Toketee Falls, Oregon
Toketee (pronounced TOKE-uh-tee), is a Chinook Jargon word meaning "pretty" or "graceful". The falls was officially named by a United States Board on Geographic Names decision in 1916, over alternate names Ireland Falls and Toketie Falls.
Description
Carved from ancient columnar basalt, Toketee Falls drops approximately 120 feet (37 m) in two stages.
With a reliable water flow on the North Umpqua River, the falls avoids the seasonal fluctuations of other creek-fed waterfalls in Oregon.
Hydropower plant
The waterfall is regulated by a dam built just upstream by PacifiCorp, which now regulates and reduces the water flow over the falls. The damming forms a reservoir called Toketee Lake. Previously the full volume of the North Umpqua River was allowed to flow over the falls, but the flow has been reduced by a penstock that utilizes the drop of the falls to generate hydroelectricity.
Post office
There was a Toketee Falls, Oregon post office from 1952 to 1956 during the construction of the PacifiCorp hydroelectric plant.
References
- ^ "Toketee Falls". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. November 28, 1980. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
- ^ McArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. pp. 960–961. ISBN 978-0875952772.
- ^ Oregon Atlas & Gazetteer (7th ed.). Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. 2008. pp. 53–54. ISBN 978-0-89933-347-2.
External links
- Media related to Toketee Falls at Wikimedia Commons