Historic Hood River
Celilo Falls Off Season
5-8-2025
Notes
This view of Celilo Falls in February 1929 shows the relationship of the falls and the canal (in the foreground). You can still see the canal from I-84, at the west end of the park. You should be able to line up these hills in Washington from the western end of the park, so you’ll know exactly where the falls are sleeping not so far beneath the surface of the Columbia River.
I don’t see any fishermen in this view. Other images in this set show the river was mostly frozen over on this day, but the current over the falls is keeping this channel free of ice.
Kalley
What a shame that those beautiful falls are underwater. The Dalles Dam should never have been built. The loss of the falls to the Indigenous People was devastating and the loss of the falls to everyone was horrible.
Pat A
The boat launch area at Celilo park is part of the east end of the canal.
The west end opening is visible near the caboose in Patterson park at The Dalles dam
L. E.
The May 13, 1915 Goldendale Sentinel has an article “Statistics About The Great Celilo Canal”.
The Dalles-Celilo canal has been completed after the ten years of work and at an expenditure of 4,850,000 dollars in government money.
The first work was done in 1905 under contract. In 1910 the United States army engineers discontinued the project with hired labor.
The largest number of men at work at one time on the canal was 1,500. A force of 25 will be necessary to operate the locks.
Eight men were killed on the works in less than one year.
The upper end of the waterway is the contract system and completed at Celilo Falls and the lower end at Big Eddy, three miles above the Dalles.
The Celilo canal is eight and one half miles long, 65 feet wide and 8 feet deep at low water. There are five locks which are 45 feet wide and 300 feet long.
The canal overcomes a drop of 81 feet in the Columbia river and affords boats uninterrupted navigation from the mouth of the Columbia to Lewiston, Idaho, 500 miles inland on the Snake river.
The largest locks are the twin chambers at Big Eddy.
The locks are operated by hand.
Boats will not be allowed a greater speed than six miles an hour through the canal. It will require 20 minutes to pass each lock. This will make the running time about three hours in the canal.
A mountain of rock and sand was removed to make way for the channel. The excavation included 1,402,000 cubic yards of rock and 1,606,000 of sand, common dry and subaqueous.
The work was done under the supervision of Colonel Jay J. Morrow, army corps U.S.A., with headquarters in Portland. Captain T.H. Dillon was the engineer “on the job” when the work was finished. F.C. Schubert was his assistant.