THE QUARTERLY
of the
Oregon Historical Society
The Quarterly disavows responsibility for the positions taken by contributors to its pages
THE CELEBRATION OF THE OPEN COLUMBIA
The Dalles-Celilo Canal removes the last bar to continuous navigation on the Columbia River from the Pacific Ocean to Lewiston, Idaho.
The completion and opening of the canal were celebrated by communities of Washington, Oregon and Idaho during the week of May 3–8, 1915.
The Canal is nearly nine miles long, is located on the Oregon shore of the Columbia near the city of The Dalles and circumvents from east to west, Celilo or Tumwater Falls, Ten-Mile Rapids, and Five-Mile Rapids or The Dalles. A total fall of about eighty feet is overcome. The Canal has been under construction since 1905 and its cost (including the open river improvement of Three-Mile Rapids, just west of the lower end of the canal) has been about $4,800,000.
Incident to the week of celebration was the first continuous trip to be made by a steamer from Portland to Lewiston, Idaho, and return. The Steamer Undine left Portland on the night of April 29, having been chartered by the Portland Chamber of Commerce, and bearing about 100 excursionists. This vessel arrived safely at Lewiston on the morning of May 3 where the first of the series of celebration programs was held, characterized by pageantry and rejoicing, attracting a large attendance, including the governors of Oregon, Idaho and Washington, a number of United States senators and representatives.
