Cascade Locks Things to Do

This is where all the salmon coming up the river end up if they happen to chose the right side of the river. We visited during the heart of salmon run and were treated to the full gamit of catching the fish, stripping their eggs, fertilizing their eggs and putting the now adult fish on ice for food. We also watched the tagging of the fingerlings.

This is a large complex with the goal to continue the propagation of King/Chinook and Coho Salmon. Every year around 25,000 Chinook and 30,000 Coho salmon come back to spawn. Each female Chinook has about 5,000 eggs which are sown with milt from the males and then raised in ponds until they are ready to head down stream.

It is also a mini aquarium with native species in ponds where they can be observed up close.

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There are ponds with trout and salmon and other fish but really the highlight of them all is the sturgeon pond. Here are several White Sturgeon. Variously known also as Pacific, or Columbia River Sturgeon they are the large bottom dwelling fish of the river. There is a viewing window below the pond so good views of the fish are available. They can grow to 6 feet or larger and are really quite amazing animals.

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In a non-descript trailer little Chinook salmon fingerlings are each counted and marked individually to identify them according to when and where they were hatched and raised. There were thousands of them and five or six employees snipping away. They were more than willing to explain what they were doing and why and it was fascinating to watch for a few moments. I can't imagine standing there doing it all day though.

When identified they were sent out to the hatching ponds to continue their life cycle.

This viewing pond is where you can go down some steps into that little "house", and look into this pond from under the waterline. Under where I was standing was were the really big sturgeon was hiding out. Of course, it was very difficult to photograph without flash-less camera.

This mallard duck is a female. She is smaller than a drake, and as you can see a pretty average looking brown and white duck. In this species it is the male that gets to preen and be beautiful! Also in this section I have an image of a mallard drake with it’s lovely emerald-green head a gorgeous plumage.

These two mallards were a pair, and from what I could tell they were courting in the sturgeon pond. When it is time for the female to nest, the drake will be long gone. Like some water fowl, mallards aren’t loyal to each other in the slightest.

The mallard might be the most common duck in North America, but it is sure a beautiful bird. Mallards don’t seem to mind people, and like seagulls and starlings are quick to eat what people throw them. So I found a couple of mallards at the fish hatchery at the Bonneville Dam.

It’s easy to tell the males from the females. Mallard drakes have a lovely emerald-green head.

At the Bonneville Dam near Cascade Locks, you can view the salmon and other varieties that travel up the Columbia River. This picture was actually taken at the attraction on the Washington side. One time when we were there a huge sturgeon was stuck in the fish ladder on the otherside in Oregon. This picture was taken in the winter.

The "Oregon Pony," as the first locomotive ever run over the first railroad ever built in the state of Oregon.

This locomotive built in 1861 by the Vulcan Iron Works. Originally built for the Oregon Portage Railway at Bonneville, OR, it was later sold in 1863 to the Cascades Railroad Co of Cascades, WA. Later owned by David Hewes of San Francisco, it was donated to the State of Oregon in 1904 and placed on display at Cascade Locks in 1970.