Molalla River
| Molalla River | |
 Molalla River | |
| Name origin: After the Molala people | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Oregon |
| County | Clackamas |
| Source | Table Rock Wilderness Area |
| - location | Cascade Range, Clackamas County, Oregon |
| - elevation | 3,304 ft (1,007 m) [1] |
| - coordinates | 44°54′12″N 122°16′01″W / 44.90333°N 122.26694°W [2] |
| Mouth | Willamette River |
| - location | Molalla River State Park, Clackamas County, Oregon |
| - elevation | 69 ft (21 m) |
| - coordinates | 45°17′23″N 122°43′18″W / 45.28972°N 122.72167°WCoordinates: 45°17′23″N 122°43′18″W / 45.28972°N 122.72167°W [2] |
| Length | 50 mi (80 km) [3][4] |
| Basin | 877 sq mi (2,271 km2) [5] |
  Location of the Molalla River mouth in Oregon
| |
The Molalla River is a 50-mile (80 km) tributary of the Willamette River in the northwestern part of Oregon in the United States.
Geography
The river's headwaters are in Clackamas County, in the Table Rock Wilderness, near Table Rock, in the Cascade Range. After descending from the mountains, it becomes a small meandering river, passing through the fertile agricultural region of the Willamette Valley, and flows past the city of Molalla.
It is joined by the Pudding River shortly before flowing into the Willamette near the city of Canby. Molalla River State Park, where the confluence of the Molalla, Pudding, and Willamette form a floodplain, provides one of the most significant habitats for small mammals and waterfowl in the Willamette Valley, including one of the largest great blue heron rookeries in the region.
History
During the early 19th century, the area around the river was populated by the Molala people. During that time, an extensive system of trails along the river allowed trade between the peoples of the Willamette Valley and eastern Oregon. As late as the 1920s, the trails were used by Native Americans from the Warm Springs Indian Reservation to reach huckleberry-picking grounds near Table Rock.[6] One of the original routes, called the "Huckleberry Trail", is currently used for recreational hiking and horseback riding.
Starting in the 1840s, the lower Molalla became an area of intense homesteading by European-Americans because of the high fertility of the surrounding land. The upper reaches of the river became an area of widespread logging, as well as gold mining near the head of Ogle Creek.
Crossings
This is a list of bridges and other crossings of the Molalla River from its confluence with the Willamette River upstream to its source in the Cascade Range.
- This transport-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Knight's Bridge
Knight's Bridge was a wooden covered bridge built in 1877 over the Molalla River on the western city limit of Canby.[7] The bridge was destroyed in 1947.[7] It was replaced with a non-covered bridge sited north of the original one. The road that crosses the bridge is Knight's Bridge Road, which connects Canby to Interstate 5.
See also
References
- ↑ Derived from Google Earth search using Geographic Names Information Service (GNIS) source coordinates.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Molalla River". Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). United States Geological Survey. November 28, 1980. Retrieved August 9, 2010.
- ↑ United States Geological Survey. "United States Geological Survey Topographic Map". TopoQuest. Retrieved August 9, 2010. The map quadrants—Canby, Yoder, Molalla, Wilhoit, Fernwood, Gawley Creek, and Rooster Rock, Oregon—include river mile (RM) markers from the mouth to RM 46.3 (river kilometer 74.5). The remaining distance is an estimate based on map scale and ruler.
- ↑ Oregon Atlas & Gazetteer (Map) (1991 ed.). DeLorme Mapping. § 55, 60–61. ISBN 0-89933-235-8.
- ↑ "The River". Willamette Riverkeeper. Retrieved August 9, 2010.
- ↑ "About the Molalla". Molalla River Watch. Retrieved August 9, 2010.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Nelson, Lee H. (1960). A Century of Oregon Covered Bridges, 1851-1952: A History of Oregon Covered Bridges, Their Beginnings, Development and Decline, Together with Some Mention of the Builders and Techniques. Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society. pp. 123–124. OCLC 221134668.