The Boxcar Rapids (or Box Car Rapids) are
Class 3 rapids on the
Deschutes River Deschutes River may refer to:
*Deschutes River (Oregon)
The Deschutes River in central Oregon is a major tributary of the Columbia River. The river provides much of the drainage on the eastern side of the Cascade Range in Oregon, gathering many ...
, located south and upriver from
Maupin,
Oregon, United States.
[Deschutes River. (2014, October 3)]
Whitewater Guidebook.
Accessed 21 June 2022.
History
The rapids were named the Boxcar Rapids in January 1954, when Engine No. 857 on the Oregon Trunk Line of the
Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway
The Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway (SP&S) was a railroad in the northwest United States. Incorporated in 1905, it was a joint venture by the Great Northern Railway and the Northern Pacific Railway to build a railroad along the north bank o ...
turned a curve in the railroad and hit a rock slide.
The engine hit it hard, derailing all three locomotives and all twelve boxcars, and because the railroad is built on the side of the steep valley's hills, two cars (one locomotive and one boxcar) tumbled into the river. The boxcar was visible in the middle of the rapid.
It took over two weeks to get a line on the engine and another two to pull it out of the Deschutes.
The engine, fire car, boxcar, and all of the train crew were lost in the deep, turbulent water, and the crash was one of the worst in the history of the Oregon Trunk Line. Shortly after, the rapids were named the "Boxcar Rapids." An earlier train derailing accident occurred in the lower Deschutes area in September 1949.
The rapids today
Boxcar Rapids is very heavily traveled compared to other rapids, especially from whitewater rafting tours from Maupin. The rapids are turbulent and have large waves, and a small but noticeable drop. There is also a small ledge drop that leads to a
hole on the left side.
Nearby
Wapinitia Rapids (also a Class 3) is named after a
Warm Springs word, the correct spelling of which should be ''wapinita''.
The term is difficult to translate, but suggests a location near the edge of something, especially the edge of a desert or cultivated land.
[ Wapinitia Creek empties into the Deschutes south of Maupin.][
]
References
External links
Boxcar Rapids Train Wreck
Archive.org copy of http://www.wasco-history.r9esd.k12.or.us/comm/maupin/oldpics/railroad/boxcar.html
Boxcar Rapids
on www.americanwhitewater.org.
on www.boaterpass.com.
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Rivers of Wasco County, Oregon
Rivers of Oregon
Rapids of the United States