Cascades Rapids
Coordinates: 45°40′1.51″N 121°54′6.2″W / 45.6670861°N 121.901722°W
The Cascades Rapids (sometimes called Cascade Falls or Cascades of the Columbia) were an area of rapids along North America's Columbia River, between the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. Through a stretch approximately 150 yards (140 m) wide, the river dropped about 40 feet (12 m) in 2 miles (3.2 km).
In 1896 the Cascade Locks and Canal were constructed to bypass the Cascade Rapids. In the late 1930s, the construction of the Bonneville Dam led to the submerging of the rapids as well as most of the 1896 structures.
Boat travelers were forced to either portage boats and supplies or pull boats up with ropes. It is generally held that these rapids or cascades (or the many cascades along the Columbia River Gorge in this area of Oregon and Washington) gave rise to the name for the surrounding mountains: the Cascade Range.
The rapids were an important fishing site for Native Americans, who would catch salmon as they swam upriver to spawn.
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