At Willamette Falls, an Indigenous fishing place and an 1873 lock system share the river

Willamette Falls remains an important Indigenous fishing and cultural site. The site is in Clackamas County. The Oregon Blue Book lists both the falls and navigation locks as county points of interest. The fishing place and the locks share one stretch of river.

The Locks Authority timeline dates the canal and locks to 1873. They gave boats a route around the falls. Oregon later formed a public body for the locks. ORS 196.205 creates the Willamette Falls Locks Authority as an independent public corporation. Its mission covers ownership, oversight, and management of the locks project. The law links that work to a river that is navigable and resilient.

The mission describes work, not the locks’ current status. The statute and timeline do not establish current public access or operating status. They do establish something you can see in the river. An important fishing place sits beside a lock route made for boats to pass Willamette Falls.