Editing Wishram, Washington (section)

===Early history===
The American author [[Washington Irving]] also mentioned the Native Americans resident at Wishram in his history of the Northwest titled ''Astoria or, Anecdotes of an Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains'' and published in 1836. He stated:
<blockquote>"For like reason we would make especial mention of the village of Wishram, at the head of the Long Narrows, as being a solitary instance of an aboriginal trading mart, or emporium. Here the salmon caught in the neighboring rapids were 'warehoused,' to await customers. Hither the tribes from the mouth of the Columbia repaired with the fish of the sea-coast, the roots, berries, and especially the [[Sagittaria|wappatoo]], gathered in the lower parts of the river, together with goods and trinkets obtained from the ships which casually visit the coast. Hither also the tribes from the [[Rocky Mountains]] brought down horses, [[Xerophyllum tenax|bear-grass]], [[Camassia quamash|quamash]], and other commodities of the interior. The merchant fishermen at the falls acted as middlemen or factors, and passed the objects of traffic, as it were, cross-handed; trading away part of the wares received from the mountain tribes to those of the rivers and plains, and vice versa: their packages of pounded salmon entered largely into the system of barter, and being carried off in opposite directions, found their way to the savage hunting camps far in the interior, and to the casual white traders who touched upon the coast."<ref>{{cite book |title= Astoria |last= Irving |first= Washington |year= 1836 |publisher= Project Gutenberg |chapter= Chapter X|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1371/1371-h/1371-h.htm |access-date=31 July 2011 }}</ref></blockquote>

Wishram is extensively mentioned in regional histories and travelogues of the early 19th century. Visitors included [[Thomas J. Farnham|Thomas Farnham]], [[Hudson's Bay Company]] Governor [[George Simpson (HBC administrator)|Sir George Simpson]], [[Alexander Ross (fur trader)|Alexander Ross]], [[Pierre-Jean De Smet|Father Pierre De Smet]] and Joseph Drayton's party of the [[Wilkes Expedition]], among others. Ross reported that at Wishram the summer encampments when the salmon were running could swell to 3,000 natives. Father De Smet described it as a glorious time of rejoicing, gambling and feasting.<ref name=Boyd/>

There have been village sites at the Wishram location for millennia. Archeologists in the 1950s identified a multilevel site with centuries of waste accumulated in middens as well as [[petroglyph]]s and other indications of dense population. Most of the densely populated areas were close to the river and convenient to fishing. This lower area was flooded in 1957 by water backed up behind [[The Dalles Dam]].<ref name=Boyd/>
[[File:Wishram Monument-July 2011.jpg|thumb|The pioneer memorial raised in 1926.]]

In 1926 a pioneer memorial was raised at Wishram/Fallbridge. Still located in its original position {{convert|100|ft}} east of the passenger train station today, it consists of two columns of basalt bound together with iron straps and mounted on a pedestal. A bronze plaque recognizing various pioneers who have been to Wishram begins with Meriwether Lewis and ends with [[John C. Fremont]]. It originally marked the beginning of a {{convert|1/2|mi|km|adj=on|1}} path from that monument to Celilo Falls; that path is now covered by the backwaters from The Dalles Dam.<ref name=FWP/>