The Cascade Locks Historical Museum is hosting a celebration of the 160th anniversary of the Oregon Pony. The Oregon Pony was the first locomotive to run on the first railroad in the state of Oregon. The event will take place on July 16, 2022 from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Cascade Locks Historical Museum, 417 SW Portage Road, in Cascade Locks. Admission is $5 per person ages 4 and up, or free for younger children and museum members. The event includes admission to the museum, and access to crafts, games, and activities.

Early travel along the Columbia River required passing the Cascades. The Cascades were a four and one-half mile stretch of rocky rapids between what is now called Cascade Locks and the Bonneville Dam, which submerged the Cascades in 1938.

Indigenous peoples used portage roads along both river banks since time immemorial. The roads facilitated trade and travel between coastal and inland communities. Lewis and Clark used these paths around the Cascades on their journey to the Pacific Ocean in 1805. 

As Euro-American emigrants came to the Oregon Territory, entrepreneurial settlers built wooden tramways to improve the roads on both banks of the river. They used mules to pull flat cars along the path and competed for tolls to use the roads. When the Washington portage announced plans to upgrade to a steam railroad, the Oregon portage ordered a steam locomotive from the Vulcan Iron Foundry in San Francisco. It was the first locomotive built entirely on the West Coast.

On April 25, 1862, the first steam locomotive in the Northwest began operation. The little engine was nicknamed the “Pony” because it replaced the mules that pulled the old portage cars. The Pony hauled freight, passengers, and gold dust between the two local steamship landings on the Columbia River.

In 1863, the Pony was moved to The Dalles, intended for use on the Celilo portage. However, after three years dormant in a warehouse, the Pony was sold and sent back to San Francisco, where it was used for city paving projects.

After being damaged in a warehouse fire, the Pony was restored for display at the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition in Portland. As part of this restoration, the name “The Oregon Pony” was made official and painted on the side of the locomotive. It was donated to the Oregon Historical Society after the Exposition.

The Oregon Pony was stored in a warehouse for many years, then placed on outdoor display in front of Portland Union Station in 1929. In 1970, the Oregon Pony returned to Cascade Locks on loan from the Oregon Historical Society. In preparation for its 120th anniversary, the Oregon Pony received a full restoration and an enclosed, climate-controlled exhibit space in 1980.

The Cascade Locks Historical Museum is a community history museum celebrating the people of Cascade Locks, Oregon. It was founded in the 1960s as a partnership facilitated by the City of Cascade Locks and the Port of Cascade Locks, with many community historians serving on the Museum Commission for over the course of those 50 years. In 2013, community leaders banded together to form the nonprofit Friends of the Cascade Locks Historical Museum to advance the operation to the next level. The museum is located in a 1905 lock tender house overlooking the remnants of the historic Cascade Locks and Canal in the Cascade Locks Marine Park, a National Historic Site. Currently open seasonally from Spring Break through Halloween, the Cascade Locks Historical Museum exhibits include information about the construction of the Cascade Locks and Canal, local fishing history, the Pacific Crest Trail, and daily-life decorative arts, home goods, and tools from early regional settlers. The Oregon Pony is on exhibit year-round on the lawn in front of the museum.