Multnomah Falls, visited by over two million people a year, is the second-highest year-round waterfall in the United States and one of 77 on the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge. Fed by Multnomah Creek, which is created by underground springs from Larch Mountain, the falls plunge off steep basalt cliffs. Its flow varies, but is most spectacular in winter and spring, when the water drops 543 feet to the upper plunge pool, descends another 69 feet, plus an additional 8 feet in between, for a total fall of 620 feet. As western cities boomed in the late 1880s, Portland residents and eventually visitors from across the country came to the Columbia River Gorge for its scenic beauty and towering waterfalls, traveling by regularly scheduled trains and steamships, and Multnomah Falls became a favorite attraction. A bridge spanning Multnomah Creek between the upper and lower cataracts was first built in the early 1880s out of log poles; after it collapsed, the current concrete bridge was built in 1914 and named for Simon Benson, an advocate for the Historic Columbia River Gorge Highway and Multnomah Falls. Multnomah Falls Lodge, designed by Portland architect Albert E. Doyle, was built in 1925 by the city of Portland to capitalize on the Gorge’s booming tourist trade, and it was placed on the National Register for Historic Places in 1981.

Photo: Diane Murphy

Photo: Diane Murphy

Photo: Barry Swackhamer

Photo: Anonymous

Photo: Phyllis Prats

Photo: Phyllis Prats

Photo: Phyllis Prats

Cascade Locks, Oregon · USA