celilofalls

"Myron Symons [photographer] was an Oregon photographer in the early 1900s. Symons, originally from New York, moved to Seattle at the age of fifteen. After a three-year apprenticeship to a jeweler, he worked in a Dawson, British Columbia, jewelry store for almost two years; while living in Dawson, he gained experience in scenic photography by photographing the Yukon. Symons returned to Seattle where he was married and opened his own jewelry store but moved to Bend, Oregon, in 1915. "In Bend he established the first jewelry store in the O'Kane Hotel building and became known as a local photographer. Symons photographed sawmills, local businesses, the Cascade Mountains, and other areas of interest in central Oregon. In 1920, his brother Archie became a partner in the jewelry store. Myron's photographs were sold in booklets by the Symons Brothers jewelry store." – University of Washington Libraries

Pixel Wrangler This tool was made by Archie Symons to screw the eyes in the back of picture frames in his shop in Bend, Oregon. My dad bought the contents of the shop, and this is one of the tools that came to us from it. It is nice knowing more of the story. Thanks for your information.

GArY What a great find! – and it’s great that you were able to piece together the story. Thanks for taking the time to photograph it and post it!

Samuel T. "Sam" Frear [photographer] (1931-2008) graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism and with a master's degree in history both from the University of Oregon. He worked as a reporter for the Honolulu Advertiser and for The Eugene Register-Guard. He worked as a public information officer for Willamette National Forest [U.S. Forest Service] from 1966 to 1983. [1]  

such a beautiful image!

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It saddens me to see that these photo 's are pretty much the only things left of that awesone piece of Oregon's history. Though it is wonderful to see what the falls and river had once been.

Yes, I feel lucky that we have them! It's also amazing to read the history, listen to oral histories, and watch some of the video footage, especially now that we know the falls still exist under the water...

This must have been during a big flood. My vision is some day, remove The Dalles dam and restore the original river channel, and create a national park from the present waterline down.

This is an interesting shot. The vertical falls part of the rapid or what you might call the Celilo Falls themselves are upriver out of the picture on river left or the Oregon side of the river. The falls formed sort of a horse shoe and they ranged from perhaps 10 to 20 ft high, or a bit higher maybe in places. A lot of the river went over the falls, but not all of it. So, in a cedar plank canoe, like David Thompson's, or in dug out canoes it was possible to pass this stretch of river without canoeing over a vertical waterfall. Also perhaps worth mentioning...construction of the railroad bridge (finished in 1912) would have required at least some blasting, so it is possible the rapid looked different before the bridge. I know of know photos that show this exact stretch of water before the bridge. The cameras were all focused on the falls.