Toketee Falls

File:Toketee Falls 2019-10-19.jpg

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{{short description|Waterfall in Oregon, United States}}

{{Infobox settlement

| name = Toketee Falls

| coordinates = {{Coord|43.26298|-122.43289|format=dms|type:landmark_region:US-OR|display=inline,title}}

| pushpin_map = Oregon

}}

Toketee Falls is a waterfall in Douglas County, Oregon, United States, on the North Umpqua River at its confluence with the Clearwater River.{{cite gnis |id= 1151298 |name= Toketee Falls |entrydate= November 28, 1980 |accessdate= March 5, 2012 }}{{Cite OGN|7th|pages= 960–961}} It is located approximately {{convert|58|mi|km}} east of Roseburg near Oregon Route 138, northwest of the North Entrance to Crater Lake.{{cite book |title= Oregon Atlas & Gazetteer |edition= 7th |date= 2008 |publisher= DeLorme |location= Yarmouth, Maine |isbn= 978-0-89933-347-2 |pages= 53–54}}

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 {{convert|120|ft|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.

See also

References

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