History
The Willamette Falls Canal and Locks Company was formed in 1868 to build a navigation route around the falls. Construction then began on building a canal and lock system around the west end of the falls. The locks opened on January 1, 1873, as the first multi-lift navigation locks in the United States at a cost of $560,000, and has been in continuous use ever since. Maria Wilkins, a steamship, was the first vessel to use the locks. The Army Corps of Engineers purchased the lock system from Portland General Electric in 1915 for $375,000. The locks were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Read more about this topic: Willamette Falls Locks
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“The history of all countries shows that the working class exclusively by its own effort is able to develop only trade-union consciousness.”
—Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870–1924)
“History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today.”
—Henry Ford (1863–1947)
“It is remarkable how closely the history of the apple tree is connected with that of man.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)