2024 Membership Drive

It’s back! Our Annual Membership Drive will take place from July 1-July 7, 2024. Join or renew online now!

Family-level members get special perks during our membership drive! Join or renew today and receive:

• Unlimited admission to the Cascade Locks Historical Museum for two adults and four youth

• Free and discounted admission to museum events, including the 2024 Pony Party July 6.

• Reciprocal admission to over 500 museums nationwide with Time Travelers.

• 2 tickets to ride Sternwheeler Columbia Gorge, courtesy of our friends at JettyLight.*

Don’t wait! This offer ends July 7, 2024.

*Sternwheeler tickets are a limited time offer, only included with Family memberships purchased between July 1 and July 7, 2024. Tickets are courtesy of JettyLight LLC, and must be used by December 31, 2025.

2024 Pony Party!

GET TICKETS

The cutest party on the Columbia is back for its third year! Join the Cascade Locks Historical Museum and celebrate trains and community at this year's PONY PARTY on Saturday, July 6 from 10am-3pm.  🚂

Come learn about trains, make train crafts, play games, bounce bounce bounce in the bouncy house, check out the museum, sing along with John Stipan, then bounce some more!  

Admission is $5 for ages 6 and up, and FREE for museum members. Tickets may be purchased in advance or at the gate. Entry to the event includes the bounce house, live music, games, crafts, photo ops, and museum admission. Concessions, souvenirs, and prize drawing tickets will be available for purchase. 

Become a member today and get free entry to this event! 

2023 PONY PARTY!

Join us at the Cascade Locks Historical Museum on July 22, 2023 from 10am-3pm for our second annual PONY PARTY! This event is a celebration of the history of transportation in the Columbia River Gorge, featuring the Oregon Pony, the first locomotive built entirely on the West Coast.

Admission is $5 for ages 6 and up, and free for Cascade Locks residents and museum members. Tickets are available in advance and at the gate. Members and locals can request a discount code to reserve their free tickets in advance.

Entry to the event includes a bounce house, live music, games, crafts, photo ops, and museum admission. Concessions, souvenirs, and prize drawing tickets will be available for purchase.

Live music this year will be a jam session. Bring your instrument and play along with your host, museum secretary John Stipan.

Event Sponsors!

Thanks to Buddy’s Arcade for sponsoring the Pony Party!
Sponsor the event to have your logo or business name appear here. Sponsorships are available now!

Sponsorship Levels

$500- Locomotive Sponsor

• Prominent branding included in all event communications

• Your company logo in a prominent location at the event

• Your logo linked on the partners page of our website for one year

• 10 complimentary tickets to the event

$250- Boxcar Sponsor

• Branding included in all event communications

• Your company logo in a prominent location at the event

• Your logo linked on the partners page of our website for one year

• 4 complimentary tickets to the event

$100- Caboose Sponsor

• Your company name included in all event communications

• Your company name in a prominent location at the event

• Your logo linked on the partners page of our website for one year

• 2 complimentary tickets to the event

City of Cascade Locks Celebrates 88th Anniversary

On June 11, 2023, the City of Cascade Locks celebrated its 88th anniversary of the vote that transitioned the community from an unincorporated community into a municipality.

In May 1935, a group of 60 citizens, mostly business owners and long-term residents, filed for the community to be incorporated as a City. The campaign brought out two "parties" of citizens, calling themselves the Independents and Taxpayers’ League. Those in favor of incorporation (the Independents) were looking for the community to embrace several opportunities.

Opportunity 1: Municipal water and electric service. The federal government installed a 10-inch water main as part of the Cascade Locks and Canal system that would need to be turned over to a municipality after the Bonneville Dam was completed in 1938. Citizens also desired street lighting improvements with the promise of hydroelectric power.

Excerpt from The Bonneville Dam chronicle., May 23, 1935.
Courtesy of Hood River County Library, housed online at https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/

Opportunity 2: Highway service. While the Columbia River Highway 30 reached Cascade Locks by 1916, in the 1930s there was a big reconstruction project making improvements to the road. This was a point of confusion for some Cascade Locks residents, some fearful that incorporating the town would halt highway work. The highway contractors rebutted that incorporated towns actually got more resources from the government and better highway treatment.

Opportunity 3: Park land. Residents knew that the Government Locks Reservation would become available after the completion of the Bonneville Dam. The Army would be willing to turn the land over to a municipality, but not an unincorporated community.

Political ad from The Bonneville Dam chronicle., June 6, 1935.
Courtesy of Hood River County Library, housed online at https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/

Opportunity 4: School control. 123 parents signed a petition against the Cascade Locks Schools superintendent Vernon G. Henderson in 1935, charging "moral turpitude," and citing the unacceptable culture of open smoking and no discipline at the high school, and that he couldn't teach mathematics. Following these charges, the Hood River county school district made the decision to terminate the contracts with Cascade Locks School principal Frank Autrieth and teacher Averill Stewart outright, and made a "gentleman's agreement" with Henderson that while his contract would be extended for one more year, he would not teach and seek another school. This was met with public outcry, but under the county system there was no option for appeal or recall on the school board.

Opportunity 5: Fire department. In 1934, the downtown business area experienced a devastating fire when a teenager blew up a fireworks stand. Citizens desired municipal fire suppression services.

Opportunity 6: Law and speed enforcement. Municipalities can choose to implement law enforcement and speed limits.

The primary argument against incorporating was that it would increase taxes. While tax increases are always contentious, this was the Great Depression. Many newer residents in Cascade Locks at this time had to abandon their homes in other places to come to work on federal WPA and CCC projects, building on the dam, trail systems, and highways. However, the rhetoric and descriptions accuse the loudest opponents of being wealthy investors making large purchases to develop commercial property and housing.

At the resulting election on June 11, 1935, the Independents won, incorporating the City of Cascade Locks. Once incorporation was certified, a rapid campaign ensued to elect a mayor, council, treasurer, recorder, and marshal. Captain Charles Nelson was elected to be the first mayor of Cascade Locks. The first city council included S.E. Perras, Carl Epping, Seth Clodfelter, Max Millsap, Julius Carlson, and Mae Silva.

Call for New Board Members

The Friends of the Cascade Locks Historical Museum have an open seat on our board. Please see our call for board members, and our flyer for a detailed, formal look at what to expect.

We are seeking applicants from a wide variety of backgrounds and encourage all interested parties to apply, even if you don’t see your experience represented on our “desired qualifications.” You might have experience that we did not think to list, and we welcome fresh ideas and new perspectives. Your most important qualifications are enthusiasm and reliability.

The Important Details:

• Time commitment = 2-6 hours per month, depending on seasonal activities and committee involvement. Monthly board meetings are usually at 10am on the third Monday of the month. (Willing to adjust days/times to accommodate new board members)

• Financial commitment = active membership in the Friends of the Cascade Locks Historical Museum. Membership starts at $12. No other minimum give/get or required board contribution.

For further questions or to apply, please reach out to Janice at director@cascadelocksmuseum.org.

Museum Closed for Winter

Museum season 2022 is a wrap! Thank you to the thousands of visitors who came to see us this year! It was so wonderful to welcome so many folks to our community.

The museum closes seasonally so that we can do all the important behind-the-scenes stuff that make our summers rock. We plan to come out of this winter with another major exhibit update and our first-ever strategic plan (YAY!!!!!). Thank you to Braemar Charitable Trust for supporting us on our strategic planning process.

Just because we're closed doesn't mean we're gone! Staff are available by email, phone, DM, and appointment. Stay tuned for off-site excitement through the winter, starting with a History Night at Gorges Beer Co. on November 10.

In the news: KGW's "What's in a Name?" Warrendale, Oregon

Friends of the Cascade Locks Historical Museum executive director Janice Crane appeared on KGW 8’s “What’s in a Name?” series. Do you know how Warrendale, Oregon, got it’s name? Learn now on KGW’s site.

Coming Soon- Images of America: Cascade Locks and Canal

Explore hundreds of detailed historic photographs from the Cascades of the Columbia, through the construction and operation of the Cascade Locks and Canal, to its final inundation by the Bonneville Dam and development into the beautiful park it is today.

Preorder today for the August 8, 2022 release!

Join us for the book release party in the Marine Park Pavilion on Monday, August 8, or get your copy signed at our book signing at the museum on Saturday, August 13.

SUMMARY OF THE BOOK

A stretch of tumbling white water five miles long, the Cascades of the Columbia River were the single greatest barrier to inland river trade and travel in the Pacific Northwest. One solution, the Cascade Locks and Canal, took nearly 18 painstaking years to construct. From 1878 to 1896, hundreds of laborers blasted, chipped, and hauled over 800,000 cubic yards of rock and debris from the riverbed, carved and laid masonry, and welded steel to create the locks. After their completion, thousands of trips, millions of dollars in freight, and hundreds of thousands of passengers made their way through the locks. Made redundant in 1938 by the completion of the Bonneville Dam, the remnants of the structure are still visible today in Cascade Locks, Oregon.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The Friends of the Cascade Locks Historical Museum is the nonprofit organization that manages the Cascade Locks Historical Museum. Compiled by executive director Janice Crane, this text includes historic photographs from the collection of the Cascade Locks Historical Museum with additions from private collections and museums along the Columbia River.

ABOUT ARCADIA PUBLISHING

As the nation’s leading publisher of books of local history and local interest, Arcadia’s mission is to connect people with their past, with their communities and with one another. Arcadia is the home of unique hyper-local histories of countless hometowns across all fifty states, as well as books on local food, beer and wine; and stories of famous hauntings, all one American city and town at a time. Arcadia has an extraordinary catalog of 17,000 local titles and publishes 500 new books each year. Arcadia counts among its imprints Pelican Publishing, a 100-year old independent press based in New Orleans, and the critically acclaimed Wildsam Publishing, publisher of highly curated travel literature and guides. Using its proprietary Store Match system, Arcadia can create a highly customized hyper-local book assortment for any storefront in the nation.