White Salmon Blog ยท Klickitat County, WA

They took the dam out
and the river came back.

White Salmon sits above one of the few rivers in America to have a hydroelectric dam removed and the valley refilled. That is the most interesting thing about this town and almost nothing written for visitors mentions it.

Condit Dam blocked the White Salmon River for nearly a century and was breached in 2011, one of the largest dam removals ever attempted in the United States. The river below is federally designated Wild and Scenic. If you are moving here, kayaking here, or just curious why the valley looks the way it does, that is the story, and it is documented by agencies rather than by anyone selling you a raft trip.

The reading list

Link-out only. No realtors, no outfitters, no relocation services.

The river, and the dam that came out

The defining event in this valley's recent history, and unusually well documented.

  1. White Salmon Wild and Scenic River

    National Wild and Scenic Rivers System · Primary

    The federal designation itself. What is protected, which reaches, and why. The legal status that constrains what can happen on this river.

  2. Condit Dam

    Wikipedia · Reference

    The dam, the 2011 breach and the aftermath, with sources. The single best starting point on why the valley changed.

  3. American Rivers

    Conservation nonprofit · Advocacy

    The national organisation behind much of the dam-removal movement. An explicit position, and the technical record to back it.

Who runs the town

Small-town Washington, with far lighter land-use rules than the Oregon side of the river.

  1. City of White Salmon

    City government · Primary

    Council, planning and utilities. Where anything about to be built shows up first.

  2. Klickitat County

    County government · Primary

    Everything outside city limits. Klickitat is rural, large and governed very differently from Hood River County across the water.

  3. Port of Klickitat

    Public agency · Primary

    Industrial land, the Bingen waterfront and the county's main economic development lever.

  4. Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area

    US Forest Service · Primary

    White Salmon sits inside the Scenic Area, so federal rules shape development here on top of city and county code.

Daily life

  1. WSDOT

    Washington State DOT · Practical

    SR-14 and the passes. The Washington bank closes in winter more often than newcomers expect.

  2. National Weather Service, Portland

    NOAA · Practical

    The Gorge wind is a pressure-gradient phenomenon, which is why it is so reliable and so relentless.

  3. Mount Adams

    USGS · Science

    The volcano you see from town. Active and monitored, and the data is public.