Columbia River
This would be the last day of our trip along the Columbia and Snake River. We cruised all day today, waking up at McNary Dam. We then enjoyed fairly calm conditions as we moved west. We enjoyed a wonderful lecture by Verne Huser on the Corps of Discovery and the different watercraft that were used as they moved up the Missouri River and down the Snake and Columbia. We then continued west through John Day Lock and Dam, the deepest single lock chamber in the world. After lunch the final installment in our lecture series was a continuation in our lecture series on the salmon and the battle to remove the 4 lower Snake River dams that we traversed through during our trip. Dr. Steve Pauley gave us some interesting information about the economics and impacts of removing the dams and sparked a good discussion amongst us about the plight of the fish on the river.
Later in the afternoon we traveled through The Dalles dam and entered the east side of the Columbia River Gorge. At the Dalles Dam we saw the fishing platforms of the native American that are still used during the spring runs of the salmon up the river. The fishing platforms used to be much more numerous along this part of the river near the great Celilo Falls. The construction of The Dalles Dam flooded out the falls in 1957. They have been silent ever since.
This would be the last day of our trip along the Columbia and Snake River. We cruised all day today, waking up at McNary Dam. We then enjoyed fairly calm conditions as we moved west. We enjoyed a wonderful lecture by Verne Huser on the Corps of Discovery and the different watercraft that were used as they moved up the Missouri River and down the Snake and Columbia. We then continued west through John Day Lock and Dam, the deepest single lock chamber in the world. After lunch the final installment in our lecture series was a continuation in our lecture series on the salmon and the battle to remove the 4 lower Snake River dams that we traversed through during our trip. Dr. Steve Pauley gave us some interesting information about the economics and impacts of removing the dams and sparked a good discussion amongst us about the plight of the fish on the river.
Later in the afternoon we traveled through The Dalles dam and entered the east side of the Columbia River Gorge. At the Dalles Dam we saw the fishing platforms of the native American that are still used during the spring runs of the salmon up the river. The fishing platforms used to be much more numerous along this part of the river near the great Celilo Falls. The construction of The Dalles Dam flooded out the falls in 1957. They have been silent ever since.
