Te Ioy of H Poa Dithtic Corps 0F Egirteers Ii 871 1969 U
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A - Te ioy of h Poa DithTic Corps 0f Egirteers ii 871 1969 U. S. ARMY ENGINEER DISTRICT, PORTLAND CORPS OF ENGINEERS PORTLAND, OREGON Printed: March 1970 This history of the Portland District was researched, and edited by Henry R. Richmond!!!, a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley where he was a history major. FOREWORD Since arriving in Portland in July 1967 to become District Engineer, I have had many opportunities to acquaint myself with the long, colorful history of the Portland District. One hundred years ago, the work of the District consisted of small, simple, almost quaint efforts to improve navigation. Pulling snags from river waterways, cutting a bar to seventeen feet with a primitive old bucket dredge, or dynamiting rocks out of the Columbia River are repre- sentative of the work done in the early days. By comparison, the massive, complex dams built by the District in modern times have made significant changes in the Columbia and Willamette river valleys. The story of how and why the District has progressed from small dredging and snagging activities to a great multiple purpose construction program is a very interesting one. Even more worthwhile is the story of how the work of the District has contributed to the welfare of the people of the Northwest. As this history explains, the work of the Corps helped to open up the Northwest. The prosperity of Portland and the Willamette Valley depended in large part on the early navigation projects of the Portland District. The Oregon Coast has been opened up to shipping by large jetty and dredging projects. Today's great dams are a basic part of the region's economy. I am pleased that this history has been written during my tour of duty with the Portland District. It is a record in which Corps employees can take great pride. I commend this history to the attention of District employees, and to interested members of the public. ROBERT L. BANGERT Colonel, Corps of Engineers District Engineer TABLE OF CONTENTS HISTORY OF THE PORTLAND DISTRICT FORE WARD TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 PART I - BACKGROUND Origins 1 Exploration 5 Civil War Days and the Army in Oregon 9 The Corps of Engineers in the Northwest 13 PART II - THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS: NAVIGATION IMPROVEMENTS Early Work 21 Permanent Projects 27 Cascades Canal 35 Initial Work on the Oregon Coast 45 River Improvement 51 The Dalles-Celilo Canal 63 The Mouth of the Columbia 71 Organization 79 Oregon Coast Projects 83 PART III - THE SECOND FIFTY YEARS Columbia River Multiple-Purpose Project Development 93 Willamette River Multiple-Purpose Project Development 111 Military Work 123 Navigation Improvements,1912-1962 143 Post-war Multiple-Purpose Development of the Columbia 191 Post-war Multiple-Purpose Development of the Willamette 219 Post-war Activities in Rogue River Basin 239 Fish Conservation 245 Recreation 263 Conclusion 273 APPENDIX A Chronological Listing of District Engineers A-1 1 PART I BACKGROUND 1. Origins The Corps of Engineers is not a new organization. It traces its origins to the earliest days of the Republic. On June 16, 1775, the day before the Battle of Bunker Hill, General George Washington created the first engineering unit in the Army by appointing one engineer and two assistants. Their first work was the fortified breastworks which are seen in the paintings of that famous battle. The Continental Congress approved the new organization, but on only a temporary, war-time basis. Upon the completion of the Revolutionary War, the young nation was so beset with financial and constitutional difficulties that the Continental Army Corps of Engineers was dissolved. The Army itself eventually num- bered only eighty men shortly after the Battle of Yorktown. Threatening developments from across the Atlantic and, to a lesser extent, on the Western Frontier encouraged Congress to establish the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers in 1794. The staff of the organiza- tion was composed almost completely of Frenchmen, including M. Pierre L' Enfant, the designer of Washington, D.C. The chief responsibility of the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers was to establish fortifications along the Canadian Border and the Atlantic Seaboard.For eight years the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers was basically a small, provisional military arm of the United States government. In 1802, during the administration of Thomas Jefferson, the Congress established the present Corps of Engineers on a permanent basis, replacing the short-lived Corps of Artillerists and Engineers. A complement of five officers and ten cadets were directed to station themselves at West Point, the new U. S. Military Academy established by the same act. Jona- thon Williams was appointed Chief Engineer. Since 1802, most Corps of Engineers officers have been high-standing graduates of the Academy. President Jefferson found the country faced with mounting threats to its security. Relations with the British were becoming increasingly worse. There was great concern that Napoleon had designs on the immense Louisiana Territory. But when the French government found itself in a position no longer able to expand into North America, and anxious to prevent the spread of British influence into the area, France accepted Jefferson's offer to buy the territory for fifteen million dollars. By one stroke the Louisi- ana Purchase more than doubled the land area of the United States and secured by treaty its claim to the territory against the major powers of the world. Of equal importance is the effect which the Purchase had upon the spirit and the imagination of the American people. The conditions of the frontier and the wilderness, the opportunities available to the ad- venturous, and the great wealth of the land all permanently influenced the American character. For nearly one hundred years the constant beckon- ing of distant mountains and rivers laid America's detiny squarely at her feet: expansion to the Pacific. It is the Louisiana Purchase which links the history of Oregon, and the activities of the Corps of Engineers, with these very early days of the United States. Shortly after the negotiations for the Purchase had been completed, Jefferson appointed the two Army Captains, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, to lead an expedition across the uncharted con- tinent to the mouth of the Columbia River. Their principal aim was to find "the most direct and practicable water communication across this continent." There was reliable knowledge of the existence of the Columbia since it had been discovered in 1792 by the American sea captain, Robert Cray. He named the river for his ship. But of the rest--of the vast extent of the land spreading to the north and west of the mouth of the Missouri to the Pacific Ocean--the only sources of information were the tales of trappers who had ventured into the edges of the area, and the legends of the Indians. Beginning in the spring of 1804, the expedition progressed up the Missouri to its headwaters, ported to waters of the Columbia, and canoed to its mouth. The winter of 1805-06 was spent at the mouth of the Columbia River where the party erected Fort Clatsop. Captains Clark and Lewis put their backgrounds in engineering and science to good use not only in successfully forging their way across the wild country, but in recording the nature of the land which they encountered. Extensive notes were made of the mountains and rivers, of the plant and animal life, of soil and climate, and of the Indians. A map was fashioned from the notes of the two men and relied upon for decades. Although the exploration foreclosed the age-old dream of a waterway across the continent, and indi- cated the difficulties to be faced if the land were to be settled, it also dramatically informed the people of the vast richness of the nation. This is the most important result of the expedition. More than the legal consequences of the expedition ever could have done, Lewis and Clark strengthened the claim of the United States on the "Oregon Country" by focusing the nation's attention upon it. Until 1824, the Corps had worked mainly on military projects. Some public works were done--mainly navigation improvements such as lighthouses, 3 piers, jetties, a few small canals and some dredging--but the President was as likely to assign the work directly to a private concern as he was to the Corps. Occasionally the President would direct that the Corps be of assistance to a state or other organization making an internal improve- ment of some kind. But by law and by policy, civil construction was not a basic responsibility of the Corps. Projects were rather small and un- complicated in those early days,.Y and easily could be contemplated by organizations smaller than the Federal government. Moreover, the states guarded their power with considerable jealousy; itwas not assumed that the Federal government had the constitutional authority to engage gener- ally in public works. But the developments after the War of 1812 required that this policy change. The war had largely eliminated hostile activities of foreign powers, and important segments of Indian resistance to white expansion had been defeated. For the first time the nation was able to turn to the development of the Ohio and Tennessee valleys. There was a great need to build roads and canals and to improve internal waterways so that commerce and communication could better tie the nation together. President John Quincy Adams also saw the need for further explorations of the Far West so that its economic and commercial potential might be better understood. In addition, the improved channels of communication would tie the area closer to the United States.