Willamette Falls Locks

The Willamette Falls Locks is a lock system on the Willamette River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Opened in 1873, it allows boat traffic on the Willamette to navigate beyond Willamette Falls. The four inter-connected locks are located 25 miles upriver from the Columbia River.

History

The Willamette Falls Canal and Locks Company was formed in 1868 to build a navigation route around the falls.Corning, Howard M. "Dictionary of Oregon History". Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956.] Construction then began on building a canal and lock system around the west end of the falls. The locks opened on 1873-01-01, as the first multi lift navigation locks in the United States at a cost of $560,000, and has been in continuous use ever since. Maria Wilkins, a steamship, was the first vessel to use the locks. The Army Corps of Engineers purchased the lock system from Portland General Electric in 1915 for $375,000. [cite press release | title = News Release 97-127 | publisher = U.S. Army Corps of Engineers | date = December 29, 1997 | url = https://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/pa/news/shownews.asp?rn=97-127 | accessdate = 2007-06-10] The National Register of Historic Places listed the locks in 1974 as structure #74001680.

Details

The locks are owned and operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and passage through the locks is free for both commercial and recreational boats. There are seven gates in four chambers which lift up to 50 feet (15.5 m) elevation change (depending on tides and river flow) with a usable width of 37 feet (11.2 m). The system is 3565 feet (1087 m) long, and can accommodate vessels up to 175 feet (53.3 m) long. Each of the four concrete constructed chambers are 210 feet by 40 feet.

Threat of closure

On January 12, 2008, the "Willamette Queen", a diesel sternwheel tourboat, locked through the Willamette Locks, on its way downriver to Portland. It is possible that the "Willamette Queen"'s return journey to Salem, scheduled for later in January, 2008, may be the last time a vessel passes through the locks. The Corps of Engineers needs $511,000 to do an inspection of the locks in 2008, which is several times the annual budget required to run them, and the public funds may not be there to pay for the inspection. [The Sunday Oregonian, Metro Northwest Section, page 3, January 13, 2008]

References

ee also

*Steamboats of the Willamette River
*Willamette Falls

External links

* [http://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/op/wfl/facts.asp Army Corps of Engineers facts]
* [http://www.endoftheoregontrail.org/lox.html End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center website]
* [http://www.nationaltrust.org/magazine/archives/arc_news/093004.htm National Trust website advocating saving the locks]
* [http://www.willamettefalls.org Willamette Falls Heritage Foundation]