The Willamette Falls is a natural
waterfall
A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf.
Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...
on the
Willamette River
The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...
between
Oregon City and
West Linn, Oregon
West Linn is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. A southern suburb within the Portland metropolitan area, West Linn developed on the site of the former Linn City, which was named after U.S. Senator Lewis F. Linn of Ste. Genevie ...
, in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. It is the largest waterfall in the
Northwestern United States
The Northwestern United States, also known as the American Northwest or simply the Northwest, is an informal geographic region of the United States. The region consistently includes the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. ...
by volume, and the seventeenth widest in the world. Horseshoe in shape, it is wide and high with a flow of 30,849 cu ft/s (874 m³/s), located upriver from the Willamette's mouth. Willamette Falls is a culturally significant site for many tribal communities in the region.
Opened in 1873 and closed since 2011, the
Willamette Falls Locks
The Willamette Falls Locks are a lock system on the Willamette River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Opened in 1873 and closed since 2011, they allowed boat traffic on the Willamette to navigate beyond Willamette Falls and the T.W. Sullivan Dam. ...
allowed boat traffic on the Willamette to pass into the main
Willamette Valley
The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, ...
.
Human history
![Willamette Falls drawing](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Willamette_Falls_drawing.png)
Native American oral history taught that the falls were placed there by the ancient hero T'allapus (Coyote) so that their people would have fish to eat all winter.· Willamette Falls was once the home to the Charcowah village of the Clowewalla band of Tumwaters or Willamette Band of Tumwaters, an upper Chinookan speaking people. These lands were ceded to the United States Government under the
Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855 (signed on January 22, 1855; ratified on March 3, 1855). Tribal members were then removed from these ancestral lands to the
Grand Ronde Reservation and the
Siletz Indian Reservation
The Siletz Reservation is a 5.852 sq mi (15.157 km²) Indian reservation in Lincoln County, Oregon, United States, owned by the Confederated Tribes of Siletz. The reservation is made up of numerous non-contiguous parcels of land in east-centra ...
.
![Willamette Falls boat basin 1867 (Watkins 1217)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Willamette_Falls_boat_basin_1867_%28Watkins_1217%29.JPG)
Willamette Falls is an important location for many tribes despite their removal. The abundance of
salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...
brought tribal communities from all over to fish, trade, and interact at the falls - creating an economic and cultural hub for the region. Each year many tribes harvest ceremonial salmon at Willamette Falls and collect
lamprey
Lampreys (sometimes inaccurately called lamprey eels) are an ancient extant lineage of jawless fish of the order Petromyzontiformes , placed in the superclass Cyclostomata. The adult lamprey may be characterized by a toothed, funnel-like s ...
during the summer, including the
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation #REDIRECT Yakama Indian Reservation
The Yakama Indian Reservation (spelled Yakima until 1994) is a Native American reservation in Washington state of the federally recognized tribe known as the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation. ...
, the
Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde
The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon (CTGR) consists of twenty-seven Native American tribes with long historical ties to present-day western Oregon between the western boundary of the Oregon Coast and the eastern boundar ...
, the
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians
The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians in the United States is a federally recognized confederation of more than 27 Native American tribes and bands who once inhabited an extensive homeland of more than 20 million acres from northern Califo ...
, the
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation are the federally recognized confederations of three Sahaptin-speaking Native American tribes who traditionally inhabited the Columbia River Plateau region: the Cayuse, Umatilla, and ...
, and the
Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs
The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs is a recognized Native American tribe made of three tribes who put together a confederation. They live on and govern the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in the U.S. state of Oregon.
Tribes
The confederat ...
.
European
fur traders
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mo ...
became aware of the falls in 1810.
John McLoughlin established a land claim at the falls in the name of the
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business div ...
in 1829.
Oregon City was established in 1842 near the east end of the falls. The town of
Linn City Linn City was a community in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States, that existed from 1843-1861 and was destroyed in the Great Flood of 1862. The former site of Linn City was incorporated into the city of West Linn.
History
Robert Moore founded ...
was founded on the western shore one year later in 1843. The two towns competed economically, vying for the lucrative steamboat traffic and the trade it generated. With the falls representing the end of the line for boat traffic, river boat captains were forced to choose a side of the river on which they would dock to unload their passengers and goods; some of which would continue their upriver journey on winding portage toll roads. Competition between the towns was fierce until the
Great Flood of 1862. Oregon City was inundated and badly damaged, but Linn City was obliterated.
Navigating past the falls was not possible until the completion of the
Willamette Falls Locks
The Willamette Falls Locks are a lock system on the Willamette River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Opened in 1873 and closed since 2011, they allowed boat traffic on the Willamette to navigate beyond Willamette Falls and the T.W. Sullivan Dam. ...
in 1873. During construction of the locks, channels were blasted from the rocks that formerly supported the town of Linn City. Along with the locks, the modern city of
West Linn
West Linn is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. A southern suburb within the Portland metropolitan area, West Linn developed on the site of the former Linn City, which was named after U.S. Senator Lewis F. Linn of Ste. Genevie ...
sits on a portion of the former town site. The locks were sold by the Willamette Falls Canal and Locks Company to the
in 1915. They were closed in 2011.
Industrial history
The Willamette Falls Electric Company (later renamed
Portland General Electric
Portland General Electric (PGE) is a Fortune 1000 public utility based in Portland, Oregon. It distributes electricity to customers in parts of Multnomah, Clackamas, Marion, Yamhill, Washington, and Polk counties - 44% of the inhabitants ...
) was formed in 1888 to build a hydro-electric generation facility at the falls. Four turbine-driven dynamos were built on the east end of the falls. A 14-mile (23-kilometer) long transmission line to
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
was built, becoming the first long-distance
transmission of electrical energy in the United States in 1889.
In 1895
Portland General Electric
Portland General Electric (PGE) is a Fortune 1000 public utility based in Portland, Oregon. It distributes electricity to customers in parts of Multnomah, Clackamas, Marion, Yamhill, Washington, and Polk counties - 44% of the inhabitants ...
built a second generation station on the west side of the falls. The newer plant, called the
T.W.Sullivan Plant (previously Station B), is still in operation with a capacity of 16,000 kilowatts. The foundations of the old plant still remain.
The falls have been home to several paper mills beginning with the Oregon City Paper Manufacturing Co. in 1866. The Willamette Pulp and Paper Co. opened on the West Linn side during 1889. The ownership of the mills has changed several times. The last two remaining mills in 2011 were owned by the West Linn Paper Company and the
Blue Heron Paper Company. West Linn Paper Company announced it was shutting down in October 2017, and reopened in November 2019 as
Willamette Falls Paper Company. Blue Heron Paper Company closed its mill in February 2011.
The Blue Heron site has subsequently been auctioned off for redevelopment. The milling facilities were sold to a Canadian investment firm, NRI Global, Inc., which has begun work removing the old machinery and cleaning the grounds of contamination.
An agreement for the sale of the site itself was announced in June 2013,
but later fell apart.
In May 2014, another developer, George Heidgerken, purchased the property.
Heidgerken then sold the property to the
Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde
The Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon (CTGR) consists of twenty-seven Native American tribes with long historical ties to present-day western Oregon between the western boundary of the Oregon Coast and the eastern boundar ...
in August 2019.
Ecology and post-industrial history
The industrialization of the area led to diminishing
salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...
and
steelhead
Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or redband trout (O. m. gairdneri). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and ...
runs, prompting the construction of a
fish ladder
A fish ladder, also known as a fishway, fish pass, fish steps, or fish cannon is a structure on or around artificial and natural barriers (such as dams, locks and waterfalls) to facilitate diadromous fishes' natural migration as well as movemen ...
in 1882. A new
fish ladder
A fish ladder, also known as a fishway, fish pass, fish steps, or fish cannon is a structure on or around artificial and natural barriers (such as dams, locks and waterfalls) to facilitate diadromous fishes' natural migration as well as movemen ...
, built in 1971, is currently operated by the
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) is a government agency of the U.S. state of Oregon responsible for programs protecting Oregon fish and wildlife resources and their habitats.
The agency operates hatcheries, issues hunting an ...
. The estimated spring chinook
salmon run
''Salmon Run'' is a 1982 video game for the Atari 8-bit family created by Bill Williams and distributed via the Atari Program Exchange. ''Salmon Run'' was the first game in Williams's career, followed by a string of successes noted for their o ...
for 2007 is 52,000. The industrialization has also precluded public access to the base of the waterfall for well over a century, but as of 2017 a process to redevelop the Blue Heron Paper Mill site and provide public access to the area, including a river walk, is underway.
Description and access
The falls is a
horseshoe
A horseshoe is a fabricated product designed to protect a horse hoof from wear. Shoes are attached on the palmar surface (ground side) of the hooves, usually nailed through the insensitive hoof wall that is anatomically akin to the human toen ...
shaped block waterfall caused by a
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
shelf in the river floor. The 40 ft (12 m) high and 1500 ft (457 m) wide falls occur 26 river miles (42 km) upstream from the Willamette's confluence with the
Columbia River
The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...
. Operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the lock was a four lock canal and was the oldest continuous operating, multiple lift navigation canal in the United States.
The public can view the falls from viewpoints on the bluffs of
Oregon City, from a signed viewpoint along
Highway 99E, from the
Oregon City Bridge
The Oregon City Bridge, also known as the Arch Bridge, is a steel through arch bridge spanning the Willamette River between Oregon City and West Linn, Oregon, United States. Completed in 1922, it is listed on the National Register of Historic P ...
, from a viewpoint on northbound
I-205, or from boats in the river.
Gallery
File:Willamette Falls 1918 Moorehouse.jpg, The falls in 1918
File:Oregon City Falls P.jpg, The falls after the Hanukkah Eve windstorm of 2006
The Hanukkah Eve windstorm of 2006 was a powerful Pacific Northwest windstorm in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and southern British Columbia, Canada between December 14, 2006 and December 15, 2006. The storm produced hurricane-f ...
swelled the Willamette River and part of the paper mill
File:Willamete Falls flood aerial.jpeg, An aerial view of the Willamette Falls with the river near flood stage, taken on January 22, 2006
File:USACE Willamette Falls Oregon.jpg, View is downriver facing northeast. The locks are at far left.
File:Willamette Falls from drone.jpg, Willamette Falls as seen from overhead via a drone on July 19, 2017
See also
*
List of waterfalls by flow rate
This list of waterfalls by flow rate includes all waterfalls which are known to have an Volumetric flow rate, average flow rate or Discharge (hydrology), discharge of at least . The waterfalls in this list are those for which there is verifiable i ...
References
External links
Willamette Falls Heritage Foundation- Partners, stewards and advocates of the culture and heritage at Willamette Falls
Waterfalls Northwest: Willamette FallsWillamette Falls Legacy Project redevelopment of the Blue Heron Paper Mill site
The Hidden World Of Oregon's Overlooked FallsDocumentary produced by ''
Oregon Public Broadcasting
Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) is the primary television and radio public broadcasting network for most of the U.S. state of Oregon as well as southern Washington. OPB consists of five full-power television stations, dozens of VHF or UHF tra ...
''
{{Waterfalls of Oregon
Waterfalls of Oregon
Willamette River
Willamette Valley
West Linn, Oregon
Landforms of Clackamas County, Oregon
Block waterfalls
Waterfalls of Clackamas County, Oregon