Ash Creek Images
Photographs of the West by Doug Gorsline
Multnomah Falls Lodge, ca 1925
When I first saw this photo of Multnomah Fall Lodge taken from a lofty height, I wrongly assumed that it must have been taken from an airplane, because the ground in front of the lodge drops away to the Columbia River. Later, I acquired a Sawyer's postcard taken by one of the Sawyer's photogaphers, Ray Filloon, which had Filloon's handwritten notes on the reverse.
What I learned was that railroad photographers had actually built a camera platform in one of the tall cottonwood trees by the river to gain this view. They drove railroad spikes in the tree trunk to form a ladder to climb to the platform. This must have been done more than once, because you'll notice that the other thumbnail 'aerial' photo of the lodge on the right, above, is taken from another point of view.
The cottonwood trees that these photos were taken from were probably cut down when I-84 was built in the 1950s and 60s. They probably grew about where the present day freeway parking lot is located.
The lodge in this photo is still there and appears much the same today. It is a day lodge only, and contains a decent restaurant, a gift shop, small Forest Service interpretive center, espresso stand, and restrooms.
