When the Lewis and Clark expedition passed through the Short and Long Narrows of the Columbia in the early 1800s, the river was squeezed into narrow channels marked by treacherous whirlpools and whitewater. On October 24, 1805, Capt. Lewis and three men crossed the river to view the falls more fully, and John Ordway recorded passing through narrows where the river was confined to a channel about 20 yards wide, very rapid, and filled with bad whirlpools before reaching another narrows toward evening. This powerful stretch of the river, from Celilo Falls to The Dells, now lies beneath Lake Celilo, created by the backwaters of The Dalles Dam, and the shorelines have changed since the dam was built.