Celilo Falls was a waterfall on the Columbia River in Wasco County, Oregon, and for thousands of years a tribal salmon fishery and trading center. The Dalles Dam inundated the falls on March 10, 1957; the World Waterfall Database ranks it as the largest waterfall by volume in North America while it existed.
The falls
The Columbia squeezed through a gap in the basalt as narrow as 140 feet and fell over a series of ledges, dropping about 20 feet at low water before disappearing under spring freshets. The average flow reached 189,500 cubic feet per second, with summer peaks over 400,000 and spring runoff delivering ten times the volume of Niagara. The rock formations now rest beneath 20 to 120 feet of reservoir water; a 2008 sonar survey confirmed that the outcrops, basins and channels remain intact beneath the surface.
Getting there
The site is viewed from Celilo Park, run by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, on Celilo Park Road near The Dalles. Facilities include a scenic viewing area, interpretive exhibits, parking for cars, trailers and buses, picnic tables, a playground, flush toilets, a boat ramp and dock, and wheelchair-accessible facilities. A regional recreation status report from January 2026 listed the park as open for day use only.
When to go
No waterfall has been visible since 1957; a visit is to the historic site and its exhibits, not to falling water.
On site
A life-jacket loaner station is provided at the park. Exhibits cover the Indigenous trade at the falls and the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which passed here and is commemorated by the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.
History and name
People fished at Celilo for about 15,000 years. The Sahaptin name Wyam means "echo of falling water" or "sound of water upon the rocks." Fishers worked dip nets on long poles from wooden platforms, tied to safety ropes, and as many as 5,000 people gathered to trade dried salmon for goods brought from as far as the Great Lakes and the Northwest Coast. When the dam gates closed on March 10, 1957, hundreds of people watched as the rising water reached the falls, 8 miles upstream, four and a half hours later. The tribes received $26.8 million for the lost fishing sites, but the government never bought the fishing rights guaranteed by the treaties of 1855. Celilo Village still stands on the bluff above the former falls, and 3,000 people gathered for the 50th anniversary in 2007.
Nearby
Eightmile Creek Falls is about 5.7 miles away, across the river in Washington, and Cushing Falls on Fifteenmile Creek about 7.8 miles. The Dalles is about 10 miles downstream.
Distances are straight-line.