White Salmon Bridge

The White Salmon Bridge connects Hood River on the Oregon side, my hometown, to White Salmon on the Washington side. This is an important place for me because you can so clearly see the whole of the Columbia River Gorge -- you can see Mt. Hood in the south and Mt. Adams in the north, you can see the Hood River flowing out into the sand bar and the White Salmon river flowing out into the other side, and you can see miles and miles in each direction up the Gorge. I always feel in awe and extremely lucky whenever I cross it, since it is just such a magnificent place.

This is a good place to tell a Sinixt story about how the Columbia River came to be. A long time ago, before there was a river, Cayote was wandering around looking for something to eat, when he realized there was a beautiful woman in his vicinity: Rain. But he thought himself ugly, so he didn't think he had a chance. However, he bagan to sing a love song, and he won her over. As he sang the song, he promised Rain a gift if she shared her own gift, and she agreed; Rain reached into her chest, tore out her hard, and cast it down, and where it landed the heart's blood became the Columbia River. They flowed down together until they reached Ocean, and Cayote fell in love with her too. To prove his continued love to Rain, Cayote reached into himself and gave all the plants and animals to Rain, and finally the Sinixt people. He said that the Sinixt were there to look after Rain's heart and the land, and that each year his best swimmers (salmon) would swim down the river to Ocean, but then make their way back up the river to Rain's heart to proved that he still loved her.

How The Columbia River Came To Be | Sinixt Nation