__NOTOC__ Shepperd's Dell is a small canyon in 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 state ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, located at which is less than one-third mile (500 m) southeast of Rooster Rock State Park. The Shepperd's Dell Bridge is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. The

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

runs over the dell on a bridge that was the answer to one of the engineering challenges of the highway's construction. The dell was carved by a creek that includes two fairly substantial tumbling waterfalls. Due to the topography of the area, it is difficult to photograph the falls. As such, the bridge is what is normally pictured, and thus is arguably better known than the dell itself. The spelling of the dell's name tends to vary depending on the source. The official Oregon State Park site spells it with the apostrophe, however the

GNIS The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and location information about more than two million physical and cultural features, encompassing the United States and its territories; the associated states of the Marshal ...

entry omits the apostrophe.

Oregon Geographic Names ''Oregon Geographic Names'' is a compilation of the origin and meaning of place names in the U.S. state of Oregon, published by the Oregon Historical Society. The book was originally published in 1928. It was compiled and edited by Lewis A. McArt ...

appears to make a distinction between the name of the geographic feature and the name of the state park (now a state natural area), referring to both Shepperds Dell and Shepperd's Dell State Park.McArthur, Lewis A. and Lewis L. McArthur, "Shepperds Dell", ''Oregon Geographic Names'' (Seventh Edition), Oregon Historical Society Press, Portland, Oregon, 2003, p. 867. Omitting the apostrophe when referring to the dell itself is consistent with the policies of the

United States Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a Federal government of the United States, federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geogr ...

, which strongly discourages the use of possessive apostrophes in geographic names.

Shepperd's Dell Bridge

The Shepperd's Dell Bridge is apparently an open spandrel concrete

arch bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its structural load, loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either si ...

. It is a

contributing structure In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distr ...

in the Columbia River Highway Historic District which was listed on the National Register in 1983.

References

External links

Shepperd's Dell State Park
* * * {{authority control Canyons and gorges of Oregon Columbia River Gorge Historic American Engineering Record in Oregon Historic Columbia River Highway Waterfalls of Multnomah County, Oregon Parks in Multnomah County, Oregon State parks of Oregon Waterfalls of Oregon

Shepperd's Dell Bridge

See also

References

External links