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. Since their closure in 2011, the locks have been classified to be in a "non operational status." In 2023, work began to repair the locks, which are expected to reopen in 2026. The locks comprise seven gates in four chambers which lift up to 50 feet (15 m) elevation change (depending on tides and river flow) with a usable width of 37 feet (11 m). The system is 3565 feet (1087 m) long, and can accommodate vessels up to 75 feet (23 m) long. Each of the four concrete constructed chambers are Much legal, organizational, and financial work had to be done before construction could begin. The Willamette Falls Canal and Locks Company (later renamed Portland General Electric) was formed in 1868 to build a navigation route around the falls. This company was incorporated by a special act of the legislature. At that time, all transshipment of freight across the Willamette Falls was controlled by the People's Transportation Company, often referred to as the P. T. Co. Ownership of this key point in the river gave the P. T. Co. the ability to quell all competition for shipping on the Willamette River. to "locate and construct a canal and suitable boat locks at the falls of the Willamette River, on the west side of said falls".

On October 26, 1868, the Oregon legislature approved a law entitled "an Act to appropriate funds for the construction of a Steamboat Canal at Wallamet Falls." which among other claims, predicted that 60,000 tons of freight and 20,000 passengers would pass through the canal and locks every year, which turned out to be an overstatement by a factor of several hundred percent.

In March 1869, the company's attorney, Septimus Huelat, brought condemnation actions in Clackamas County Circuit Court, to acquire, in Linn City, a strip of land about 2014 feet (614 m) long and 60 feet (18 m) wide By 1869 Linn City was a settlement in name only, as the actual town, located on the west side of the river just below the falls, had been washed away by a flood in December 1861. The subsidy was too small to attract investors. The 1870 law was substantially similar to the 1868 legislation, except that it increased the subsidy to $200,000, in the form of bonds payable in gold issued by the state of Oregon, to be issued upon posting of a surety bond in the amount of $300,000. Maximum tolls chargeable were in all circumstances to fifty cents per ton of freight and ten cents per passenger. The deadline for completion was rolled back to January 1, 1873. However, bids were solicited in early 1871, based on plans and specifications of Calvin Brown, which called for four locks, each 160 feet long, with the canal about 2,900 long, and a wooden wall the whole length of the canal, with the locks themselves built of masonry. Smith recommended that the wooden wall be replaced with one built of stone, that the length of all locks be increased to 210 feet, and that a fifth lock, known as the "guard" lock, 1200 feet along the canal from the fourth lock. The contracts were let out on this basis.

Various statements have been published as to the costs of the works. In 1893, a committee of the state legislature, in studying whether the state should purchase the locks, found that between $300,000 and $325,000 had been expended on construction. Capt. Isaac W. Smith was the chief superintendent. E. G. Tilton was the chief Engineer; Tilton's assistant was J. A. Lessourd, who superintended the construction of the gates and the iron and wood work. Major King was the secretary for the project. Rather than reduce the rock to powder, as on previous designs, these drills cut a ring into the rock about 2 inches in diameter, with the remaining portion of the rock, called the core, passing out through a water cooled iron tube. The company agreed to pay the wage claims. Isaac W. Smith took over Jordan's place, with the objective to speed construction as fast as weather permitted, and put an additional workforce in the spring if 1872 to meet the company's deadline as set by the state. The successful completion of the project was reported to have been "secured by treating the men kindly and considerately and paying them liberally and promptly." A steamer was expected to be able to use the locks on December 25, 1872, however this proved impossible, because some of the gates were not working properly, and a few more days work would be necessary. Governor La Fayette Grover appointed three commissioners, former governor John Whiteaker, George R. Helm, and Lloyd Brook to examine the locks and accept them on behalf of the state if they were constructed in accordance with the law. The commissioners inspected the locks on Saturday, December 28, 1872. At 12:17 the small steamer Maria Watkins entered the first lock. Watkins was late, having been expected to arrive at 11:00 a. m. A large crowd of spectators cheered from alongside the walls of the lock as the steamer entered. The boat responded to the cheers with three blasts from the steam whistle.

The lift locks were of a type known as "combined" locks, with the lower gate of one lock functioning as the upper gate of the lock next below. On March 8, 1876, by a deed recorded in Clackamas County Willamette Falls Canal and Lock Company sold all its property, including the canal and locks, to Willamette Transportation and Locks Company for $500,000. On January 8, 1877, four prominent businessmen, John C. Ainsworth, Simeon G. Reed, Robert R. Thompson, and Bernard Goldsmith, filed supplemental articles of incorporation which increased the powers of Willamette Transportation and Locks Co. Ainsworth, Reed, and Thompson were closely associated with the powerful Oregon Steam Navigation Company (O. S. N.) An 1895 source considered the 1876 transaction to be a sale to the O. S. N. Chambers had been in charge of the heavy rock work during the construction of the canal and locks. In 1907, the toll collector at the locks was the local station agent of the O. R.&N (Southern Pacific) at Oregon City. The Open River Association and its sympathizers favored free tolls after the government obtained the locks.

On January 1, 1887, Willamette Transportation and Locks Co. issued mortgage bonds in the amount of $420,000 to New York businessman and O. R.&N president Elijah Smith These bonds acted as a lien upon the canal and locks and were still outstanding in 1893. In 1889, the company granted two industrial firms, Willamette Pulp and Paper Co, and Crown Paper Co. building sites along the canal and rights to withdraw water from the canal for industrial purposes. By 1899, the wooden lock gates were rotten and leaking badly. In the previous year, Portland General Electric, had earned about $35,000 from the tolls on the locks and canal. The major issue associated with the proposed purchase was the question of water rights. Consideration was then being given to the possibility of constructing a new canal on the east side of the falls rather than purchasing the existing canal on the west side. However, in 1908, Judge Frazer's decision was reversed following an appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court. *

On May 31, 1909, while replacing a lock gate, three men were injured when the false work supporting the old gate collapsed, and the gate fell, causing one man to sustain a broken leg, another was badly bruised, and a third man had lacerations on his legs. In 1911, the canal and locks were valued at $300,000 for property tax purposes, and assessed a tax of $5,587.50 against them, which was paid, late, by the owner of the works, the Portland Railway, Light & Power Co.

In 1912, the War Department approved purchase of the locks from Portland Railway, Light & Power Company. The purchase price was to be $375,000. The transaction did not finally close until 1915. The reason for the delay was the need to establish the vendor's title to the property, as well as to work out the details of the various conditions that the vendor wished to attach to the sale. While the owners and operators of the locks appeared to be able to claim title by adverse possession, this would not be considered sufficient by the U. S. government, which required proof of the plat map of the town of Linn City. An official of the Corps of Engineers had heard from one old resident of Linn City that a map had survived the flood, but this map could not be found. The official intended to consult with George H. Himes, of the Oregon Historical Society to learn more about Linn City. By September 1916, about 1000 feet of the wall to divide the canal and locks from the industrial flume had been built, using cofferdams. About 200 feet of wall downstream from the guard lock were still left to be completed. To permit river traffic to continue while reconstruction was underway, the Army Corps of Engineers built a wooden flume as a temporary canal. A cofferdam would have been too costly to employ because of the depth of the water. In April 2009, as part of the federal government's economic stimulus plan, $1.8 million was allocated to repair and inspect the locks, with an additional $900,000 allocated in October 2009 for additional repairs and operational costs. The locks reopened in January 2010 with the Willamette Queen the first vessel to pass. The locks were open through the summer of 2010, and then due to a lack of federal funding for operations, were not scheduled to reopen for 2011. In December 2011, the locks were again closed, this time owing to the excessive corrosion of the locks' gate anchors. The further deterioration of the locks resulted in the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers reclassifying the locks as being in a "non operational status," out of concern that any further operation of the locks could lead to a failure of the locks, posing a safety risk to the public. The locks were expected to remain permanently closed, as the lack of traffic through the locks makes funding for any repairs a low priority. However, some interest groups urged the Army Corps of Engineers to reopen the locks, at least seasonally, and the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners added its support to that effort in December 2014. In 2023, the Portland Division of US Army Corps of Engineers awarded contracts for repair of the locks. This work, which began in October 2023, seeks to repair and seismically upgrade the locks. When the work finishes in 2026, the locks will be handed over to the Willamette Falls Locks Authority, a public corporation consisting of 11 members who will oversee the locks.

The locks were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.