The ancient dam that powered Vernonia

As the crow flies we were half-a-mile southwest of Keasey Road when we discovered the relics of a forgotten dam in Rock Creek.

Too bad we can’t fly like crows. It took a LOT more work to get there, especially since we didn’t know there was a “there” to find. So here’s how we found Keasey Dam and what we saw along the way.

Rock Creek is one of the wildest remaining waterways in Columbia County. Matt and I prefer to reach it by parking at the remote end of Keasey Road (you need a Weyerhaeuser Pass to hike here) and then hiking southwest along the dead hiking road that ends up paralleling the creek. Salamanders of various types appear along the way.

Take a good map and be careful because the creek is over 100 yards from the dead road and you have to drop about 100 feet in elevation to reach it. Winter or summer, Rock Creek is beautiful.

Once safely down the slope we head upstream along the winding creek. Late in summer you can make your way by wading when necessary, but in winter/spring when the flow is higher you have to climb up in spots to avoid being cliffed out. The preservation of the natural habitat of this creek has allowed it to be a top-3 spot in the county for finding the relatively rare Columbia Torrent Salamander, along with several other stream denizens.

The third time we followed the creek we pushed further than before and an old bridge appeared before us. And behind the bridge….what is that there?

Why is there a huge concrete structure so far up the creek? We had to take a closer look.

We knew nothing of the history of what we were looking at. Answers came in the book “Vernonia“, by the Vernonia Pioneer Museum Association. It turns out that this dam was built by the Vernonia Power and Light Company in 1922 and was the original source of electricity for the town of Vernonia. In the book they have old pictures of the dam in its glory days. It is by far the oldest fish ladder in Columbia County, though the ladder was so steep that we wonder whether the fish runs may have struggled to get up it.

In the 1940s Vernonia got hooked to Portland’s power grid and the Keasey Dam became obsolete. It was blown up in 1947 in order to allow the salmon and steelhead runs to gain easier passage up the creek. Taking down dams to help fish populations 75 years ago, who knew?

The bridge itself was also old and quite interesting:

If you wanted to make it here on logging roads without following the creek, you could hike in 4-5 miles by parking at the gate at Selder Creek Road off of Boeck and coming in from the north, or in 3-5 miles (depending on which cutoff paths you take advantage of) by parking at the end of Keasey Road and coming along the Eastside Grade from the east instead. Both routes require a Weyerhaeuser pass.

On this day we chose to continue on the road west and visit Ginger Creek, which was beautiful but not particularly abundant in aquatic life due to its position between two clearcuts.

We then doubled back to the bridge and took a zigzagging roundabout route on logging roads and cutoff trails east and north to get back to the car. Along the way we saw more wildlife including a lot of elk.

Wait, did you see that blond beast there?

We don’t know much about these blond elk other than that it’s some sort of color phase variation, appearing like the lack of any black pigmentation. This is the best example I’ve seen of one in real life.

We finished the hike off without incident, very happy with the discovery of the dam, the elk, and the great herpetological diversity. Matt has created a video of our adventure, with more focus on Rock Creek and the elk herds:

Like he said, it was a good day.