From Rivers to Reservoirs:
Cottage Grove & Dorena Dams

Cottage Grove residents had long learned to live with the hardships of flooding. By the mid-1930s many hoped that a proposed system of Willamette Basin dams -- initially seven in total but eventually growing to thirteen -- would prevent the annual floods. These dams provided benefits beyond the city of Cottage Grove and its surrounding environs, however. Downriver cities like Eugene, Salem, and Portland benefited from flood control. Even when the entire system was finished, the dams did not prevent floods altogether. Yet they mitigated flood damages. The dams also provided peripheral benefits such as recreation.

This section examines how and why Cottage Grove and Dorena dams were built.