I've seen Multnomah Falls many times from the Columbia River Highway (dedicated in 1916) but have never stopped. Mike and I plan on visiting the site this year. I read a few years ago that it has been knocked off from its #1 place as Oregon's top tourist attraction by one of the Indian casinos, but I'm not sure if that's true and I cannot find any information to substantiate either claim.
A website featuring information about Oregon Post Card History includes this information about the Cross & Dimmitt, the names appearing on the lower right corner of the postcard:
Arthur B. Cross partnered with Edward L. Dimmitt to sell real photo post cards of the Columbia River Gorge, Mt. Hood, and Portland. Cross opened his Electric Studio in Portland i 1909. Dimmitt was born in 1881 in Columbia, Missouri. In 1909, Dimmitt was first listed in the Portland City Directory as a waiter. In 1914, he began working for Cross at the Electric Studio. In 1916, they became partners and named their business "Cross & Dimmitt."
Cross & Dimmitt sold post cards off the running boards of their Model T. at Crown Point as the Columbia River Highway was under construction. A set of 20 views, which are fairly common today, sold for $1. (I have that set of postcards) Their business grew and they built a post card stand at Crown Point. In the 1920's they set up a studio at 72nd and Sandy Boulevard in Portland. Cross died August 6, 1940, and Dimmitt died on April 26, 1963 at the age of 82. He managed the Vista House for 40 years.
The Friends of Multnomah Falls website contains excellent photos and more information.
The Word Multnomah:
(pronounced /məltˈnoʊmə/) is one of 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. Though smallest in area, it is the most populous as its county seat, Portland, is the state's largest city. In 2006, the county's population was 681,454. The county was likely named after Native American people first recorded in the journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Mulknomans, who lived in a village on the east side of present-day Sauvie Island. (An alternative theory holds that Multnomah is a corruption of nematlnomaq, meaning down river.)
Evening Waterfall
What was the name you called me?-
And why did you go so soon?
The crows lift their caw on the wind,
And the wind changed and was lonely.
The warblers cry their sleep-songs
Across the valley gloaming,
Across the cattle-horns of early stars.
Feathers and people in the crotch of a treetop
Throw an evening waterfall of sleepy-songs.
What was the name you called me?-
And why did you go so soon?
-Carl Sandburg
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