The Oregon Pony was the first locomotive ever run on the first railroad built in Oregon and the first steam engine in the Northwest. Early travel on the Oregon Trail was extremely dangerous, and the last 100 miles westward from The Dalles to the Willamette Valley included a difficult raft trip on the Columbia River, where treacherous rapids, shifting sandbars, and sheer basalt cliffs ended the journey for many pioneers near the Cascades, now known as Cascade Locks. Early passage there was provided by a short portage railroad, where mule-drawn portage cars hauled freight up a steep incline to bypass the rapids. When the Washington portage on the north side of the Columbia River announced plans to upgrade to a steam railroad, the Oregon portage ordered a steam locomotive from the Vulcan Foundary in San Francisco. On April 25, 1862, the Oregon Pony began operation, earning its nickname because it replaced the mules that pulled the old portage cars. In 1863 it was moved to The Dalles for use on the Celilo portage, and three years later it was sent to San Francisco, where it was used for leveling sand hills. After sustaining fire damage, it was restored in 1905 at a cost of $2,000 and returned to Cascade Locks in 1970 on loan from the Oregon Historical Society.