Tag Archives: Willamette Falls Locks

YAMHILL LOCKS – ALWAYS A LITTLE LATE TO THE GAME

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The walls of the Yamhill Locks remain; the dam is gone while the river still flows.
The walls of the Yamhill Locks remain; the dam is gone while the river still flows.

Three federally funded lock systems developed in Oregon with only the one at Willamette Falls remaining in some sort of functional capacity today. Cascade Canal and Lock -1878-1896 – submerged by Bonneville Dam; Dalles-Celilo Canal – 1905-1915 – lies under water from The Dalles Lock and Dam since 1956. Yamhill Locks closed in 1954. Gates and dam removed leaving the lock walls in place. The move to build the lock took over forty years. By the time of completion, time moved on, and the lock served little purpose for most of its fifty some year lifespan. 

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YELLOW STACK LINE – STEAMY HURRAH ON THE WILLAMETTE

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Yellow Stack Line's Grahamona loading at Salem.
Yellow Stack Line’s Grahamona loading at Salem.

Steamboats provided the basis of transportation for the Northwest for much of the latter part of the 19th century. Railroads and, later, truck traffic ended the golden age of river transport.  In Oregon, the Willamette Valley was welded together for much of fifty plus years by little steamboats making their way up and down the river. They braved high waters and with designs allowing for small drafts, they puffed along their way in periods of low water, as well. One of the steamboat lines coming late to the game was one of the more dramatic, made so by the yellow smoke stacks sprouting off all of their boats. This was the Yellow Stack Line.

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WILLAMETTE FALLS LOCKS – OPENING THE DOOR TO THE VALLEY

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Governor Grover transiting through Lock 3 in 1873. OHS

Willamette Landings was a book I originally read in the sixth or seventh grade a long time ago. The book details the little settlements growing along the Willamette River in the mid to late 19th century when the river served to connect the Valley to each other and the outside world. The book impressed me so much I was able to convince my parents to take a trip visiting some of the old sites, including rides on the three ferries remaining – still, today, as well – in operation crossing the river. The key to being able to use the river as a transportation artery was the development of the Willamette Falls Locks in 1873.

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