Deschutes … what does the word mean?

June, 2024

In my last blog post I said I would be driving south from the campground today, further into Oregon, south into farmland, and show you some of that country here in this blog post. But I changed my mind. I’ve done that before, changed my mind. 🙂 Might do that again.

Rest assured I will drive south, further into Oregon and its farmland, and will share that with you at some point. But friends of mine have sent personal emails to me asking what the word/name “Deschutes” means and asking where it came from. I’m usually good about including that information early on in the blog when I’m at a new place, but I neglected my duties this time.

All of the photos here were taken off the internet; none were copyrighted. The photo below looks down at the Deschutes River as it makes its last turn around a bend and then empties into the Columbia River. Immediately before it joins the Columbia, in the shade there on the right side of the Deschutes, right down on the water, you’ll see a stand of trees … that’s the Deschutes River Campground where I’m camped.

Running along the left side of the Deschutes River (above), you can see a railroad line. Remember that, we’ll get back to that. 🙂

The photos below show different parts of the river and give examples of several different types of country that this river travels through.

So, back to the word “Deschutes”. I looked through my photos and found some photos of local area signs talking about the origin of the name “Deschutes” … and I used online resources and found numerous websites about the origin of the name. In the end, it seems to me that the Wikipedia website about the Deschutes River has the best information, more than any of the other resources I found. I’ll post the link below.

But before that … two things …

One … remember that Wikipedia depends on our input. If you have personal information about a place or process or language or music or history, etc, get on the Wikipedia website that you have information about and add your information to it.

Two … besides the Deschutes River, there is a Deschutes County in Oregon, a Deschutes River in Washington, other Deschutes stuff in Oregon … but it appears that everything named “Deschutes” today took its name from the name of the river, the Deschutes River.

So who named this river the Deschutes and why? Well, take a look at the Wikipedia website. It answers that question and has a lot more really interesting information.

Also, pronunciation … today the word is pronounced deh-SHOOTS or duh-SHOOTS or a combination of deh and duh.

It was the Molala tribe/nation that lived in this area (and they still do) who knew this river long before Europeans did. Their name for the river is/was Towarnehiooks. Go HERE and HERE for more information about the people who first named this river and who have lived here for thousands of years.

The Deschutes River is one of the major rivers in Oregon, and one of the major tributaries that feeds into the mighty Columbia River. The Deschutes River runs through extremely dry areas at times and through lovely rainy woodlands at times and through deep valleys, with overflows and rapids so dangerous that they can kill you, and at times it becomes a mild mannered and peaceful waterway so calm you would believe you are in heaven. I’m told the fishing here in the Deschutes River is extraordinary. There’s a railway that runs along the side of it for most of its length, almost 200 miles. I wonder if there are passenger cars on that railway. Wouldn’t that be a trip!

In fact, here’s a video I found of a train on the Deschutes River railway. It’s really cool! The train is running along the south side of Columbia River at first, then goes through a tunnel (I’ll show you the tunnel in my next blog post about ROCKS). To the right of that railway in the video, you can see local road 206, then the east/west railroad line that’s used constantly for really big and really long freight trains and for Amtrak passenger trains, then the BIG interstate four-lane road I-84 is to the right of that. I was right down there, right on road 206, right next to where this train runs.

At about time spot 4:24 in the video, the Deschutes River train tracks have turned south and the train is now heading south along the Deschutes River. Don’t trust the map at the beginning of this video! That shows roads, not the rail lines. This railroad runs RIGHT along the Deschutes River for many miles. Look how long that grain train is in this video! Wow. Don’t forget to look at the scenery. 🙂

I did look online for a passenger train on the Deschutes rail way, no luck. But at least we can enjoy the video.

If you have other experience or information about the Deschutes River or its name, or the area, please feel free to share it in the comments. Thanks for riding along! 🙂