Wishram, Washington — Trains Are Visible; the Falls Require Memory

Wishram sits beside the Columbia where two transportation histories overlap.

The modern community developed around railroad operations. Tracks through the Gorge required crews, maintenance and a reliable operating point.

The name reaches much deeper.

Wishram people, part of the Chinookan-speaking peoples of the Columbia, lived and traded along this river corridor long before railroads.

Nearby Celilo Falls became one of North America's great Indigenous fishing and trading centers.

The Dalles Dam inundated the falls in 1957, transforming the river and destroying a fishery central to regional cultures and economies.

Rail traffic continued beside the new reservoir.

The trains remain easy to see.

Celilo requires memory.