Formulating a plan to clean up the Portland Harbor Superfund site is only the most recent chapter in the Willamette River’s sullied past. [26], A map of the Willamette River, its drainage basin, major tributaries and major cities, Location of the mouth of the Willamette River in Oregon, Dave and Lynn Frohnmayer Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge, List of crossings of the Willamette River, "National Water Information System: USGS 14211720 Willamette River at Portland", "United States Geological Survey Topographic Map, Eugene East, Coburg, Junction City, Harrisburg, Peoria, Riverside, Lewisburg, Albany, Monmouth, Salem West, Mission Bottom, Dayton, St. Paul, Newberg, Sherwood, Canby, Lake Oswego, Portland, Linnton, Sauvie Island, and Saint Helens quadrants", "The Eugene Springfield Bicycle Map and Resource Guide", "Water-Data Report 2009: 14174000 Willamette River at Albany, OR", "Water-Data Report 2009: 14166000 Willamette River at Harrisburg, OR", "Water-Data Report 2009: 14191000 Willamette River at Salem, OR", "Water-Data Report 2009: 14211720 Willamette River at Portland, OR", "Willamette River Multi-Purpose Development in the 1930s", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Course_of_the_Willamette_River&oldid=941338711, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, Morrison Bridge, Portland, 12.8 miles (20.6 km) from, Benke, Arthur C., ed., and Cushing, Colbert E., ed. USGS 14211720 WILLAMETTE RIVER AT PORTLAND, OR. [23], A gauge at RM 84.16 (RK 135.44), near the Center Street Bridge in downtown Salem recorded an average discharge of 23,250 cubic feet per second (658 m3/s) over the 93 years between 1910–16 and 1924–2009. [63], As commerce and industry flourished on the lower river, most of the original settlers acquired farms in the upper Willamette Valley. [150], Species diversity is greatest along the lower river and its tributaries. [6][9][17], The river flows by Abernethy Island and Moore's Island and by a USGS stream gauge before plunging about 40 feet (12 m) over the falls. The right-hand channel flows by the city of Gladstone, which is on the right. [19] They covered the Tualatin Mountains (West Hills), most of the Tualatin Valley, and the slopes of hills further south, with up to 1,000 feet (300 m) of lava. [24] Flood deposits of silt and clay, ranging in thickness from 115 feet (35 m) in the north to about 15 feet (4.6 m) in the south, settled from this muddy water to form today's valley floor. [43] The total native population was estimated at about 15,000. [65] They were first led off their traditional lands to the Willamette Valley, but soon were marched to the Coast Indian Reservation. Below the bridge, Ennis Creek enters from the left, then McCarthy Creek from the left at RM 18. [74] The Oregon State Legislature established the program in 1967. [18], The Willamette River basin was created primarily by plate tectonics and volcanism and was altered by erosion and sedimentation, including some related to enormous glacial floods as recent as 13,000 years ago. They were known for the controlled burning of woodlands to create meadows for hunting and plant gathering (especially camas). This was from a drainage basin of 4,840 square miles (12,536 km2), or about 43 percent of the watershed. [55] John McLoughlin, a Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) official, was one of the major contributors to the founding of the town in 1829. So, a rise to 14 feet means the Willamette will be 54 feet deep as it flows past Portland. All carry city streets and pedestrian walkways, and the Steel Bridge carries the Union Pacific Railroad, and the Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) light rail as well. Between the Hawthorne and Steel bridges, the Eastbank Esplanade and I-5 are on the river's right. From West Linn to Oregon City, I-205 and Willamette Falls Drive run roughly parallel to the river to its left. The average discharge at the lowermost gauge, near the Morrison Bridge in Portland, was 33,220 cubic feet per second (941 m3/s) between 1972 and 2013. The river then passes Skinner Butte Park, which is on the left, and under Interstate 105 (I-105). The Willamette River (/wɪˈlæmɪt/ (listen) wil-AM-it) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. Then Mill Creek enters from the right, opposite Wallace Marine Park. [94], The 50 or so crossings of the Willamette River include many historic structures, such as the Van Buren Street Bridge, a swing bridge. [35] Sixty-eight percent of the watershed is forested; agriculture, concentrated in the Willamette Valley, makes up 19 percent, and urban areas cover 5 percent. This new pipe is critical in making sure we can get water to the west side of the Willamette after an earthquake. Slightly downstream on the right is a USGS gauging station, below which the Willamette flows under the Center Street Bridge and then the Marion Street Bridge, which carry Oregon Route 22 eastbound and westbound, respectively. The Harrisburg gauge measures the flow from an area of about 3,420 square miles (8,900 km2), about 30 percent of the Willamette watershed. An observer of the flood wrote, "The whole Willamette valley [sic] was a sheet of water". The main channel, which is 40 feet (12 m) deep and varies in width from 600 to 1,900 feet (180 to 580 m) (although the river broadens to 2,000 feet (610 m) in some of its lower reaches),[5][6] enters the Columbia about 101 miles (163 km) from the larger river's mouth on the Pacific Ocean. Slightly further downstream, the Willamette becomes the boundary between Marion County on the right and Yamhill County on the left and receives King Creek from the left. Near its mouth, the river splits into two channels that flow around Sauvie Island. Downstream of the island, the city of Newberg is on the left, 50 miles (80 km) from the mouth. [137][138], Despite earlier cleanup efforts, state studies in the 1990s identified a wide variety of pollutants in the river bottom, including heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and pesticides along the lower 12 miles (19 km) of the river, in Portland. In 1889, we built the first hydroelectric plant in the American West, Station A, at Willamette Falls in Oregon City, south of Portland. The Middle Fork and the North Fork—a tributary of the Middle Fork—rise on the western side of the Cascades between Three Sisters Wilderness on the north and Diamond Peak Wilderness on the south. In this stretch, the east channel of the river receives Muddy Creek from the right, and the main channel flows by Willamette Park and the Crystal Lake Sports Fields and Kendall Natural Area, all in Corvallis, on the river's left. Roughly 1.5 miles (2.4 km) later, the river leaves Linn County and becomes the boundary between Polk County on the left and Marion County on the right. [4][37] The name Willamette is of indigenous origin, deriving from the French pronunciation of the name of a Clackamas Native American village. [109] Further downstream, the St. Johns Bridge, a steel suspension bridge built in 1931, replaced the last of the Willamette River ferries in Portland. Today the city of West Linn stands about where Linn City once was. Near Swan Island, the University of Portland is above the river on a bluff to the right. Indigenous peoples of the Willamette Valley were further divided into groups including the Kalapuyan-speaking Yamhill and Atfalati (Tualatin) (both Northern Kalapuya), Central Kalapuya like the Santiam, Muddy Creek (Chemapho), Long Tom (Chelamela), Calapooia (Tsankupi), Marys River (Chepenafa) and Luckiamute, and the Yoncalla or Southern Kalapuya, as well other tribes such as the Chuchsney-Tufti, Siuslaw and Molala. [47], Fur traders heavily exploited the Willamette River and its tributaries. The Willamette River Crossing Project, which will build an earthquake-resilient water line deep under the Willamette River, is part of the Water Bureau’s commitment to preparedness. On the river's right beyond I-5 is Alton Baker Park, and on the left is Route 99, coterminous with Business Route 126. Clackamas River Clackamas River. A drill rig on a barge operated by Mark Marine is being used to take soil samples deep in the Willamette River. [19] Each flood produced "discharges that exceeded the annual discharge of all the present-day rivers of the world combined". [11] The main stem of the Willamette varies in width from about 330 to 660 feet (100 to 200 m). [56] McLoughlin attempted to persuade the British government (which still held sway over the area) to allow American settlers to live on the land, and provided significant help to American colonization of the area, all against the HBC's orders. Below that, it flows around Hog Island, opposite Marylhurst University, which is on the left. It passes Willamette Heights Park, which is on the right, then enters the city of Springfield. About 2 miles (3 km) later, the river reaches Buena Vista County Park and the unincorporated community of Buena Vista, both on the left, and the Buena Vista Ferry, which carries vehicles using Buena Vista Road between Polk and Marion counties. Then the river leaves Yamhill County and becomes the border between Clackamas County, on the left, and Marion County, on the right, slightly upstream of the unincorporated community of Butteville, which is on the right. [117][118] Portland's main street was completely submerged, communication over the Cascades was cut off, and many rail lines were forced to shut down. Photo courtesy Human Access Project. The machinery to operate the swing span was removed in the 1950s. At RM 113 (RK 182), Wilson Lake is on the right, and about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) further downstream, the Willamette leaves Benton County and becomes the boundary between Linn County, on the right, and Polk County on the left. The main channel, rounding Snag Boat Bend, is re-joined by the side channel and arrives at Peoria, which is on the right. [11], The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) operates five stream gauges along the river, at Harrisburg, Corvallis, Albany, Salem, and Portland. The oldest of these, at Albany, has collected discharge data since the 1880s. The main stem of the Willamette varies in width from about 330 to 660 feet (100 to 200 m). It is also the busiest bicycle and transit bridge in Oregon, with over 8,000 cyclists[106] and 800 TriMet buses (carrying about 17,400 riders) daily.
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