Priest Rapids is located on the Columbia River and, according to this despatch from 1858, it is about 305 kilometers away from The Dalles. In the despatch's explanatory notes, Douglas' goal for Priest Rapids was to extend steamboat navigation as far as the rapids.1
Before the arrival of Europeans, the Wanapum Peoples lived in their village of P'na
at the foot of Priest Rapid, at least peacefully until after the 1850s. With the rapid movement of white settlers, many of the Indigenous Peoples on this
land were relocated to the Colville Reservation. Some of the Wanapum First Nation remained and refused to move off the
land, such as the prophet Smohalla from whom “Priest Rapids” gets its name.2
Today Priest Rapids' name is most known for the Priest Rapids Dam, which was first
suggested by Alton S. Dam in 1906 but not built until the 1940s.3