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Trade & Industry
The corridor that today forms the Northwest Discovery Water Trail has been a transportation backbone of the Pacific Northwest for centuries. Indigenous trade networks moved goods up- and down-river long before non-Native settlement; commercial steam, rail, and barge traffic followed in the nineteenth century, and the eight federal locks-and-dams between Lower Granite and Bonneville have shaped both the economy and the river's flow since the mid-twentieth century.
Locks and dams
The eight Corps of Engineers navigation dams on the Columbia and Snake provide hydroelectric power, deep-draft commercial navigation as far inland as Lewiston, Idaho, and recreational boating opportunities for the trail itself (see Lock & Dam Protocol for locking-through procedures).
Celilo Falls
For more than 11,000 years, Celilo Falls was the largest salmon-fishing site in North America and a major Indigenous trading center. The falls were inundated when The Dalles Dam went into operation in 1957.
Steamboats and railroads
Sternwheeler traffic on the Columbia and Snake peaked in the late nineteenth century before the railroads displaced it. A few incidents from the era are documented in regional history archives:
Barge traffic today
Commercial tugs and tows still move grain, fertilizer, and other cargo through the locks. Recreational boaters share the river with these vessels — see Barge Traffic for safety guidance.
Originally published on ndwt.org; reused with permission from the Washington Water Trails Association — see project NOTICE.