Historic Hood River
1952
3-13-2025
Notes
We have a small collection of 35mm slides marked “1952” which appear to cover a family trip to The Dalles Dam site and Celilo Fall in 1952. It is part of the “Ira McKisson Collection”, so presumably that is the family in the slides. 1952 is when construction commenced on the Dalles Dam, which would soon inundate Celilo Falls. This slide appears to capture a Native American ceremony at the site of the Dam. I wish I knew something of the tenor of this ceremony, but so far all we have is this slide.
William C. Seaton
HRHS Science teacher, Mary Hawkes, took me and my Mom to see Celilo Falls before it disappeared. And, we got to see the indians fishing.
Roger H Sheldrake
I mowed lawn for Mrs. Hawkes for several summers.
Also remember viewing the dam being built from a point just east of The Dalles and the petroglyphs on the Washington side.
Also salmon from Celilo laying across the trunk of my father’s 1952 Buick
nels
Was the dam closed in 1957?
Cecelia Parker Goodnight
The dam was completed in 1957. I was at OSU at the time and a friend and I came home in order to do some rubbings of petroglyphs before they were flooded. Can’t remember how travelled since neither had a car nor exactly when we came so wondering how long it took the water to fill in the lake behind dam.
nels
I think the overwhelming silence was the chief thing the Indians spoke of. And the silence broke their hearts.
Arlen L sheldrake
yes Nels, the sound of silence was amazing
Thorn
My heart breaks with them.
To me, it’s astonishing the gall and audacity it took to drown the USA’s largest waterfall and center of a 15,000+ year civilization.
DAVID
That slide seems to keep the colors real, unlike my photographs from way back when.
ArthurB
Kodachrome was a very color stable technology. Most color prints used dyes which degrade quickly, especially with light. We’re lucky these folks sprung for the expensive film.