by During the Christmas holidays I spent some time in the Columbia Gorge and there
are several news items that may be of interest to those of you who spend time
there.
The first item relates to the toll bridge situation. In the past the Bridge
of the Gods at Cascade Locks had the same toll as the Hood River bridge. As
of January 1 it has been increased. A passenger car now cost 25 cents more
which makes the toll 75 cents. So far the Hood River bridge is still 50 cents
but rumor has it that they may increase their rates also.
The real question about this situation relates to The Dallas bridge and
Maryhill bridge. How can these bridges be free when it cost for the other
two bridges? The Dalles bridge is in Wasco county and the Maryhill bridge is
in Umatilla county where as The Bridge of the Gods and the Hood River bridge
are in Hood River county.
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The second item is related to the saving of the salmon. I heard a news
broadcast that stated that the current plan for saving the salmon is to flush
them down the river by opening the dams in the spring and running lots more
water than usual. This will cause the river level to go down lower than
we have seen since the dams were installed. The river level will be so low
that the shipping channel will have to be dredged so it can still be used.
The news man said that there would be more dredging equipment on the Columbia
River that at any time in the past. Most of the dredging equipment on the
West Coast was being moved to the Columbia River so that this can be completed
by spring when the salmon need to make their trip back to the ocean.
In the past I did not figure that saving the salmon would affect the
windsurfing but now it looks like the skeg industry may have a very good year
bacasue of all the rocks and logs that will show up for the first time. It
should also make for some of the largest swells that we have every seen so
the news is not all bad. 1992 should be a very interesting year for
windsurfing in the Columbia Gorge.