Height and type: 48-foot vertical curtain falls.
Water body: Beaver Creek
Access: There is an unmarked parking area 3.6 miles down Beaver Falls Road from Highway 30 at 46.10394, -123.1298. A steep downhill trail takes you about 0.3 miles through wet coastal forest to the bottom of the waterfall.
In 1995, two residents died while trying to get a look from the top of the falls. In 2001, an 18-year-old Clatskanie student died after jumping off the falls, in what was described by The Clatskanie Chief as “the most recent in a string of fatalities at the beautiful, but treacherous waterfall.” We haven’t gone to the top of the falls ourselves and do not recommend it.
Property status: An unimproved county park owned by Columbia County Parks. There is talk of developing the area into a true park in the future.
Notable Wildlife: terrestrial mollusks, stream salamanders
Interesting History: When Beaver Creek Valley was logged in the late 1800s, a “splash dam” was created above Beaver Falls. Logs were stored in the water behind the dam, then when enough were ready the dam would be breached and the rushing water would, ideally, take the logs all the way to the Columbia River. Apparently this particular splash dam failed to work efficiently.
The old Columbia River Highway originally went along Beaver Creek rather than its current path. Recreating the Columbia River Highway shows some of the reinforced concrete bridges and highway fences built in 1917 and 1918 are still in use today.
The Cyclotram website has a great deal of early 20th-century history of the falls.
Wild Columbia County 