Wy' East Legene

Hello there, this is Nelson Olmsted. Today I'm going to tell you about an epic battle of the gods. First, let's listen to a moment to Craig Goober, our genius spokesman for Pacific Power. Welcome once again to Stories of Pacific Power Land, a presentation of Pacific Power and Light, the company that has been serving the electric needs of the region's homes,

farms, and industries through more than half a century of progress and growth. Now, here's Nelson Olmsted about to weave an ancient tale. The earliest navigators and explorers to reach the region we call Pacific Powerland marveled at the sight of the lofty snow-covered cones of the Cascade Mountains.

Centuries before the coming of the white men, the Indian tribes which lived in the mid-Columbia region must of marveled to with these great peaks which stand like sentinels on each side of the Columbia River Gorge. The white men named them as they are called today, Mount Hood, Mount Adams, and Mount St. Helens.

But the Redmond called them, Wyest, Click-a-Tat, and Louit, and created a tapestry of legends about these splendid mountains. There came to be nearly as many different legends as there were Indian tribes living inside of the Cascade Range.

In ancient times, an Indian father, standing with the sun on the banks of the Columbia, somewhere near the present community of Hood River, Oregon, River Oregon, might tell the tale like this. Just there, my son, the great spirit placed a mighty bridge across the river.

Upon the bridge lived the maiden, Lou Witte, who tended the only fire in the world. When the great chief from the north and the south came to get fire from the maiden, they fell under the spell of her beauty and began to fight among themselves for her favor.