The existence of this basin has been found in the stories and myths of many of the tribes of the indigenous native people who, when they left their original crowded homeland in search of new lands with a great amount of open spaces, clean, fresh water and abundance game, they migrated across the Beringia land bridge and unbeknownst to them at the time, entered into what would much later come to be known as North America.

There are many stories told about this continental crossing, one of which I came upon while stopping briefly at Cascade Locks, Oregon during one of my drives in the Pacific Northwest when I arrive at one of the bridges in order to cross the Columbia River. I had stopped at the Bridgeside Cafe for a f-meal and noticed the beautiful old bridge that crossed between Oregon and Washington. In fact I was on my northbound migration to Whidbey Island and had chosen this roadpath to drive there. Methought that by routing my roadpath across the river at this location, this would give me the opportunity to photograph another example of a nearly one hundred year old steel through truss bridge bridge. During my meal, the waitress suggested that I go and look at the bridge and the story written on the kiosks in the parking lot directly beneath the bridge. After eating, I returned to the jammer, drove to the bridge parking lot that was adjacent to the restaurant, parked and then stepped out of the jammer with my camera.

What I discovered was not just the story of the modern steel bridge, but the story of the legend of a previous bridge that existed during that migration of those indigenous people who had traveled possibly thousands of miles from their ancient homeland in the city of Ur in Mesopotamia, across the Asian Continent, up along the Asian Pacific coast to cross the Beringia land bridge, then down into and thoughout the new continent and eventually arriving at an inland body of water so massive that it was impossible for them to see the opposite shore, a lake, because of the superabundant amounts of trout-like fish available for the taking, began to be called by these people, Ta-Maschilamek Menuppek.

Further, the same story kiosk provided me with information about a bridge which existed at here that same time, a huge earthen bridge which stood as a crossing over what is now known as the Columbia River and very likely was located in the same vicinity as the modern steel bridge which now crosses this river.

However, that original bridge is now just a legend or myth, call it what you may; but it remains in the memory of the native indigenous peoples as a story told by the elders at campfires to all the youths, informing them about what life was like many, many moons ago. Yes, not only has that ancient earthen bridge collapsed, but any remnants of it have all been washed away by the centuries of river waters moving all vestiges of it downstream, but all the waters that once filled that massive inland lake, completely filling the Northwest Basin, have also, all flowed out to sea.

The great inland lake that once filled the basin up to the surrounding height of land is now drained to near totality, yes, to such a degree which would make it seem as if that lake never existed. However, if the story was to be told, then the evidence for the lake′s existence would be found in the eighty some miles of massive walls along either side of the river, reaching upwards to 4000 feet above the surface of the water which now flows in this river. Yes, what today is called the Columbia River Gorge, is a deep canyon with sheer, near vertical, precipitous walls, a canyon which was cut when incomprehensive amounts of water swept through from the inconceivably large lake that once filled the Northwest Basin.

As the story is told by the indigenous, which account I found written there on one of the kiosks in the parking lot, there under the modern day Bridge of the Gods:

"The Cascade mountains at this time remained unbroken; it did not have a river flowing to the sea, but instead, the height of land was very high in this region of the range and instead formed a high barrier keeping Great Salmon Lake (Ta-Maschilamek Menuppek) secure within its confinement. In those days, the Great Spirit Manitou had two sons, Wy′east (as represented by Mount Hood) and Pahto (as represented by Mount Adams). These two sons both fell in love with a beautiful maiden whose name was Loowit (as represented by Mount Saint Helens). Due to the maiden not choosing one above the other, a dispute erupted over which son could claim the beautiful maiden Loowit as his wife. As the two sons fought over the beautiful maiden, both of the volcanoes erupted simultaneously causing the Earth to shake ever so violently.

"Then at the base of the mountains between Wy′east and Pahto a crack began to form near to the bottom of the Great Salmon Lake, one which allow a small trickle of water to begin flowing out to the coast. As the two sons continue to argue over who would be the one to wed the beautiful maiden, the Great Spirit Manatou in his effort to pursuade his sons to refrain from their conflict, caused the crack to widen, which also cause the flow of water to widen into a fast moving current slowly eroding the rock as it moved through the outlet. As it continued to flow, the water began to cut a path from the bottom of the lake directly under the mountains to the ocean. With no cessation of the conflict, Manatou allowed the fracture in the mountain to continue to widen until eventually, all that was left was an earthen bridge across the newly formed great river which flowed from the inland basin to the ocean.

"The two brothers not only continued their quarrel but began to stomp their feet, blow smoke and toss fire and rocks at one another. Later, even Loowit tried to stop their conflict but was badly battered by the rocks and burned by the fire. When the Bridge of the Gods collapsed, Loowit surccumbed to that massive destruction. Some time afterwards, the Great Spirit placed her among the great snow mountains to the west, but because she had grown old in age, she no longer desired to have a mate and thereafter withdrew far to the west of the Cascade Mountain Range so that she could be alone to herself. Further, the two sons of the Great Spirit were both turned into the mountains which they represent where they would stand forever apart from each other never to quarrel again."

Today you will see Loowit represented as Mount St. Helens, the youngest mountain in the Cascades. Also, you will see Wy′east and Pahoto both still standing as guardians of the large waterway that Manitou caused to flow between them, a large river known as the Columbia River. Further, the gorge that was cut along the river path would go a long way in preventing any further quarreling by these siblings.

The Endorheic Basin which once existed during ancient times (see First Migration) is now known as the Pacific Northwest Watershed Basin, which basin includes the Columbia River and all of its tributaries, and which drains areas from the six US states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, wester Montana, northwest Wyoming and northeastern Nevada, as well as into the Canadian province of British Columbia.

Mouth of Columbia River (Pacific Ocean)

Shown below are the two geographical region area within Washington. However, the entirety of the Northwest Basin also includes areas of both regions within the jurisdictional districts of Oregon, Idaho, Montana and British Columbia.

First Wayƒarers in the Northwest Basin are Sons of Hadoram, both the

Pacific Coastal Tribes and the

Pacific Interior Tribes.