Columbia River GORGEOUS: In the Footsteps of Explorers: Lewis & Clark State Recreation Area

Broughton’s Bluff is in Lewis & Clark State Recreation Area – it’s the cliff and ridge to the east. It’s actually the geologic dividing line between the Willamette Valley to the west and the foothills of the Cascades to the east. And it’s named after an explorer. Nothing to do with the park’s namesakes of 1805, Lewis & Clark, but, rather, a British naval officer, Lt. William Robert Broughton who explored the Lower Columbia in 1792 and navigated up as far as the entrance to the Gorge - “Broughton’s Bluff” – named after him in 1926. (He was also the guy who and named Mt. Hood – for Lord Samuel Hood, another British naval officer.)

Clarence E. Mershon. The Columbia River Highway: From the Sea to the Wheat Fields of Eastern Oregon

When the Yakima Indian War erupted in 1856, Chief John (aka "Indian John"), leader of a band of the Multnomah tribe who formerly lived in the area, warned settlers living west of the Sandy of the danger.

Indian John's tribe had been decimated by epidemics of smallpox, measles and other communicable diseases caught from early traders. According to stories repeated by descendants of early settlers, his band had also suffered a catastrophic loss when an overhanging cliff face (part of Broughton Bluff) gave way suddenly and buried his people's camp. According to the story, the slide took the remainder of his small band, leaving Indian John and his wife the sole survivors. When Indian John's wife died, he laid her to rest among the native dead at an island up the Columbia River.

...

Indian John's story is given some credence by the number of artifacts found by road crews constructing the highway, which included a carved stone "turtle" recovered by roadboss Charlie Bramhall in 1914.

Links

CLICK HERE to continue exploring the highway