Cruising Up the Columbia River
We awoke this morning just downstream of John Day Dam. There was a supply barge ahead of us and we had to wait for the barge to lock through the dam before we could approach. Behind us we had a wonderful view of Mt. Hood bathed in early morning light, and on the Washington side of the river we saw a replica of Stonehenge perched on a hill above the river. The replica was built by Sam Hill, a visionary who, in 1916, built the famous Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway and lived in a nearby mansion at Maryhill.
Just after breakfast it was our turn in the lock and everyone came out on deck as Captain Kalbach maneuvered the Sea Bird into position. With the gate raised, the lock has the strange look of a giant animal trap. When the Army Corps of Engineers built this dam in 1968 they installed a guillotine gate on the downstream end of the lock instead of the more typical miter gate arrangement. Guillotine gates have only one door as opposed to the miter arrangement of two doors. The thought at the time was that having only one door would cut down on maintenance costs, however the lifting mechanism for the guillotine door has proved more costly to operate than the miter’s gears. We slipped underneath the raised door, tied up to a floating bollard, and watched as the door dropped into place behind us. We then began to see the water swirl as the force of gravity filled the chamber with over 40 million gallons of water and lifted the Sea Bird 105 feet to the level of the water above.
The dams along the Columbia create a continuous series of lakes, so we sailed out of the lock and onto Lake Umatilla. Soon the Captain mustered all hands for a required safety drill, so that we would know what to do in case of an emergency. Our local expert and historian, Tom McAllister, kicked off our educational series with a talk about the history of the area before Lewis and Clark led the Corps of Discovery down the Columbia 200 years ago. In the afternoon we went through the lock at McNary Dam and then enjoyed an overview of the Lewis and Clark Expedition by Tom Schmidt, a historian with National Geographic. Before recap there was a chance to sample some of the wines and foods of the region and just as recap started we left the Columbia River and turned up the Snake River on our way to Clarkston.
We awoke this morning just downstream of John Day Dam. There was a supply barge ahead of us and we had to wait for the barge to lock through the dam before we could approach. Behind us we had a wonderful view of Mt. Hood bathed in early morning light, and on the Washington side of the river we saw a replica of Stonehenge perched on a hill above the river. The replica was built by Sam Hill, a visionary who, in 1916, built the famous Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway and lived in a nearby mansion at Maryhill.
Just after breakfast it was our turn in the lock and everyone came out on deck as Captain Kalbach maneuvered the Sea Bird into position. With the gate raised, the lock has the strange look of a giant animal trap. When the Army Corps of Engineers built this dam in 1968 they installed a guillotine gate on the downstream end of the lock instead of the more typical miter gate arrangement. Guillotine gates have only one door as opposed to the miter arrangement of two doors. The thought at the time was that having only one door would cut down on maintenance costs, however the lifting mechanism for the guillotine door has proved more costly to operate than the miter’s gears. We slipped underneath the raised door, tied up to a floating bollard, and watched as the door dropped into place behind us. We then began to see the water swirl as the force of gravity filled the chamber with over 40 million gallons of water and lifted the Sea Bird 105 feet to the level of the water above.
The dams along the Columbia create a continuous series of lakes, so we sailed out of the lock and onto Lake Umatilla. Soon the Captain mustered all hands for a required safety drill, so that we would know what to do in case of an emergency. Our local expert and historian, Tom McAllister, kicked off our educational series with a talk about the history of the area before Lewis and Clark led the Corps of Discovery down the Columbia 200 years ago. In the afternoon we went through the lock at McNary Dam and then enjoyed an overview of the Lewis and Clark Expedition by Tom Schmidt, a historian with National Geographic. Before recap there was a chance to sample some of the wines and foods of the region and just as recap started we left the Columbia River and turned up the Snake River on our way to Clarkston.
