The Bridal Veil Falls is a

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

located on Bridal Veil Creek along the

Columbia River Gorge The Columbia River Gorge is a canyon of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Up to deep, the canyon stretches for over as the river winds westward through the Cascade Range, forming the boundary between the sta ...

Multnomah County Multnomah County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland–Vancouver– Hillsboro, OR–WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Th ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The waterfall is accessible from the

historic Columbia River Highway The Historic Columbia River Highway is an approximately scenic highway in the U.S. state of Oregon between Troutdale and The Dalles, built through the Columbia River Gorge between 1913 and 1922. As the first planned scenic roadway in the United ...

and Interstate 84. Spanning two tiers on

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

cliffs, it is the only waterfall which occurs below the historic Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway. The Bridal Veil Falls Bridge, built in 1914, crosses over the falls, and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

Structure

The falls drops in two major steps, split into an upper falls and a lower falls with a total height of the waterfall at . The two drops are due to a zone of more easily eroded

defile at the base of the upper falls. A massive basalt boulder detached from the cliff and lies in the creek along the pool below.

Water source

Underground springs from Larch Mountain are the year-round source of water for the waterfall, augmented by spring runoff from the mountain's snowpack and rainwater during the other seasons. This spring is the source of Bridal Veil Creek. During the years of logging upstream of Bridal Veil Creek, the river ran dry and the waterfall had disappeared. Once logging ceased, the river returned to its course, restoring the waterfall to its current feature.

Bridal Veil Falls Bridge

The

Historic Columbia River Highway The Historic Columbia River Highway is an approximately scenic highway in the U.S. state of Oregon between Troutdale and The Dalles, built through the Columbia River Gorge between 1913 and 1922. As the first planned scenic roadway in the United ...

passes over Bridal Veil Falls on a bridge, the Bridal Veil Falls Bridge, which is listed on the

as a contributing structure. It is a skewed reinforced-concrete span, and is unique in its design in which its solid railings serve as continuous beams and transverse deck support members function as deck girders. With The falls consists of two cascades in quick succession along angling rockfaces, such that when there is enough water, the falls look like a bridal

veil A veil is an article of clothing or hanging cloth that is intended to cover some part of the head or face, or an object of some significance. Veiling has a long history in European, Asian, and African societies. The practice has been prominent ...

. There is a post office in the nearby community of Bridal Veil. Many couples have their wedding invitations shipped there in order to have the town's postmark applied to them.

Logging

Bridal veil creek runs along Palmer Mill road from Larch Mountain towards the now extinct community of Bridal Veil. Logging was a successful enterprise upstream of the waterfall by Bridal Veil Falls Timber Company. The sawmill community was a thriving area that eventually dried the creek and made its namesake waterfall disappear. Currently Bridal Veil is a ghost town East of the waterfall. Before the lumber mill the area was exploited by a

paper mill A paper mill is a factory devoted to making paper from vegetable fibres such as wood pulp, old rags, and other ingredients. Prior to the invention and adoption of the Fourdrinier machine and other types of paper machine that use an endless belt, ...

. In 1937 the mill site was purchased by the Kraft company where cheese boxes were made. During World War II Kraft use the mill to manufacture wooden ammunition boxes. The mill was sold in the 1960s and operations ceased and resumed in 1974 as a resaw mill until 1988.

References

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