Priest Rapids was a narrow, fast-flowing stretch of the

Columbia River The Columbia River ( Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia ...

, located in the central region of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. It was flooded by the construction of the

Priest Rapids Dam Priest Rapids Dam is a hydroelectric, concrete gravity dam; located on the Columbia River, between the Yakima Firing Range and the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, and bridges Yakima County and Grant County, in the U.S. state of Washington. The d ...

in the 1950s. Before the dam's construction, the river dropped 20 feet (6 m) over a short distance. In total Priest Rapids consisted of seven separate cataracts along a 9-mile (14 km) stretch, over which the river dropped 72 feet (22 m) altogether. It was given the name Priest Rapids by Alexander Ross of the

Pacific Fur Company The Pacific Fur Company (PFC) was an American fur trade venture wholly owned and funded by John Jacob Astor that functioned from 1810 to 1813. It was based in the Pacific Northwest, an area contested over the decades between the United Kingdom o ...

in 1811, for a native shaman. Ross wrote of his visit to the "strong and rocky rapid" where he met a man "called Haquilaugh, which signifies … priest." Haquilaugh was an influential

Wanapum The Wanapum tribe of Native Americans formerly lived along the Columbia River from above Priest Rapids down to the mouth of the Snake River in what is now the US state of Washington. About 60 Wanapum still live near the present day site of Priest ...

leader, for whom Ross gave the rapids its English name. At Priest Rapids the Columbia River narrowed and flowed quickly, making it an ideal

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus '' Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Onco ...

fishing site. There were several rapids and fishing sites, and a dozen or so Wanapum villages along the west bank of the Columbia River at Priest Rapids.

, built in the 1950s, submerged Priest Rapids, taking advantage of the river's drop for

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined an ...

power production. Thus today there are no rapids at Priest Rapids.

Notes

References

* Kirk, Ruth and Carmela Alexander (1995) ''Exploring Washington's Past: A Road Guide to History, Revised Edition'', University of Washington Press, Seattle (1990, revised edition 1995).

External links

Columbia River Native American history of Washington (state) Rapids of the United States Bodies of water of Grant County, Washington Bodies of water of Yakima County, Washington {{Washington-river-stub

See also

Notes

References

External links