Multnomah Falls, Oregon
Multnomah Falls, Oregon in the 1950s.
Multnomah Falls is in the Columbia River Gorge just east of Portland, Oregon. It is the tallest waterfall in Oregon with a height of 635 ft. The surrounding area now known to tourists was developed by Samuel Benson. The foot bridge, built in 1925, attracts more than two million visitors a year. However, the falls commanded the attention of many travelers decades before.
Belle W. Cooke poetically described Multnomah Falls in a newspaper article dating 7 October 1880:
The rivers rush upon the brink and leap
From out the clouds, three thousand feet below,
And land afoam in tops of firs, that grow
Against your river’s rim; they plash, they play,
In clouds, now loud and now subdued and slow,
A thousand thunder tones; they swing and sway
In idle winds, long, leaning shafts of shining spray.
In July 1886 The Midland Journal in Maryland ran an article “The Great Northwest” detailing a trip by train through the Columbia Gorge.
“The whole Northwest coast is filled with scenery both grand and beautiful. The Columbia River is famous for its mass of water, its perpendicular cliffs, its picturesque waterfalls, and the many exquisite bits of water view. Early summer shows its waters high, and plenty of volume in Multnomah Falls. These falls are fortunately near the river and so convenient to the railroad that tourists can climb to a point giving a good view while the train waits. The main fall is 800 feet high. The water pours over a perpendicular cliff, blackened by the dampness and covered with dark moss. It leaps out into midair from the surface of the rock, and falls in one stream, touching nothing in its descent. Separating into showers of sparkling globules in its rapid rush to the dark pool below, the volume drifts away a mass of spray and fairy rainbows. Grand indeed are these falls. To do them justice while the train stops is impossible. To look at nature “on time” seems almost an offence.”
Descriptions such as these of the Pacific Northwest often inspired adventurous souls to travel west. Often many tourists returned home only to pack up their belongings and families to make a new life in beautiful west.
Thank you for reading,
J. R. Findsen
Source:
https://sos.oregon.gov/archives/exhibits/columbia-river-highway/Pages/history-multnomah-falls.aspx
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89060136/1886-07-23/ed-1/seq-6/
https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84022673/1880-10-07/ed-1/seq-2/
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