The Cascade Range wasn't named after all the waterfalls that decorate it, though it seems to make perfect sense. Pioneers on the Oregon Trail finished their journey by rafting down the Columbia, except if they went over the falls at the Dalles, they risked their lives. Those falls are drowned under the reservoir behind the Dalles Dam now, but the entire mountain range is named after them. To people desperate to reach Oregon City before winter slammed into them, the mountains would have been easily bypassed on the river -- except for those Cascades.
Eric Sandbo - Nov 11, 2011 7:08 pm - Hasn't voted
The CascadesThe Cascade Range wasn't named after all the waterfalls that decorate it, though it seems to make perfect sense. Pioneers on the Oregon Trail finished their journey by rafting down the Columbia, except if they went over the falls at the Dalles, they risked their lives. Those falls are drowned under the reservoir behind the Dalles Dam now, but the entire mountain range is named after them. To people desperate to reach Oregon City before winter slammed into them, the mountains would have been easily bypassed on the river -- except for those Cascades.