid [today the location of the "Biggs Bridge", Highway 97 crossing from Biggs Junction, Oregon, to Maryhill, Washington. The rapid, which was labeled "Five-Mile Rapid" in 1858, is now under the waters of the Lake Celilo, the reservoir behind The Dalles Dam.]
at the head of an Island close under the Stard. Side [???], above this rapid on the Stard. Side is Six Lodges of nativs Drying fish [Maryhill vicinity], at 9 mls. passed a bad rapid [Deschutes Rapid, also under the waters of Lake Celilo] at the head of a large Island [Miller Island] of high, uneaven [rocks], jutting over the water, a Small Island in a Stard. Bend [???] opposit the upper point, on which I counted 20 parcels of dryed and pounded fish; on the main Stard Shore opposit to this Island five Lodges of Indians are Situated Several Indians in Canoes killing fish with gigs [Haystack Butte, Columbia Hills, vicinity], <and nets> &c. opposit the center of this Island of rocks [Miller Island] which is about 4 miles long we discovered the enterence of a large river on the Lard. Side [Deschutes River] which appeared to Come from the S. E. - we landed at Some distance above the mouth of this river [Deschutes River] and Capt. Lewis and my Self Set out to view this river above its mouth, as our rout was intersepted by a deep narrow Chanel which runs out of this river into the Columbia a little below the place we landed, leaveing a high dry rich Island of about 400 yards wide and 800 yards long here we Seperated, I proceeded on to the river and Struck it at the foot of a verry Considerable rapid [Deschutes Rapids], here I beheld an emence body of water Compressd in a narrow Chanel of about 200 yds in width, fomeing over rocks maney of which presented their tops above the water, when at this place Capt. Lewis joined me haveing .... at about two miles above this River appears to be confined between two high hils below which it divided by numbers of large rocks, and Small Islands covered with a low groth of timber, and has a rapid as far as the narrows three Small Islands in the mouth of this River, <we returned> this River haveing no Indian name that we could find out, except "the River on which the Snake Indians live," we think it best to leave the nameing of it untill our return [Deschutes River].
we proceeded on pass the mouth of this river [Deschutes River] at which place it appears to discharge 1/4 as much water as runs down the Columbia. at two miles below this River passed Eight Lodges on the Lower point of the Rock Island [Miller Island] aforesaid at those Lodges we saw large logs of wood which must have been rafted down the To war-ne hi ooks River [Deschutes River], below this Island [Miller Island] on the main Stard Shore is 16 Lodges of nativs; here we landed a fiew minits to Smoke, the lower point of one Island opposit [???] which heads in the mouth of Towarnehiooks River [Deschutes River] which I did not observe untill after passing these lodges
about 1/2 a mile lower passed 6 more Lodges on the Same Side and 6 miles below the upper mouth of Towarnehiooks River [Deschutes River] the comencement of the pitch of the Great falls [Celilo Falls], opposit on the Stard. Side is 17 Lodges of the nativs [near Wishram, Washington] we landed and walked down accompanied by an old man to view the falls [Celilo Falls], and the best rout for to make a portage
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we made 19 miles to day
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Ordway, October 22, 1805 ...
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a fair morning. we Set out at Sunrise and proceeded on. passed a number of fisheries and a high Island which had towers of Solid rocks and verry high and rough. a roaring rapid at the Stard Side we went down a narrow channel on the Lard. Side a large river [Deschutes River] puts in verry rapidly of the Island [Miller Island] about 40 yards wide Several perpinticular falls near its mouth. large fishing Camps at the lower end of the Island. this Isd. is about 4 miles in length and high rough & rockey. a Short distance below we came to the first falls of the Columbia River [Celilo Falls] we halted about noon a Short distance above at a large Indian villages. ... our officers viewed the falls and found that we had a portage of about ¾ of a mile, on the Stard. Side. So we went at carrying the baggage past the portage. ...
we got all except the canoes below the falls and camped close under a high range of clifts of rocks [near Wishram, Washington], where the body of the River beat against it and formed a verry large eddy.
we Saw a number of large Sea otter [the Sea Otter never leaves the salt water, most likely the Harbor Seal] below the falls in the whorl pools and eddys
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Whitehouse, October 22, 1805, first draft ...
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So we got all the baggage below the falls this evening and Camped close to a high range of clifts of rocks, where the body of the River beat against it and formed a large Eddy. the natives Sign to us that it is only about Six miles below, to the next or other falls. we Saw Several Sea otter in and about these falls. the natives are troublesome about our Camp. we had went about [blank] miles before we came to these falls. these natives Sign to us that Some white people had been here but were gone four or 5 days journey further down. the perpinticular clifts at our Camp is [blank] feet high.
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Whitehouse, October 22, 1805
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We got all our baggage safe below these falls, in the Evening and encamped on the North side of the River, close to a high range of Clifts of rocks, where the Main body of the Water ran against them & formed a very large Eddy.— The Natives made signs to us, which we understand to be that about 6 Miles below this falls, that we shall come to another great falls. We saw a number of Sea Otters, in and about these falls. We found the Natives here very troublesome about our camp and we &lst;are> were forced to watch them, for fear of their stealing from us.— These Natives informed us by signs, that some White people had been at this place, but that they had gone 4 or 5 days Journey down the River. The perpendicular hight of the Clifts were we are encamped, is about 250 feet high. We came about 35 Miles this day our course being as usual West.—
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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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