The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1916-05-11
CASCADE CANAL
COST 100000
RIVER OPENED NOVEMBER S, 1896
Tillahle Land in Vicinity Of Town at Co.
lumbia Barrier is Surprising to
Motor Visitors


lumbia Barrier is Surprising to
Motor Visitors
Acting under an act of congress,
passed June %, 1874. which provided
for survey of the cascades and the
dalles of the Columbia river, for the
purpose of ascertaining the practicable
ity and cost of constructing canals and
locks at these points," Major N. Mich.
Ter in the fall of 1874 began the first
work preparatory to the construction
of the Cascade canal and locks. The
party of engineers was under super.
vision of Robert A. Habersham, later
surveyor general of Oregon. Captain
Allen Noyes, who later became captain
of river steamboat and on retiring
made Portland his residence, wae
rodman of the party. Major Michler
in his report to Brigadier General A.A.
Humphreys. at that time chief of en-
gineers, estimated the cost OF con-
structing canal and locks at $70O. 600.
The total cost of the work, however,
reached the sum of 8, 1893, 1885, "a.
While the canal was opened to river
traffic on November 5, 1896. the south
wall of the upper lock chamber was
not completed until July Of 1914. Ad-
ditional surveys were made of the To-
cation in 1876 by c. M. Bolton, and
report was submitted to chief of engin-
eors on February 5, 1877, by Col. j.
M. Wilson. Bids for the construction
work were opened on October !. 1873.
and the contract was awarded to Ball
& Platt, of New York city. On De-
cember 81 A. H. Ball arrived and be-
gan work with crew of men. Opera
tions, however. we're delayed by MIR.
Balls death just two weeks afterward.
Later the contract expired and the
government purchased the equipment
of the New York contractors, and from
December 8. 1879. to September 80,
1892, government carried on c0nstruc-
tion work with hired labor. But be-
cause of lack of appropriations very
little was accomplished. Between
August 13. 1881. and February 28. 1882,
David Chalmers and VIM. E. Holmes.
of Portland. under contract made exca-
vations at the lower end of the canal.
On December 20, 1892, contract for
the completion OF the work was award
ed to J. G. 4 l. N. Day, of San Fran
cisco. |. N. Day has since become
resident of Oregon. and has played a
prominent part in legislative circles OF
the state, having been leader in the
state senate.
The first boat to pass through the
completed locks was the Sadie B, which
was closely followed by the Dalles
City, the Harvest Queen and the Sarah
Dixon. The average annual operating
expenses of the canal and locks, in
cluding labor and expenses for mainte-
nance, will reach in round figures $4,000
A record Was made at the locks in
1905, the year of the Lewis 4 Clark
exposition at Portland. During that
year 1,2l7 boats, carrying total of
l33. .070 passengers. passed through the
| canal.
While no boat has ever passed over
the cascades on an up river trip, on
several occasions daring captains have
run their craft over the rapids on down
stream journeys.
The total length of the canal at Gas.
cade Locks is 5000 feet. The canal is
80 feet wide on the extreme lift and "a
feet at low water. The height of the
middle gates is 40 feet above the sill
and that of the lower gates is 46 feet.
The upper lock chamber is 521 feet;
the lower, 514.2. The canal is de-
signed to carry boats drawing eight
feet of water. The gates are operated
by hydraulic power secured by a To-
inch pipeline laid to little stream two
miles back of the the locks.
During the record high water of the
i Columbia in 1894, on June 6 a record
mark of 49.7 feet above low water
mark was reached at the Locks. The
stream ran over the top of the upper
ward gates. Plans were then made for
the construction of movable dam,
FIVE feet higher than the level of the
upper works, designed to send the cur
rent down the canal and protect the
side works. If predictions of river
men for the coming early summer fol-
low truly, this dam may be needed this
year.
W. L. Clark, civil engineer who is
engaged in business here at the present
time, was superintendent Of the locks
for four years. Since 1907 Val w.
Tomkins has been in charge. A full
equipped machine shop is maintained
and an adequate crew Of men kept at
the locks. The men and their families
are housed in commodious quarters To-
Gated on we'll kept grounds. Passen.
gers of the O..W. R. & N. line have
Il often noted the closely cropped lawns
and the clipped privet hedges around
the home of Superintendent Tomkins.
While the rainfall at Hood River, moi
Is miles away. averages annually 2S
inches, Cascade Locks has an average
of Sl.69 inches. Some air current,
made probably by the conformation OF
the Cascade mountains at this point,
never allows q cloud to pass without
taking toll of its contents. The great
est rainfall in any one year was in lS6l
when the total precipitation was l00.64
inches. In the month Of November,
/ 1909, a record precipitation of 26. II
/ inches prevailed. On October z, 1888
a rainfall of $50 inches made record
for "a hours precipitation. The SHOWS
\ of the Cascade Locks district, too. are
heavier than at Hood River. The re-
II mains of banks that piled up in ravinei
n the mast winter may still be seen along
\ the Columbia river highway. At points
earth slides came down from the gorge
side and covered. the snow on the road
Later the melting banks caused fiood'
that forced ther way under :the slide'
through bitches beside the highway
and the traveller along the road tods.
NAV see unique natural arches o.
| packed snow.
One :of the surprises to the visitor t.
Il Cascade Locks by the Columbia rive
| highway comes from an observation p
the large amount of tillable land q
/ the west Of the settlement. Progress
| mas been Slow because of the difficult!
/ of clearing the heavy growth OF timbe
II and the former isolation. Thousand
II of acres of ideal farming land. adapte.