Maryhill Stonehenge Memorial
Stonehenge Memorial & Klickitat County Veterans Memorial-• History of Maryhill’s Stonehenge• Erected as the nation’s first WWI memorial and dedicated in 1918 to the servicemen of Klickitat County, Washington, who died in the service of their country during the Great War, Hill’s Stonehenge Memorial is a monument to heroism and peace.• Hill erroneously believed that the original Stonehenge was constructed as a place of human sacrifice. Concluding there was a parallel between the loss of life in WWI and the sacrifices at ancient Stonehenge, he set out to build a replica on the cliffs of the Columbia as a reminder of those sacrifices and the “incredible folly” of the war.• Guided by leading authorities on archaeology, astronomy, and engineering, Hill combined their knowledge to duplicate, as nearly as possible, the original size and design of the ancient Neolithic ruin in England.• The original idea was to use local stone, however, when the rock proved unsatisfactory, Hill decided to use reinforced concrete. (The rough, hand-hewn looking texture was created by lining the wooden forms with crumpled tin.)• On June 8, 1918 a total eclipse of the sun was predicted, with the best viewing point in the vicinity of Goldendale, Washington. Consequently, some of the best astronomers of the day were in Klickitat County. Professor Campbell, of Lick Observatory at the University of California, agreed to fix the position of the altar stone. Unlike the ancient Stonehenge, it is aligned to the astronomical horizon rather than the actual midsummer sunrise. This results in a three degree difference from the original structure. Combined with a five degree difference in latitude and the manner in which the surrounding hills obscure the actual horizon, Stonehenge Memorial is difficult to use as an astronomical calendar.• On July 4, 1918 the altar stone was dedicated with a plaque that reads:• To the memory of the soldiers and sailors of Klickitat County who gave their lives in defense of their country. This monument is erected in hope that others inspired by the example of their valor and their heroism may share in that love of liberty and burn with that fire of patriotism which death alone can quench.• Stonehenge Memorial was completed in 1929 and re-dedicated on Memorial Day of that year. The men honored at Stonehenge are James Henry Allyn, Charles Auer, Dewey V. Bromley, John W. Cheshier, William O. Clary, Evan Childs, James D. Duncan, Harry Gotfredson, Robert F. Graham, Louis Leidl, Carl A. Lester, Edward Lindblad, Henry O. Piendl and Robert F. Venable.• These men, all members of the American Expeditionary Force, represented the U.S. Army (Cavalry, Coast Artillery, Engineers and Infantry), U.S. Marines and the U.S. Navy.• • When Samuel Hill died in 1931, his body was cremated and the ashes placed in a crypt just below the Stonehenge Memorial. The original crypt deteriorated in the next 25 years and was replaced in 1955 by a granite monument bearing his epitaph: “Samuel Hill: Amid nature’s great unrest, he sought rest.”Klickitat County veterans MemorialIn 1995 the Klickitat County Veterans Memorial was erected near Hill’s Stonehenge to honor those who have died in service of their country since WWI. The project was a partnership between Maryhill Museum of Art and the Klickitat County Veterans Association.
Maryhill Museum
Mary hill Museum-HistoryIn 1907, Samuel Hill purchased 5,300 acres of land along the Columbia River with the dream of establishing a Quaker farming community. He formed the Maryhill Land Company, named after his daughter, and set about building a town. The village included a store and post office, a Quaker church, an inn, a blacksmith’s shop, and a stable. In 1914, work began on a hilltop mansion that was to be Hill’s home. But the remote location of Maryhill and the lack of irrigation proved insurmountable obstacles and the land company failed. Construction of Hill’s mansion stopped in 1917.It was then that a friend of Hill’s—Loïe Fuller, a pioneer of modern dance living in Paris—convinced him to turn his would-be mansion into a museum of art. Fuller’s close association with well-known artists in France, helped build the core of the museum’s collection, including the acquisition of more than 80 works by French sculptor Auguste Rodin. Hill also transferred his own art collections to the museum. Although still unfinished, the museum was dedicated in 1926 by Sam Hill’s friend, Queen Marie of Romania (the granddaughter of Britain’s Queen Victoria), in a ceremony that received national attention and was attended by more than 2,000 people. In 1931, Hill, on his way to address the Oregon legislature on behalf of the Good Roads Association, became ill and died three weeks later at the age of 73.Hill’s death and the drawn-out settlement of his estate delayed progress on the museum, which was filled with unpacked crates of art. In 1937, Alma de Bretteville Spreckels, the wife of San Francisco sugar magnate Adolf Spreckels and a friend of Hill’s, took up the task of finishing the museum. She was elected to the newly-formed board of trustees and donated artwork from her personal collection. Under her guidance, the museum was opened to the public on Sam Hill’s birthday, May 13, 1940. The history of Maryhill Museum of Art is inseparable from the life of its founder, Samuel Hill. Born in 1857 in Deep River, North Carolina, Hill where he grew up in a Quaker family and at the age of eight moved with them to Minneapolis. After graduating from Haverford College, with subsequent study at Harvard University, Hill practiced law in Minneapolis and in 1886 became a law clerk for the Great Northern Railway. Hill became a trusted advisor to the company’s president and two years later married his boss’s oldest daughter, Mary. The two had a daughter, Mary, and a son, James.Hill became president of the Seattle Gas and Electric Company—owned by Minneapolis investors—and in 1899 moved to Seattle. His wife and children later joined him, but returned to Minneapolis after only six months out West. A successful businessman and entrepreneur, Hill quickly became known among the political and social elite of the Northwest. He served as president of the Washington State Good Roads Association and spent much of his lifepromoting the development of roads throughout the Northwest, and lobbying Washington and Oregon legislators for funding. Hill’s own road-building experiments included the Maryhill Loops Road, the first macadam paved road in the Northwest. It was Hill who was the catalyst behind the Columbia River Highway. His dream was to “build a great highway so that the world can realize the magnificence and grandeur of the Columbia River Gorge.
Scenic outlook of the Columbia River and Celilo VIllage
Scenic outlook of The Columbia River and of Celilo Village-For centuries Indians caught the giant chinook and other food salmon that struggled to make their way upstream through the rocky barrier of tumbling waters and swift, narrow channels of the Columbia River known as Celilo Falls, or Wy-am. During the spring flooding, ten times more water passed over this spectacular waterfall than passes over Niagara Falls today. The ancient ones left a record of their lives in the ashes of campfires and buried sanctuaries of their dead. They left tools and weapons, items of adornment, and samples of their art. Their record of habitation proves Wy-am to be one of the longest occupied sites on the continent.For thousands of years, Wy-am was one of history’s great marketplaces. A half-dozen tribes had permanent villages between the falls and where the city of The Dalles now stands. As many as 5,000 people would gather to trade, feast, and participate in games and religious ceremonies.Elders and chiefs regulated the fishing, permitting none until after the First Salmon ceremony. Each day, fishing started and ended at the sound of a whistle. There was no night fishing. And when a fisher was pulled into the water – most who fell perished in the roiling water – all fishing ceased for the day. In later years, each fisher was required to tie a rope around his waist, with the other end fastened to the shore. Elders and others without family members able to fish could take what they needed from the catches. Visiting tribes were given what they could transport to their homes. The rest belonged to the fishers and their families. All this changed on the morning of March 10, 1957, when the massive steel and concrete gates of The Dalles Dam closed and choked back the downstream surge of the Columbia River. Four and a half hours later and eight miles upstream, Celilo Falls, the spectacular natural wonder and the age-old Indian salmon fishery associated with it was under water.That was more than 50 years ago. But the spirit of Wy-am – which some say means “echo of falling water” – still lives in the traditions and religions, indeed in the very soul of Columbia River Indian people.When the United States government submerged Celilo Falls in 1957, it compensated the tribes for flooding their fishing sites. It did not, however, purchase their fishing rights. Those rights, as set forth in the 1855 treaties, were not in principle affected when the government paid for inundating tribal fishing sites, but the tribes’ economic base was shattered. Francis Seufert in Wheels of Progress, his book about his family’s many years as cannery owners and operators in the Celilo area, explained, “The government, in paying the Indians for destroying their fishing sites at Celilo, was doing no more for the Indians than the United States government did for Seufert’s when they bought Seufert’s shore lands that were flooded out by The Dalles Dam pool.”Celilo Village/LonghouseCELILO VILLAGE, Ore. - The longhouse at Celilo Village was recently utilized for a gathering of roughly 400 people in recognition of the loss of Celilo Falls on the Columbia River 50 years ago due to the rising waters behind The Dalles Dam.A revered place, Celilo Falls was one of the most important fishing locations on the Columbia River and people have lived in the area continuously for roughly 12,000 years, making it one of the longest continuously inhabited places in North America. Platforms were built over the river and when salmon migrated by families could catch and dry enough fish to last throughout the year. That ended March 10, 1957, when rising waters inundated the falls. Fishing still takes place there and people still live in Celilo Village alongside the railroad and the highway, but it's not like it once was.The longhouse, completed in 2006 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was an attempt to correct some of the wrongs that were done when the dam was built. The area is held in trust for three tribes, the Warm Springs, Yakama, and Umatilla, but the community needs repair and homes need to be rebuilt to replace those currently in existence.One of the Plateau tribes’ most important ceremonies is the First Salmon Feast. This salmon ceremony must occur before open fishing can take place. It is why every fishing season begins with a ceremonial harvest for fishers to catch salmon for use in these ceremonies. The timing of these feasts matches the arrival of the salmon to each longhouse. The feasts move upriver with the fish.Honoring the SalmonA tribal myth tells that when the Creator was preparing to bring forth people onto the earth, he called a grand council of all the animals and plants. He asked each for a gift for these new creatures – a gift to help the new humans survive, since they would be quite helpless and require much assistance.The very first to come forward was Salmon, who offered his body to feed the people. The second to come forward was Water, who promised to be the home to the Salmon. In turn, everyone else gathered at the council gave the coming humans a gift, but it is significant that the very first two were Salmon and Water.In accordance with their sacrifice, these two receive a place of honor at traditional feasts throughout the Columbia Basin. These ceremonies always begin with a blessing on and the drinking of water, followed by a prayer of thanksgiving on and the serving of the salmon. This ceremony reinforces the central role that salmon and water play in the health and culture of the tribal people in the Columbia Basin.Tribal TraditionsThe First Salmon Feast is part of the traditional tribal religion of the Columbia Basin. Known by various names including Washut, Longhouse, and Seven Drums, this religion continues to guide tribal people and connect them with the Creator and the gifts He has given them. It also connects followers to the land and to the culture practiced by their ancestors.
Horsethief Butte
Horsethief Butte Trail-A living Monument of the past, present, and futureHorsethief butteFor centuries, the area around Horsethief Butte was the site of a Native American village, now flooded by the waters of the 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.• Geologists say between 13,000 and 15,000 years ago a series of huge catastrophic floods scoured this landscape. Surging water and large pieces of ice ripped rock, sediment, and soil from everything that surrounds you. Horsethief Butte withstood the floods.Horsethief Butte rises from the shores of the Columbia, a monument to 300 generations of fishers and traders who claimed a plentiful living for Nch'i-Wána, the Big River. At its base, village life moved to the rhythm of changing seasons and returning salmon.Enjoy Horsethief Butte. Respect it. Keep it beautiful and intact for those who follow. Let your legacy be the reverence and preservation of a very special place.“She Who Watches”, Petroglyph, Horsethief Lake Park (Columbia Hills State Park)Perhaps the most well-known of all Washington petroglyphs is the large face known as Tsagiglalal, the Wishram word translated as "She who watches all who are coming and going". This anthropomorphic face is lightly pecked through the oxidized surface of the rock. Two other petroglyphs are noted here. One is an owl figure, shallowly pecked, and the other, possibly non-aboriginal, is an anthropomorphic face. Red and white pictographs are also present with both pigments sometimes present in a single figure. About 75 individual pictographs were found. A number of arcs and concentric circles with rays are present. Other figures include a "rabbit-eared" anthropomorph with detailed face and holding bow and arrow, two owl-like faces, four point stars, a large anthropomorphic face in red and white with alternating red and white zig-zag lines extending from top of head, and a few simple anthropomorphs. At the extreme north end of the site is a lizard figure. Other zoomorphic figures, including one or two quadrupeds exist
Rowena Crest viewpoint
Rowena- Rowena Crest is a stunning viewpoint and trailhead along the Historic Columbia River Highway that looks down on Mayer State Park and the Columbia River Gorge. The view includes the iconic Rowena Loops — the horseshoe curves that wind up to the viewpoint, a true engineering marvel.This viewpoint also serves as a trailhead for adjacent Tom McCall Nature Preserve. Each spring, the Rowena Plateau bursts into bloom with native lupine, balsamroot, and other wildflowers. Hikers can take the 2.6-mile Plateau Trail for views of the epic geologic formations carved by Ice Age floods. Or try a more challenging 4-mile out-and-back hike to McCall Point.To get there, take exit 69 off I-84 from Mosier and head east about 7 miles on Highway 30, or take the Rowena exit (#76) and head west on Highway 30 up the famous “Rowena Curves.”Overlooking a major chokepoint along the Ice Age floods path, Rowena Crest lies at nearly 700 feet above the Columbia River at the upstream end of Rowena Plateau, a mile-long promontory that protrudes into the path of the river, this forces the river around the plateau through a relatively narrow section of the Gorge known as the Rowena Gap.The onrushing Ice Age floods waters easily flowed over the relatively low relief of Dallesport in The Dalles Basin to the east, but as they entered Rowena Gap they were impeded and diverted northward as they crash against the Rowena promontory. This created a major chokepoint, a hydraulic dam, in the path of the floods as they made their way through the Columbia River Gorge. The flood waters hitting the Rowena promontory built to nearly 1000 feet and flowed over the Rowena Crest while backing upstream to form temporary Lake Condon in The Dalles basin.It is estimated that each of the 40-120 Ice Age Floods may have taken up to a month to completely flush through the system to the Pacific Ocean, but the duration of the flood waters at any point along the path, like at Lake Lewis, probably lasted less than a couple of weeks.At Columbia River level below and east of the promontory is a Kolk pond formed by relatively stationary whirlpools in the flood waters where they were deflected around the Rowena Crest promontory. Other Kolk ponds can also be seen along the hiking path atop Rowena Crest where they are marked by surrounding groves of oak trees.Below the block wall along the cliff edge several large, tilted fault blocks of layered of Columbia River Basalt are slump blocks that broke off the promontory and slid toward the river as they were undercut by the flood waters coming at them from The Dalles. The relationship of these slump blocks to Rowena Crest are best viewed from the WA side of the river (see image right).The many rounded mounds that cover the plateau are mima mounds whose origins are not definitively known but were probably formed by turbulence at the base of the flood waters flowing over the plateau. All, that is, except for the mounds in the middle of the roundabout parking area, which were built by Oregon Dept. of Transportation to mimic those that cover the plateau.
Cooks Landing
Cooks landing Mural-David Sohappy Activist Learn more on HistoryLink.org By Paul Lindholdt
Port of Cascade Locks
Port of Cascade Locks-The history of Cascade Locks is intimately tied to the Columbia River. The small settlement that grew up on the banks of the river helped early travelers portage around the rapids, first by foot, then by mule-drawn rail cars, steam engines, and finally riverboats.Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery portaged around the rapids of the Cascades in 1805. They wrote in their journal, “this great chute of falls is about 1/2 a mile with the water of this great river compressed within the space of 150 paces…great number of both large and small rocks, water passing with great velocity forming & boiling in a horrible manner, with a fall of about 20 feet” (October 30- November 1, 1805).Forty years later pioneers traveling the Oregon Trail’s water route were forced to make the same portage around the dangerous rapids. Travelers heading west had to make a crucial decision just upstream of these rapids at The Dalles, Oregon. They had to choose whether they would risk life and limb on Mt. Hood’s steep Barlow Road, and overland toll route, or build a raft and float down the Columbia River, risking their life free of charge.The little Oregon Pony, the first steam engine west of the Mississippi River, carried passengers and freight past the rapids in 1864. Today, the engine can be viewed in Marine Park.In 1896, the navigational canal and locks at the site of the rapids were completed, and The modern-day cascade was born. The locks allowed safer navigation of the river, and riverboat whistles echoed in the Gorge each day as the boats made their runs from Portland and The Dalles. Passengers still disembarked at Cascade Locks for portage around the rapids until 1938, when Bonneville Dam succeeded in completely taming the rapids.Eventually, passengers and freight were drawn to more modern forms of transportation, and roads and railroads displaced the sternwheelers. Although the romantic days of the sternwheelers are now past, you can experience a taste of history aboard the Sternwheeler “Columbia Gorge,” an authentic replica of a triple-decker paddle wheeler in size and construction.
Vista House
Crown Point-History at the vista houseEdgar M. Lazarus, Portland architect and member of the Vista House Association, was selected to design Vista House in 1915.Vista House is an example of German “Art Nouveau” architecture. Native Italian craftsmen built retaining walls and bridges for the Columbia River Highway and laid the rockwork surrounding Vista House.Vista House is approximately 44 feet in diameter and 55 feet high. The floors and stairs in the rotunda and the wainscoting in the lower level are Tokeen Alaskan marble. Most of the interior of the rotunda is light cream and pink Kasota limestone (marble), including the hand-carved drinking fountains. The inside of the dome and its supporting ribs were painted to simulate the marble and bronze originally planned for the structure. The exterior is faced with light gray sandstone.THE VISTA HOUSE STORYSamuel Lancaster, Assistant Highway Engineer for Multnomah County in 1913, supervised the Columbia River Highway project. Lancaster’s proposal to construct a building on the summit of Crown Point was another reflection of his desire to inspire the traveler along the highway and to make the wonders of the gorge accessible.As Lancaster described it, the Crown Point promontory was the ideal site for “an observatory from which the view both up and down the Columbia could be viewed in silent communion with the infinite.” Such an observatory would also be a fitting memorial to “the trials and hardships of those who had come into the Oregon country.” And it could “serve as a comfort station for the tourist and the travelers of America’s greatest highway.” He suggested it be known as the Vista House.Majestic! It’s the only word to describe Crown Point capped by its venerable Vista House.Since 1918, this regal sight has enthralled millions of travelers. From its surrounding vantage point 733 feet above the Columbia River and overlooking the busy I-84, countless sightseers and photographers have enjoyed a step back in time and one of Oregon’s most inspiring views.
