Post by Okwes on Apr 14, 2008 12:43:49 GMT -5
Bridge of the Gods - Columbia
Nearly 500 years ago, a giant landslide from the northern shore of the
Columbia River blocked the Gorge, stopping the waters of the Columbia River.
Water rose behind the natural dam and a large lake over 80 miles long, 50 to
100 feet deep, and up to 1 mile wide, filled the Gorge to the east, flooding
entire forests along the river. Eventually, the water building up behind the
dam of rock and gravel broke through and flooded toward the ocean. Waves up
to 50 feet tall crashed down the Gorge, flooding what is now Portland.
The only inhabitants along the Columbia River at the time were Native
American tribes. There are no eyewitness accounts of the landslide or the
subsequent flood, but the people who lived in the area were directly
affected. People were probably killed in the floods, and archaeologists
believe the catastrophic flood washed away evidence of thousands of years of
human occupation. But among the survivors, the Klickitats and other tribes
have legends of the natural dam, which they call the Bridge of the Gods.
After the water breached the dam and washed away much of the debris of the
landslide, the river flowed again over remnants too large to move, forming
the Cascade Rapids. The Cascade mountain range is named after these rapids,
which are now under water held back by the Bonneville Dam.
Today, a real bridge spans the same expanse of river and is also named the
Bridge of the Gods. On the Washington side of the river, the bridge stands
on the debris of the massive landslide that built the natural dam over four
centuries ago.
*The Legends*
Although there are no eyewitness accounts of the landslide, stories live
through the legends told by Native American tribes. A popular legend
describes how two competing brothers were separated by the Columbia River,
but reconnected when the Great Spirit built the Bridge of the Gods. When
their two tribes began to fight, the Great Spirit destroyed the bridge. The
rapids were the remnants of the collapsed bridge.
*One Such * *Legend*
In the days of the animal people, a great bird lived in the land of the
setting sun. It was Thunderbird. All of the animal people were afraid of it.
Thunderbird created five high mountains and then said to the animal people,
"I made a law that no one is to pass over these five high mountains. If any
one does, I will kill him. No one is to come where I live."
Wolf did not believe the law. "I will go," declared Wolf. "I will be the
first to see what Thunderbird will do to me."* *"I will go with you," said
Wolf's four brothers. So the five Wolf brothers went to the first mountain.
They stood in a row, and each stepped with his right foot at the same time.
Immediately the five wolf brothers were dead. When the animal people heard
that the five Wolf brothers were dead, Grizzly Bear, the strongest of the
animals, decided that he would go.
"I will cross over the mountains," announced Grizzly Bear. "I will not die
as the Wolf Brothers have died." "We will go with you," said Grizzly Bear's
four brothers .So the five Grizzly Bear brothers went to the first mountain.
They stood in a row, and each stepped with his right foot, all at the same
time. Then each stepped with his left foot, all at the same time.
Immediately the five Grizzly Bears were dead.* *
"I will go now," said Cougar. "I will take a long step and leap over the
mountain." Cougar's four brothers went with him. They made one leap
together, and then all were dead. "We will go next," said the five Beaver
brothers. "We will go under the mountain. We will not be killed. We will not
be like the Wolf brothers, the Grizzly brothers, and the Cougar brothers."
But as they tried to cross under the mountains, all five Beaver brothers
were killed.
Then Coyote's oldest son said, "I will talk to the mountains. I will break
down the law so that people may live and pass to the sunset."
His four brothers went with him, and two of them talked to the five
mountains. They made the mountains move up and down; they made the mountains
dance and shake. But the five sons of Coyote were killed. The five mountains
still stood. No one could pass over or under them to the sunset.
Coyote's sons had not told their father their plans. He had told them that
they must never stay away from home overnight. When they did not return, he
knew that they had been killed by Thunderbird. Coyote was wiser than the
others. He had been instructed in wisdom by the Spirit Chief.
After his sons had been gone five nights, Coyote was sure that they were
dead. He cried loud and long. He went to a lonely place in the mountains and
rolled on the ground, wailing and howling with grief.
Then he prayed to the Spirit Chief for strength to bring his five sons back
to life.
After Coyote had cried and prayed for a long time, he heard a voice. "You
cannot break the law of the Thunderbird. You cannot go over the five
mountains. Thunderbird has made the law."
Coyote continued crying and praying, rolling on the ground in a lonely place
in the mountains. After a time he heard the voice again.
"The only thing you can do is to go up to the Above-World. It will take you
five days and five nights. There you will be told how you can bring your
five sons to life again."
So for five days and five nights Coyote travelled to the Above- World. There
he told his troubles to the Spirit Chief. "Give me strength," he ended.
"Give me so much strength that I can fight Thunderbird. Then the people can
cross over the mountains to the sunset."
At last the Spirit Chief promised to help.
"I will blind the eyes of Thunderbird," he promised. "Then you can go over
the five mountains and kill him.
"I will tell you what you must do," continued the Spirit Chief. "When you
get back to the earth, find the big bird called Eagle. He has great
strength. Ask him for a feather from his youngest son. Ask for a feather, a
small feather from under his wing. This feather is downy and has great
strength. It has power running out from the heart because it grows near the
heart. Return now to the earth."
After five days and five nights, Coyote reached the earth again. He found
Eagle and told him all that the Great Spirit had said. Then he asked, "Will
you give me the feather that grows nearest the heart of your youngest son?"
"I will do as the Spirit Chief bids," replied Eagle. "If he told you to come
to me, then I will give you my power to fight Thunderbird."
"Fast for ten days and ten nights," he had said. "If you will go without
food and drink for ten days and nights, you will be changed to a feather.
You will then be able to go anywhere."
So Coyote fasted. After ten days and ten nights, he was turned into a
feather, like the one Eagle had given him. He floated through the air toward
the five mountains. At a distance from them, he made a noise like thunder,
as the Spirit Chief had told him to do. Three times he made a slow, deep
rumbling, off toward the sunrise.
Thunderbird heard the rumble and asked, "Who is making this noise? I alone
was given the power to make that rumbling sound. This noise must be coming
from the Above-World. I am dead! I am dead! I am dead!"
A fourth time Coyote rumbled, this time closer to Thunderbird. Thunderbird
became angry. "I will kill whomever this is that is making the noise. I will
kill him! I will kill him!" he repeated angrily.
Thunderbird made a mighty noise, a greater thunder than Coyote had made.
Coyote, in the form of a feather, went into the air, higher and higher and
ever higher. He darted and whirled, but could not be seen.
Thunderbird was afraid. He knew that if a fifth rumble of thunder came he
would be dead. He sought the deep water of Great River, to hide himself
there. He heard Coyote far above him.
Coyote prayed to the Spirit Chief. "Help me one more time, just one more
time. Help me kill Thunderbird so that the people may live, so that my sons
will come to life again."
The Spirit Chief heard Coyote and helped him. Thunderbird sank deeper into
the water, terrified. Coyote, still invisible above him, made a greater
noise than ever, a noise like the bursting of the world. The five mountains
crumbled and fell. Pieces of the mountain, floating down the Great River,
formed islands along its course.
Thunderbird died, and his giant body formed a great bridge above the river.
The five sons of Coyote and all the other animal people who had been killed
by Thunderbird came back to life.
Though many hundreds of snows had passed, the great bridge formed from the
rocks that had been made out of Thunderbird's body still stood above the
river. It was there long after the first Indians came to the earth. The
Indians always called it "the Bridge of the Gods." No one must look at the
rocks of the bridge. People knew that some day it would fall. They must not
anger the Spirit Chief by looking at it, their wise men told them.
The Klickitat Indians had a different law. Only a few men necessary to
paddle the canoes would pass under the bridge. All the others would land
when they approached the Bridge of the Gods, walk around to the opposite
side of it, and there reenter the canoes. The oarsmen always bade their
friends good-bye, fearing that the bridge would fall while they were passing
under it.
After many snows, no one knows how many, the prophecy of the wise men came
true. The Bridge of the Gods fell. The rocks that had once been the body of
Thunderbird formed the rapids in the river that were long known as Cascades
of the Columbia....Glenn Welker
*The Cascade Rapids*
When early settlers arrived in Oregon, they heard the legends and many
misinterpreted the descriptions as an actual bridge arching over the
Columbia. However, geologists believe this to be very unlikely because the
material from the landslide was primarily unstable rock and gravel.
The Cascade Rapids, what remained of the Bridge of the Gods, was one of the
most treacherous portions of the Oregon Trail. Settlers had to choose
between risking a boat trip down the rapids or continuing over a rocky trail
along the river. The rapids continued to make travel on the Columbia River
hazardous until the Cascade Locks were built in 1896. Bonneville Dam, built
during the 1930's, now spans the same section of
river.
www.inthegorge.com/bridge_of_the_gods.html
www.mtsthelens.net/MtStHelensNet/bridgeofgods.html
Nearly 500 years ago, a giant landslide from the northern shore of the
Columbia River blocked the Gorge, stopping the waters of the Columbia River.
Water rose behind the natural dam and a large lake over 80 miles long, 50 to
100 feet deep, and up to 1 mile wide, filled the Gorge to the east, flooding
entire forests along the river. Eventually, the water building up behind the
dam of rock and gravel broke through and flooded toward the ocean. Waves up
to 50 feet tall crashed down the Gorge, flooding what is now Portland.
The only inhabitants along the Columbia River at the time were Native
American tribes. There are no eyewitness accounts of the landslide or the
subsequent flood, but the people who lived in the area were directly
affected. People were probably killed in the floods, and archaeologists
believe the catastrophic flood washed away evidence of thousands of years of
human occupation. But among the survivors, the Klickitats and other tribes
have legends of the natural dam, which they call the Bridge of the Gods.
After the water breached the dam and washed away much of the debris of the
landslide, the river flowed again over remnants too large to move, forming
the Cascade Rapids. The Cascade mountain range is named after these rapids,
which are now under water held back by the Bonneville Dam.
Today, a real bridge spans the same expanse of river and is also named the
Bridge of the Gods. On the Washington side of the river, the bridge stands
on the debris of the massive landslide that built the natural dam over four
centuries ago.
*The Legends*
Although there are no eyewitness accounts of the landslide, stories live
through the legends told by Native American tribes. A popular legend
describes how two competing brothers were separated by the Columbia River,
but reconnected when the Great Spirit built the Bridge of the Gods. When
their two tribes began to fight, the Great Spirit destroyed the bridge. The
rapids were the remnants of the collapsed bridge.
*One Such * *Legend*
In the days of the animal people, a great bird lived in the land of the
setting sun. It was Thunderbird. All of the animal people were afraid of it.
Thunderbird created five high mountains and then said to the animal people,
"I made a law that no one is to pass over these five high mountains. If any
one does, I will kill him. No one is to come where I live."
Wolf did not believe the law. "I will go," declared Wolf. "I will be the
first to see what Thunderbird will do to me."* *"I will go with you," said
Wolf's four brothers. So the five Wolf brothers went to the first mountain.
They stood in a row, and each stepped with his right foot at the same time.
Immediately the five wolf brothers were dead. When the animal people heard
that the five Wolf brothers were dead, Grizzly Bear, the strongest of the
animals, decided that he would go.
"I will cross over the mountains," announced Grizzly Bear. "I will not die
as the Wolf Brothers have died." "We will go with you," said Grizzly Bear's
four brothers .So the five Grizzly Bear brothers went to the first mountain.
They stood in a row, and each stepped with his right foot, all at the same
time. Then each stepped with his left foot, all at the same time.
Immediately the five Grizzly Bears were dead.* *
"I will go now," said Cougar. "I will take a long step and leap over the
mountain." Cougar's four brothers went with him. They made one leap
together, and then all were dead. "We will go next," said the five Beaver
brothers. "We will go under the mountain. We will not be killed. We will not
be like the Wolf brothers, the Grizzly brothers, and the Cougar brothers."
But as they tried to cross under the mountains, all five Beaver brothers
were killed.
Then Coyote's oldest son said, "I will talk to the mountains. I will break
down the law so that people may live and pass to the sunset."
His four brothers went with him, and two of them talked to the five
mountains. They made the mountains move up and down; they made the mountains
dance and shake. But the five sons of Coyote were killed. The five mountains
still stood. No one could pass over or under them to the sunset.
Coyote's sons had not told their father their plans. He had told them that
they must never stay away from home overnight. When they did not return, he
knew that they had been killed by Thunderbird. Coyote was wiser than the
others. He had been instructed in wisdom by the Spirit Chief.
After his sons had been gone five nights, Coyote was sure that they were
dead. He cried loud and long. He went to a lonely place in the mountains and
rolled on the ground, wailing and howling with grief.
Then he prayed to the Spirit Chief for strength to bring his five sons back
to life.
After Coyote had cried and prayed for a long time, he heard a voice. "You
cannot break the law of the Thunderbird. You cannot go over the five
mountains. Thunderbird has made the law."
Coyote continued crying and praying, rolling on the ground in a lonely place
in the mountains. After a time he heard the voice again.
"The only thing you can do is to go up to the Above-World. It will take you
five days and five nights. There you will be told how you can bring your
five sons to life again."
So for five days and five nights Coyote travelled to the Above- World. There
he told his troubles to the Spirit Chief. "Give me strength," he ended.
"Give me so much strength that I can fight Thunderbird. Then the people can
cross over the mountains to the sunset."
At last the Spirit Chief promised to help.
"I will blind the eyes of Thunderbird," he promised. "Then you can go over
the five mountains and kill him.
"I will tell you what you must do," continued the Spirit Chief. "When you
get back to the earth, find the big bird called Eagle. He has great
strength. Ask him for a feather from his youngest son. Ask for a feather, a
small feather from under his wing. This feather is downy and has great
strength. It has power running out from the heart because it grows near the
heart. Return now to the earth."
After five days and five nights, Coyote reached the earth again. He found
Eagle and told him all that the Great Spirit had said. Then he asked, "Will
you give me the feather that grows nearest the heart of your youngest son?"
"I will do as the Spirit Chief bids," replied Eagle. "If he told you to come
to me, then I will give you my power to fight Thunderbird."
"Fast for ten days and ten nights," he had said. "If you will go without
food and drink for ten days and nights, you will be changed to a feather.
You will then be able to go anywhere."
So Coyote fasted. After ten days and ten nights, he was turned into a
feather, like the one Eagle had given him. He floated through the air toward
the five mountains. At a distance from them, he made a noise like thunder,
as the Spirit Chief had told him to do. Three times he made a slow, deep
rumbling, off toward the sunrise.
Thunderbird heard the rumble and asked, "Who is making this noise? I alone
was given the power to make that rumbling sound. This noise must be coming
from the Above-World. I am dead! I am dead! I am dead!"
A fourth time Coyote rumbled, this time closer to Thunderbird. Thunderbird
became angry. "I will kill whomever this is that is making the noise. I will
kill him! I will kill him!" he repeated angrily.
Thunderbird made a mighty noise, a greater thunder than Coyote had made.
Coyote, in the form of a feather, went into the air, higher and higher and
ever higher. He darted and whirled, but could not be seen.
Thunderbird was afraid. He knew that if a fifth rumble of thunder came he
would be dead. He sought the deep water of Great River, to hide himself
there. He heard Coyote far above him.
Coyote prayed to the Spirit Chief. "Help me one more time, just one more
time. Help me kill Thunderbird so that the people may live, so that my sons
will come to life again."
The Spirit Chief heard Coyote and helped him. Thunderbird sank deeper into
the water, terrified. Coyote, still invisible above him, made a greater
noise than ever, a noise like the bursting of the world. The five mountains
crumbled and fell. Pieces of the mountain, floating down the Great River,
formed islands along its course.
Thunderbird died, and his giant body formed a great bridge above the river.
The five sons of Coyote and all the other animal people who had been killed
by Thunderbird came back to life.
Though many hundreds of snows had passed, the great bridge formed from the
rocks that had been made out of Thunderbird's body still stood above the
river. It was there long after the first Indians came to the earth. The
Indians always called it "the Bridge of the Gods." No one must look at the
rocks of the bridge. People knew that some day it would fall. They must not
anger the Spirit Chief by looking at it, their wise men told them.
The Klickitat Indians had a different law. Only a few men necessary to
paddle the canoes would pass under the bridge. All the others would land
when they approached the Bridge of the Gods, walk around to the opposite
side of it, and there reenter the canoes. The oarsmen always bade their
friends good-bye, fearing that the bridge would fall while they were passing
under it.
After many snows, no one knows how many, the prophecy of the wise men came
true. The Bridge of the Gods fell. The rocks that had once been the body of
Thunderbird formed the rapids in the river that were long known as Cascades
of the Columbia....Glenn Welker
*The Cascade Rapids*
When early settlers arrived in Oregon, they heard the legends and many
misinterpreted the descriptions as an actual bridge arching over the
Columbia. However, geologists believe this to be very unlikely because the
material from the landslide was primarily unstable rock and gravel.
The Cascade Rapids, what remained of the Bridge of the Gods, was one of the
most treacherous portions of the Oregon Trail. Settlers had to choose
between risking a boat trip down the rapids or continuing over a rocky trail
along the river. The rapids continued to make travel on the Columbia River
hazardous until the Cascade Locks were built in 1896. Bonneville Dam, built
during the 1930's, now spans the same section of
river.
www.inthegorge.com/bridge_of_the_gods.html
www.mtsthelens.net/MtStHelensNet/bridgeofgods.html