wrcolumn

The Morning Oregonian, Portland, OR., June 2, 1926, page 5
Includes illustration

COLUMN TO HONOR COLUMBIA PIONEERS
Basalt Monolith Will Mark Historic Wishram Site
RAILWAY PLANS EVENT
Monument to Be Dedicated July 20 by Historical Expedition of Great Northern

     A monument “to the memory of those dauntless pathfinders and pioneers who followed the great thoroughfares of the Columbia river” will be dedicated at Wishram, Wash., July 20 by the Columbia river historical expedition, the personnel of which will include distinguished historians, writers, authors and men prominent in public affairs.
     The expedition is the second sponsored by the Great Northern railroad, the one last year being known as the Missouri river historical expedition.
     Wishram is about nine miles up the Columbia from The Dalles, and until a view years ago was known as Fallbridge, a name derived from its location near Celilo falls and the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway Company’s bridge across the river at that point, carrying the Oregon Trunk branch line.

Location Rich in History.

Wishram’s historical associations both begin and end with its name, for it was from Washington Irving's book, “Astoria”, describing the western trek of John Jacob Astor's overland party of 1810 that the name was taken. The Indian villages along the nine miles of rapids between Wishram and The Dalles are graphically described by Washington Irving, and are of a special historical significance because these Indians of many and mixed tribes presented unusual problems to Lewis and Clark, the Astor party and succeeding expeditions, which had no alternative other than to pass through their tribal haunts.
Historical lore, deeply interesting and fascinating, thus attaches to the area to be marked by a 16-foot column of basalt, its ruggedness typifying the character of the pioneers, hewn from the cliffs of the Deschutes river, and erected at Wishram by the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific railways jointly.

Column to Bear Bronze Plate

     The basalt column, which is a solid rock, although it appears to be two separate pieces on account of a seam, was founded on the Deschutes river by A.J. Witchell, chief engineer of the Spokane, Portland & Seattle railway, and it is under his direction that it was removed from the cliffs and is being erected at Wishram.
     The column will be bound with three bronze bands, and set in a concrete base. The bronze plate will bear the following inscription and 44 illustrious names:
     To the memory of those dauntless pathfinders and pioneers who followed the great thoroughfare of the Columbia at this place. Among them were: Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, David Thomson, David Stuart, Robert Stuart, Donald McKenzie, Robert McLelah, Donald McLennon, John Reed, Wilson Price Hunt, Ramsey Crooks, Alexander Ross, Gabriel Franchere, Ross Cox, Alexander Henry, Peter Skene Ogden, John McLaughlin, George Simpson, Jedediah S. Smith, David Douglas, Nathaniel Wyeth, Jason and Daniel Lee, Cyrus Shepard, P.I. Edwards, Thomas Nuttall, John K. Townsend, Samuel Parker, Pierre J. DeSmet, Marcus Whitman, Narcissa Whitman, Henry H. Spalding, Eliza Spalding, William H. Gray, Francis N. Blanchet, Modeste Demers, Robert Newell, Joseph I. Meek, Elijah White, Jesse Applegate, Peter H. Burnett, James W. Nesmith, John C. Fremont.