Editing Willamette River (section)

==History==

===First inhabitants===
[[File:Willamette River at Molalla SP eb.jpg|thumb|right|180px|alt=The Willamette near the confluence with the Molalla|The Willamette River near the confluence with the [[Molalla River]]]]
For at least 10,000&nbsp;years, a variety of indigenous peoples populated the Willamette Valley. These included the [[Kalapuya people|Kalapuya]], the [[Chinook people|Chinook]], and the [[Clackamas people|Clackamas]].<ref name="removalexcerpt">{{cite journal |last=Spores |first=Ronald |title=Too Small a Place: The Removal of the Willamette Valley Indians, 1850–1856 |journal=American Indian Quarterly |volume=17 |year=1993 |page=172 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |jstor=1185526 |doi=10.2307/1185526 |issue=2}}</ref> The territory of the Clackamas encompassed the northeastern portion of the basin, including the Clackamas River (with which their name is shared). Although it is unclear exactly when, the territory of the Chinook once extended across the northern part of the watershed, through the Columbia River valley. Indigenous peoples of the Willamette Valley were further divided into groups including the [[Kalapuyan languages|Kalapuyan-speaking]] [[Yamhill (tribe)|Yamhill]] and [[Atfalati|Atfalati (Tualatin)]] (both Northern Kalapuya), Central Kalapuya like the [[Santiam people|Santiam]], Muddy Creek (Chemapho), Long Tom (Chelamela), Calapooia (Tsankupi), Marys River (Chepenafa) and Luckiamute, and the [[Yoncalla language|Yoncalla]] or Southern Kalapuya, as well other tribes such as the Chuchsney-Tufti, [[Siuslaw people|Siuslaw]] and [[Molala]].<ref name="Oregon Encyclopedia" /><ref name="removalexcerpt" /> The name ''Willamette'' is of indigenous origin, deriving from the French pronunciation of the name of a Clackamas Native American village.<ref name="Bright">Bright, p. 567</ref> However, Native American languages in Oregon were very similar,<ref>Campbell, p. 120</ref> so the name may also be derived from Kalapuya dialects.<ref name="RG 3/18/10">{{cite news |first=Bob |last=Welch |title=A Bridge Too Far Along to Be Renamed |url=http://projects.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/opinion/24574689-41/bridge-pap%C3%A9-welch-commission-decision.csp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119115052/http://projects.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/opinion/24574689-41/bridge-pap%C3%A9-welch-commission-decision.csp |archive-date=January 19, 2022 |url-status=dead |newspaper=The Register-Guard |date=March 18, 2010 |location=Eugene, Oregon |page=B1}}</ref>
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[[File:Wilhamut.1.JPG|thumb|left|alt=A boulder engraved with the Kalapuyan word "Whilamut" "Where the river ripples and runs fast"|A boulder at [[Alton Baker Park]] in [[Eugene, Oregon|Eugene]] engraved with the Kalapuyan word "Whilamut" "Where the river ripples and runs fast"]]
Around the year 1850, the Kalapuya numbered between 2,000 and 3,000 and were distributed among several groups. These figures are only speculative; there may have been as few as eight subgroups or as many as 16.<ref>Thornton, p. 125</ref> In that time period, the Clackamas' tribal population was roughly 1,800.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/record_tribes_084_13_22.html |title=Clackamas Indians |publisher=National Geographic Society |work=National Geographic |year=1996 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100208102759/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/record_tribes_084_13_22.html |archive-date=February 8, 2010}}</ref> The [[United States Census Bureau|U.S. Census Bureau]] estimated that the Chinook population was nearly 5,000,<ref>Snipp, p. 344</ref> though not all of the Chinook lived on the Willamette. The Chinook territory encompassed the lower Columbia River valley and significant stretches of the Pacific coast on both the north and the south side of the Columbia's mouth. At times, however, the Chinook territory extended even farther south in the Willamette Valley.<ref>Ruby and Brown, p. 4</ref> The total native population was estimated at 15,000.<ref name="removalexcerpt"/>

The indigenous peoples of the Willamette River practiced a variety of life ways. Those on the lower river, slightly closer to the coast, often relied on fishing as their primary economic mainstay. [[Salmon]] was the most important fish to Willamette River tribes as well as to the Native Americans of the Columbia River, where white traders traded fish with the Native Americans. Upper-river tribes caught [[Rainbow trout|steelhead]] and salmon, often by building [[weir]]s across tributary streams. Tribes of the northern Willamette Valley practiced a generally settled lifestyle. The Chinooks lived in great [[Plank house|wooden lodges]],<ref name="Ruby and Brown, p. 16">Ruby and Brown, p. 16</ref> practiced [[slavery]], and had a well-defined [[caste]] system.<ref name="Ruby and Brown, p. 16"/> People of the south were more nomadic, traveling from place to place with the seasons. They were known for the controlled burning of woodlands to create meadows for hunting and plant gathering (especially [[Camassia|camas]]).<ref>Deur and Turner, p. 220</ref>

===18th century===
The Willamette River first appeared in written records in 1792, when it was observed by British Lieutenant [[William Robert Broughton]] of the [[Vancouver Expedition]], led by [[George Vancouver]].<ref name="Brochure">{{cite web |url=https://www.oregon.gov/OSMB/forms-library/Documents/Publications/WillametteRiverGuide07.pdf |title=Willamette River Recreation Guide |publisher=Oregon State Marine Board |date=December 2007 |access-date=November 16, 2016 |pages=1–3, 10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161117210929/https://www.oregon.gov/OSMB/forms-library/Documents/Publications/WillametteRiverGuide07.pdf |archive-date=November 17, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===19th century===
The 1805–1806 [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]] originally missed the mouth of the Willamette. On their return journey, only after receiving directions from natives along the [[Sandy River (Oregon)|Sandy River]] did the explorers learn about their oversight. [[William Clark (explorer)|William Clark]] returned down the Columbia and entered the Willamette River in April 1806.<ref name="Benke 616"/>

Fur trappers originally working for the [[Pacific Fur Company]] (PFC)) and subsequently for the [[North West Company]] (NWC) were next to visit the Willamette River and various tributaries.<ref>Mackie, p. 115</ref> The [[Siskiyou Trail]] (or California-Oregon Trail) originally developed by Indigenous people, was used to reach farther south. This trail, over {{convert|600|mi|km}} long, stretched from the mouth of the Willamette River near present-day Portland south through the Willamette Valley, crossing the [[Siskiyou Mountains]], and south through the [[Sacramento Valley]] to [[San Francisco]].<ref>Engeman, p. 63</ref>

In 1812, William Henry and Alfred Seton paddled up from [[Fort Astoria]] (PFC) on the [[Columbia River]] into the mouth of the Willamette, continued on until the falls portage (present-day [[Oregon City]]) and finished their journey at a flattening of both banks, the later site of [[Champoeg]]. A first trading post was established. By early 1813, William Wallace and John C. Halsey established a second outpost, [[Wallace House (fur-trade post)|Wallace House]], farther south, north of present-day Salem. 

By the end of the [[War of 1812]], the NWC acquired the PFC. Free trappers Registre Bellaire, [[John Day (trapper)|John Day]] and Alexander Carson hunted and traded furs during the winter of 1813–14 along the Willamette. About thirty NWC employees were stationed at the Champoeg post, now called the [[Willamette Trading Post]], along with freemen housed in two huts and Kalapuya nearby. [[Nez Perce]] and [[Cayuse people|Cayuse]] warned the NWC to stay out of the Willamette Valley hunting grounds. Skirmishes went on for several years over fishing and hunting grounds contended by several groups.

By the winter of 1818–19, [[Thomas McKay]] led a hunting brigade farther south towards the sources of the Willamette River and reached the upper [[Umpqua River]]. More violent skirmishes were fought. Most brigade members returned to Fort George (formerly called [[Fort Astoria]]). Louis LaBonté, [[Joseph Gervais]], [[Étienne Lucier]], Louis Kanota, and Louis Pichette (dit DuPré) remained in the Willamette Valley as free trappers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usgennet.org/usa/or/county/clackamas/timeline1.html |title=Clackamas County Oregon History, 1800 to 1843}}</ref> Meanwhile, in 1821 the HBC merged with the NWC. In 1825 a new [[Fort Vancouver]] headquarters was built on the north shore of the Columbia closer to the Willamette, and Fort George was closed. [[Alexander Roderick McLeod]] traveled up the Willamette in 1826 and 1827, to the [[Umpqua River|Umpqua]] and the [[Rogue River (Oregon)|Rogue]] rivers.

In 1829 Lucier established a land claim near the Champoeg trading post and started to settle, soon joined by Gervais (1831), [[Pierre Belleque]] (1833) and 77 French Canadian settlers by 1836. By 1843, approximately 100 newcomer families lived in the vicinity of the Willamette on a section referred to as [[French Prairie]].

By 1841, members of the [[United States Exploring Expedition]] came through the Siskiyou Trail. They noted extensive salmon fishing by natives at Willamette Falls, much like that at [[Celilo Falls]] on the Columbia River.<ref>Wilkes, pp. 341–74</ref>

In the middle part of the 19th century the Willamette Valley's fertile soils, pleasant climate, and abundant water attracted thousands of settlers from the [[eastern United States]], mainly the [[Upland South]] borderlands of Missouri, Iowa, and the Ohio Valley.<ref>Meinig, p. 71</ref> Many of these emigrants followed the [[Oregon Trail]], a {{convert|2170|mi|km|adj=on}} trail across western North America that began at [[Independence, Missouri]], and ended at various locations near the mouth of the Willamette River. Although people had been traveling to Oregon since 1836, large-scale migration did not begin until 1843, when nearly 1,000 pioneers headed westward. Over the next 25 years, some 500,000&nbsp;settlers traveled the Oregon Trail, to reach the Willamette Valley.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.isu.edu/%7Etrinmich/Introduction.html |title=Introduction |publisher=Idaho State University |work=The Oregon Trail |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529081949/http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/Introduction.html |archive-date=May 29, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.isu.edu/%7Etrinmich/routewest.html |title=The Route West |publisher=Idaho State University |work=The Oregon Trail |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100529081928/http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/routewest.html |archive-date=May 29, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.octa-trails.org/articles/where-did-the-oregon-trail-go |title=Where did the Oregon Trail Go? Reaching Oregon's Willamette Valley |publisher=Oregon-California Trails Association |access-date=September 3, 2014}}</ref>

[[File:Oregon City and Willamette Falls, 1867.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Oregon City in 1867|Oregon City circa 1867, with Willamette Falls in the background]]

Starting in the 1830s, [[Oregon City]] developed near Willamette Falls. It was incorporated in 1844, becoming the first city west of the [[Rocky Mountains]] to have that distinction.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://sos.oregon.gov/blue-book/Pages/local/counties/clackamas.aspx |title=Clackamas County |publisher=Oregon State Archives |work=Oregon Blue Book |access-date=October 26, 2018}}</ref> [[John McLoughlin]], the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) superintendent of the [[Columbia District]], was one of the major contributors to the founding of the town in 1829.<ref>Samson, p. 125</ref> McLoughlin attempted to persuade the HBC (which still held sway over the area) to allow American settlers to live on the land, and provided significant help to American colonization of the area, all against the HBC's orders.<ref>Holman, pp. 96–97</ref> Oregon City prospered because of the lumber and grist mills that were run by the water power of Willamette Falls, but the falls formed an impassable barrier to river navigation. [[Linn City, Oregon|Linn City]] (originally Robins Nest) was established across the Willamette from Oregon City.<ref>McArthur, p. 1022</ref>

After Portland was incorporated in 1851, quickly growing into Oregon's largest city, Oregon City gradually lost its importance as the economic and political center of the Willamette Valley. Beginning in the 1850s, [[steamboat]]s began to ply the Willamette, despite the fact that they could not pass Willamette Falls.<ref>Gulick, pp. 28–29</ref> As a result, navigation on the Willamette River was divided into two stretches: the {{convert|27|mi|km|adj=on}} lower stretch from Portland to Oregon City—which allowed connection with the rest of the Columbia River system—and the upper reach, which encompassed most of the Willamette's length.<ref>Gulick, p. 22</ref> Any boats whose owners found it absolutely necessary to get past the falls had to be [[portage]]d. This led to competition for business among steam portage companies.<ref>Timmen, pp. 14, 17, 27</ref><ref name="Alan Lewis">{{cite web |last=Lewis |first=Alan |url=http://www.willamettefalls.org/hislocks#!history-of-the-locks/c1tb3 |title=Conquering the Falls: The Willamette Falls Locks |publisher=Willamette Falls Heritage Foundation |work=History of the Willamette Falls |date=August 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517061950/http://willamettefalls.org/HisLocks#!history-of-the-locks/c1tb3 |archive-date=May 17, 2013}}</ref> In 1873, the construction of the [[Willamette Falls Locks]] bypassed the falls and allowed easy navigation between the upper and lower river. Each lock chamber measured {{convert|210|ft|m}} long and {{convert|40|ft|m}} wide, and the canal was originally operated manually before it switched to electrical power.<ref name="Alan Lewis" /> Usage of the locks peaked in the 1940s, and by the early 21st&nbsp;century, the lock system was little used.<ref>{{cite news |last=Balingit |first=Moriah |author2=Lednicer, Lisa Grace |url=http://www.willamettefalls.org/LocksNews |title=Living on Borrowed Time |work=The Oregonian |date=May 18, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521074956/http://willamettefalls.org/LocksNews |archive-date=May 21, 2013}}</ref> Since 2011, the Willamette Falls Locks have been inactive.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nwp.usace.army.mil/willamette/locks/ |title=Willamette Falls Locks |publisher=U.S. Army Corps of Engineers |access-date=December 22, 2022}}</ref>

As commerce and industry flourished on the lower river, most of the original settlers acquired farms in the upper Willamette Valley. By the late 1850s, farmers had begun to grow crops on most of the available fertile land.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.opb.org/programs/oregonstory/farming/timeline.html |title=A Chronology of Farming in Oregon |publisher=Oregon Public Broadcasting |year=2000 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304055646/http://www.opb.org/programs/oregonstory/farming/timeline.html |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The settlers increasingly encroached on Native American lands. Skirmishes between natives and settlers in the Umpqua and [[Rogue River (Oregon)|Rogue]] valleys to the southwest of the Willamette River led the [[Government of Oregon|Oregon state government]] to remove the natives by military force.<ref>Edwards and Schwantes, p. 61</ref> They were first led off their traditional lands to the Willamette Valley, but soon were marched to the [[Coast Indian Reservation]]. In 1855, [[Joel Palmer]], an Oregon legislator, negotiated a treaty with the Willamette Valley tribes, who, although unhappy with the treaty, ceded their lands to non-natives.<ref>Edwards and Schwantes, p. 62</ref><ref name="Jette">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Jette |first=Melinda |url=http://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/kalapuya_treaty/ |title=Kalapuya Treaty of 1855 |publisher=Portland State University |encyclopedia=The Oregon Encyclopedia |access-date=June 6, 2010}}</ref> The natives were then relocated by the government to a part of the Coast Reservation that later became the [[Grande Ronde Reservation]].<ref name="Jette"/>

Between 1879 and 1885, the Willamette River was charted by [[Cleveland S. Rockwell]], a topographical engineer and cartographer for the [[United States Coast and Geodetic Survey]]. Rockwell surveyed the lower Willamette from the foot of [[Ross Island (Oregon)|Ross Island]] through Portland to the Columbia River and then downstream on the Columbia to [[Bachelor Island (Washington)|Bachelor Island]].<ref>U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, p. 76</ref> Rockwell's survey was extremely detailed, including 17,782&nbsp;hydrographic soundings. His work helped open the port of Portland to commerce.<ref>Stenzel, pp. 37–39</ref>

In the second half of the 19th&nbsp;century, the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|USACE]] dredged channels and built locks and levees in the Willamette's watershed. Although products such as lumber were often transported on an existing network of railroads in Oregon, these advances in navigation helped businesses deliver more goods to Portland, feeding the city's growing economy. Trade goods from the Columbia basin north of Portland could also be transported southward on the Willamette due to the deeper channels made at the Willamette's mouth.<ref name=Willingham>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Willingham |first=William F |title=U.S. Army Corps of Engineers |url=http://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/u_s__army_corps_of_engineers/ |encyclopedia=The Oregon Encyclopedia |publisher=Portland State University |access-date=September 14, 2011}}</ref>

===20th and 21st centuries===
[[File:Conveyor belt for Big Pipe project - Portland, Oregon.JPG|thumb|right|alt=The Big Pipe Project|Conveyor belt loading debris onto a barge as part of the Big Pipe Project]]
By the early 20th&nbsp;century, major river-control projects had begun to take place. Levees were constructed along the river in most urban areas, and Portland built concrete walls to protect its downtown sector.<ref name="Flooding"/> In the following decades, many large dams were built on Cascade Range tributaries of the Willamette. The Army Corps of Engineers operates 13 such dams, which affect flows from about 40&nbsp;percent of the basin.<ref name="Nature Conservancy">{{cite web |url=http://www.nature.org/cs/groups/webcontent/@web/@oregon/documents/document/prd_022483.pdf |title=Sustainable Rivers: Willamette Flow Management |publisher=The Nature Conservancy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111033206/http://www.nature.org/cs/groups/webcontent/@web/@oregon/documents/document/prd_022483.pdf |archive-date=November 11, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Most of them do not have fish ladders.<ref name="NOAA NRO">{{cite web |title=Willamette River Basin |url=http://www.nwr.noaa.gov/Salmon-Hydropower/Willamette-Basin/ |publisher=NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, Northwest Regional Office |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120922022048/http://www.nwr.noaa.gov/Salmon-Hydropower/Willamette-Basin/ |archive-date=September 22, 2012 |date=June 28, 2012}}</ref>

With development in and near the river came increased pollution. By the late 1930s, efforts to stem the pollution led to formation of a state sanitary board to oversee modest cleanup efforts.<ref name="Oregon Encyclopedia"/> In the 1960s, Oregon Governor [[Tom McCall]] led a push for stronger pollution controls on the Willamette.<ref name="Williams, p. 131"/> In this, he was encouraged by [[Robert W. Straub|Robert (Bob) Straub]]—the state treasurer and future Oregon governor (1975)—who first proposed a [[Willamette Greenway]] program during his 1966 gubernatorial campaign against McCall.<ref>{{cite book |last=Johnson |first=Charles K. |title=Standing at the Water's Edge: Bob Straub's Battle for the Soul of Oregon |publisher=Oregon State University Press |year=2012 |location=Corvallis |page=125 |isbn=978-0-87071-669-0}}</ref> The Oregon State Legislature established the program in 1967. Through it, state and local governments cooperated in creating or improving a system of parks, trails, and wildlife refuges along the river.<ref name= "Brochure"/> In 1998, the Willamette became one of 14 rivers designated an [[American Heritage River]] by U.S. President [[Bill Clinton]].<ref>{{cite web |title=American Heritage Rivers News |publisher=U.S. Environmental Protection Agency |url=http://water.epa.gov/type/watersheds/named/heritage/10-5upda.cfm |date=November 19, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722002603/http://water.epa.gov/type/watersheds/named/heritage/10-5upda.cfm |archive-date=July 22, 2011}}</ref> By 2007 the Greenway had grown to include more than 170 separate land parcels, including 10 state parks.<ref name= "Brochure"/> Public uses of the river and land along its shores include camping, swimming, fishing, boating, hiking, bicycling, and wildlife viewing.<ref name= "Brochure"/>

In 2008, government agencies and the non-profit [[Willamette Riverkeeper]] organization designated the full length of the river as the Willamette River Water Trail.<ref name="Karas">{{cite news |last=Karas |first=Chisti |title=Peaceful Paddle with Beer Stops on Oregon's Willamette Water Trail |work=The Seattle Times |url=http://www.seattletimes.com/life/travel/peaceful-paddles-with-beer-stops-on-oregons-willamette-water-trail/ |date=July 24, 2015 |access-date=January 22, 2017}}</ref> Four years later, the [[National Park Service]] added the Willamette water trail—expanded to {{convert|217|mi|km}} to include some of the major tributaries—to its list of [[National Water Trail]]s. The water trail system is meant to protect and restore waterways in the United States and enhance recreation on and near them.<ref name=willamettewatertrail>{{cite web |title=Willamette River Water Trail |publisher=American Trails |url=http://www.nrtdatabase.org/trailDetail.php?recordID=3816 |access-date=March 31, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=National Water Trails System |url=https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationaltrailssystem/national-water-trails-system.htm |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=March 31, 2020}}</ref>

A 1991 agreement between the City of Portland and the State of Oregon to dramatically reduce [[combined sewer]] overflows (CSOs)<ref name="nwconstruction">{{cite web |url=http://northwest.construction.com/features/archive/0311_Cover.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927191417/http://northwest.construction.com/features/archive/0311_Cover.asp |archive-date=September 27, 2013 |title=West Side Big Pipe |publisher=Northwest Construction |last=Bacon |first=Sheila |date=November 2003 |url-status=dead}}</ref> led to Portland's [[West Side CSO Tunnel|Big Pipe Project]]. The project, part of a related series of Portland CSO projects completed in late 2011 at a cost of $1.44&nbsp;billion,<ref>{{cite news |last=Slovic |first=Beth |title=Going Down the Tube, At Last |work=The Oregonian |edition=Sunrise |date=November 26, 2011}}</ref> separates the city's sanitary sewer lines from storm-water inputs that sometimes overwhelmed the combined system during heavy rains. When that occurred, some of the raw sewage in the system flowed into the river instead of into the city's wastewater treatment plant. The Big Pipe project and related work reduces CSO volume on the lower river by about 94&nbsp;percent.<ref name="portlandonlinecso2">{{cite web |title=Combined Sewer Overflow Control |publisher=City of Portland |url=http://www.portlandoregon.gov/bes/31030 |access-date=November 16, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161117144756/http://www.portlandoregon.gov/bes/31030 |archive-date=November 17, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="oregonianpipe">{{cite news |title=A Big Pipe |newspaper=The Oregonian |date=December 11, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008111019/http://www.portlandonline.com/cso/index.cfm?a=180894&c=43918 |archive-date=October 8, 2012 |url=http://www.portlandonline.com/cso/index.cfm?a=180894&c=43918}}</ref>

In June 2014, Dean Hall became the first person to swim the entire length of the Willamette River.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hachmann |first=Cari |title=Dean Hall to Finish Willamette River Swim |url=http://portlandtribune.com/pt/9-news/225521-87105-dean-hall-to-finish-willamette-river-swim |work=Portland Tribune |publisher=Pamplin Media Group |date=June 27, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729120305/http://portlandtribune.com/pt/9-news/225521-87105-dean-hall-to-finish-willamette-river-swim |archive-date=July 29, 2014}}</ref><ref name=KPTV>{{cite news |last=Padula |first=Andrew |title=Man Battling Cancer Swims Entire Length of Willamette River |url=http://www.kptv.com/story/25892320/man-battling-cancer-si |work=KPTV Fox 12 |date=July 25, 2014 |access-date=March 11, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140701165433/http://www.kptv.com/story/25892320/man-battling-cancer-si |archive-date=July 1, 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> He swam {{convert|184|mi|km}} from Eugene to the river mouth in 25 days.<ref name=KPTV/>

In 2017, [[Human Access Project]] partnered with [[Portland Parks & Recreation]] to open the city's first officially recognized public swimming beach, [[Poet's Beach]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Labrecque |first=Jackie |date=July 6, 2017 |title=Poet's Beach will have life guards, swim rope along Willamette River's west banks |url=https://katu.com/news/local/beach-will-have-life-guards-swim-rope-along-willamette-rivers-west-banks |access-date=September 20, 2023 |website=KATU |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=July 15, 2017 |title=Portland touts revived Willamette River |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/portland-touts-revived-willamette-river/ |access-date=September 20, 2023 |website=The Seattle Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Law |first=Steve |date=June 7, 2017 |title=Welcome to Portland's first pop-up beach |url=https://www.portlandtribune.com/news/welcome-to-portlands-first-pop-up-beach/article_17736473-41ad-5e4d-915d-be8f36458399.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231014045332/https://www.portlandtribune.com/news/welcome-to-portlands-first-pop-up-beach/article_17736473-41ad-5e4d-915d-be8f36458399.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 14, 2023 |access-date=September 20, 2023 |website=PortlandTribune.com |language=en}}</ref>