An Oregon Story:
From Rivers to Reservoirs:
The Last of the Lumbermills:
|
The Corps Sets the Goals for Development
Its ultimate goal is to provide enlarged opportunities and better living conditions for the present inhabitants and for those who may come in the future.
--"Second Report on the Willamette Valley Project," 1937
The Willamette Valley Flood Control Commission inspecting a site in 1948.
Courtesy of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Empowered by the 1936 Flood Control Act, the Army Corps of Engineers undertook a preliminary examination of the Willamette River. In 1938 the Corps submitted a report known as Doc. 544 to Congress that called for a system of reservoirs to control flooding in the valley, a need described by the Corps's Colonel Thomas Robins as "urgent."
The Corps listed the expected benefits from the dams, in order of importance, as:
________________________________
With six dams completed by 1969, the development of the Willamette River Basin reflects the rise in federal projects throughout the larger Columbia Basin. For enthusiasts these projects promised a multitude of regional benefits including flood control, irrigation waters, cheap electricity, improved navigation, and cleaner streams (the release of reservoir waters would flush sewage and industrial wastes from river systems). Even today, many Cottage Grove residents believe that benefits outweigh the loss of wildlife and fish habitat or the reduction of wild, free-flowing water ways.
Oregonian Article: "Willamette: Rebel River"
