The community served as the county seat of Skamania County and was an important river port for settlers moving into the region. The small community of Cascades received a warning from some Klickitat that a raiding part was coming. The US Army had reinforcements try to meet up with the Indian war party by Hood River, but they did not engage due to being outnumbered by the Indians. Cascades was mostly washed away by a flood in 1894. The community was located on the Washington side of the Columbia River near Cascade Locks, Oregon. It would have been located between Fort Rains and Stevenson.