AN INDIAN LEGEND

There are many Native American stories of a legendary rock bridge which spanned the Columbia River. This is believed to have happened about 300 years ago during the Bonneville slide. Legend is told about two greedy brothers who quarreled, each wanting more land. The Great Spirit decided to stop the quarrel. He took the brothers to a new land of high mountains with a great river flowing between. Each brother  shot an arrow in opposite directions to mark their land which would be separated by the great river. One brother shot his arrow south into the Willamette Valley. He later became chief of the Multnomah people. The other brother shot his arrow north into Klickitat country and he became the Klickitat Chief. The Great Spirit built a great rock bridge over the river. As time went on the people again became greedy and quarrelsome. They were punished by having the sun not shine on them. The Great Spirit told Loo-wit, an old woman who had remained unselfish, to take fire to the middle of the bridge where people on both sides could get it to warm themselves. As her reward, Loo-wit was given youth and beauty. Two handsome chiefs, Wyeast, from the South and Klickitat,  from the North, now quarreled over Loo-Wit. People fought and many even died. Now The Great Spirit was so angry he broke the Bridge of the Gods and turned the two chiefs into Mountains. Wyeast is known as Mt. Hood and Klickitat as Mt. Adams. According to Indian legend they continued to quarrel and throw fire and hot rocks at each other.  Loo-wit was also changed into a mountain, now known as Mt. St. Helens.  The rocks and rushing water where the Bridge of the Gods fell are known as the Cascades of the Columbia. 

Today a steel truss bridge over the Columbia River links Oregon to Washington. The bridge of the Gods is the 3rd oldest bridge over the Columbia, built in 1926.  It was raised in 1938 when the Columbia River water level was raised by the completion of the Bonneville Dam.

The modern Bridge of the Gods is located in Cascade Locks, Oregon and crosses the Columbia River into Skamania County Washington about 3 miles west of Stevenson, Washington.