Native American oral history taught that the falls were placed there by the ancient hero T'allapus (Coyote) so that their people would have fish to eat all winter.· Willamette Falls was once the home to the Charcowah village of the Clowewalla band of Tumwaters or Willamette Band of Tumwaters, an upper Chinookan speaking people. These lands were ceded to the United States Government under the
Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855 (signed on January 22, 1855; ratified on March 3, 1855). Tribal members were then removed from these ancestral lands to the
Grand Ronde Reservation and the
Siletz Indian Reservation. Willamette Falls is an important location for many tribes. The abundance of
salmon brought tribal communities from all over to fish, trade, and interact at the falls - creating an economic and cultural hub for the region. Each year many tribes harvest ceremonial salmon at Willamette Falls and collect
lamprey during the summer, including the
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the
Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, the
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, the
Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and the
Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. European
fur traders became aware of the falls in 1810.
John McLoughlin established a land claim at the falls in the name of the
Hudson's Bay Company in 1829.
Oregon City was established in 1842 near the east end of the falls. The town of
Linn City was founded on the western shore one year later in 1843. The two towns competed economically, vying for the lucrative steamboat traffic and the trade it generated. With the falls representing the end of the line for boat traffic, river boat captains were forced to choose a side of the river on which they would dock to unload their passengers and goods; some of which would continue their upriver journey on winding portage toll roads. Competition between the towns was fierce until the
Great Flood of 1862. Oregon City was inundated and badly damaged, while Linn City was obliterated.
Modifications and industrialization Navigating past the falls was not possible until the completion of the
Willamette Falls Locks in 1873. During construction of the locks, channels were blasted from the rocks that formerly supported the town of Linn City. Along with the locks, the city of
West Linn sits on a portion of the former town site. The locks were sold by the Willamette Falls Canal and Locks Company to the
United States Army Corps of Engineers in 1915. They were closed in 2011. The Willamette Falls Electric Company (later renamed
Portland General Electric) was formed in 1888 to build a hydro-electric generation facility at the falls. Four turbine-driven dynamos were built on the east end of the falls. A 14-mile (23-kilometer) long transmission line to
Portland was built, becoming the first long-distance
transmission of electrical energy in the United States in 1889. In 1895 Portland General Electric built a second generation station on the west side of the falls. The newer plant, called the
T.W.Sullivan Plant (previously Station B), is still in operation with a capacity of 16,000 kilowatts. The foundations of the old plant still remain. The falls have been home to several paper mills beginning with the Oregon City Paper Manufacturing Co. in 1866. The Willamette Pulp and Paper Co. opened on the West Linn side during 1889. The ownership of the mills has changed several times. The last two remaining mills in 2011 were owned by the West Linn Paper Company and the
Blue Heron Paper Company. West Linn Paper Company announced it was shutting down in October 2017, and reopened in November 2019 as
Willamette Falls Paper Company. Blue Heron Paper Company closed its mill in February 2011. The Blue Heron site has subsequently been auctioned off for redevelopment. The milling facilities were sold to a Canadian investment firm, NRI Global, Inc., which has begun work removing the old machinery and cleaning the grounds of contamination. An agreement for the sale of the site itself was announced in June 2013, but later fell apart. In May 2014, another developer, George Heidgerken, purchased the property. Heidgerken then sold the property to the
Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde in August 2019. == Ecology ==