Misplaced Pages

#908091

38-738: McKenzie River may refer to: McKenzie River (Oregon) , in Oregon, United States McKenzie River (Victoria) , in south-eastern Victoria, Australia, a tributary of the Bemm River McKenzie River (Bécancour River tributary) , in the Bécancour watershed, in Quebec, in Canada See also [ edit ] Mackenzie River (disambiguation) [REDACTED] Topics referred to by

76-494: A fish ladder , presort pool, sorting facility, and two pump structures for water supply. At the collection and sorting facility, adult salmon and bull trout will be loaded on trucks and released into high-quality habitats above Cougar Dam in an effort to recover threatened salmon and bull trout populations. The runners from the two turbines in the Cougar powerhouse experienced significant cavitation damage during operation and by

114-525: A 302-foot (92 m) tall wet well. The wet well has three adjustable gates at various levels so that different temperature water can be mixed in the wet well to a desired temperature. The mixed water enters the existing regulating and penstock intakes. By controlling the temperature of the water released from the dam, the impacts on the McKenzie River are greatly reduced. When the Cougar Dam

152-633: A narrow valley in the mountains, receiving the Blue River from the north at the community of Blue River. The McKenzie then passes Vida and continues to Leaburg and Walterville . The McKenzie valley widens as the river continues west, receiving the Mohawk River from the northeast just north of Springfield . Emerging from the Cascade foothills, the McKenzie enters a broad floodplain. It joins

190-642: A post in 1811 at Fort Astoria at the mouth of the Columbia River for the Astor Expedition . McKenzie, the following spring, formed a party to explore the Willamette River. The party found a large tributary of the Willamette River and named it after McKenzie. However, much of the McKenzie River remained largely unvisited by white settlers and explorers until October 1853, when a group of Oregon Trail settlers became lost trying to cross

228-519: Is Hackleman Creek, which drains the north side of Browder Ridge east of Tombstone Pass. U.S. Route 20 crosses the pass and follows Hackleman Creek.) The McKenzie River flows south from Clear Lake, paralleled by Oregon Route 126 , and goes over the Sahalie and Koosah waterfalls to Carmen Reservoir, a man-made lake from which the river is then diverted into a 2-mile (3.2 km) tunnel to Smith Reservoir. Between Carmen Reservoir and Tamolitch Falls ,

266-487: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages McKenzie River (Oregon) The McKenzie River originates as the outflow of Clear Lake in the high Cascades of eastern Linn County in the Willamette National Forest . (Clear Lake is fed by Ikenick Creek and Fish Lake Creek, the latter of which flows from Fish Lake . Fish Lake's main tributary

304-403: Is snowfall. At these elevations, melting snow beginning in the spring season brings more cold water out of springs under the permeable rock, increasing the McKenzie's flow and maintaining cold water temperatures in the river and its tributaries. Along the lower McKenzie, however, winter rain slides easily off the less permeable rock and erodes sediment into the river. There are six major dams in

342-611: Is the uppermost dam on the McKenzie, located less than 2 miles (3.2 km) south of Clear Lake, the McKenzie River's source. Water from Carmen Reservoir is diverted southwest through a tunnel to Smith Reservoir on the Smith River. Through both the Smith River and another tunnel, water in Smith Reservoir moves south to the Carmen Power Plant, then into Trail Bridge Reservoir—which the McKenzie joins—and through

380-568: The power-producing Trail Bridge Dam. The engineered system is called the Carmen–;Smith Hydroelectric Project, and it has been used by the Eugene Water & Electric Board since 1963 to generate electricity for EWEB customers. The system's generating capacity is 114 megawatts (MW). EWEB also owns and manages two power-producing canals farther downstream along the McKenzie River. The Walterville Canal, completed in 1910, and

418-413: The 1980s they were in need of repair and had to be taken out of service four times a year for inspections and repair. In 1987, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers installed replacement runners that were designed by Voith Siemens Hydro Power Generation . By 2000, the replacement runners were again experiencing cavitation problems and in need of repair. Repair of the runners would prove to be difficult because

SECTION 10

#1732772511909

456-768: The Cascades into the Willamette Valley via the Elliott Cutoff . In 1910, travelers completed the first automobile crossing over McKenzie Pass . However, crossing along the river was limited to summer because winter conditions closed the pass. Year-round travel was not possible until 1960, with the completion of a road over Santiam Pass. Fish in the McKenzie River and some of its tributaries include spring Chinook salmon , mountain whitefish , and bull , cutthroat and rainbow trout . Dippers , mergansers , bald eagles , ospreys , and various ducks feed on

494-477: The Cascades is known as the McKenzie Valley. The following communities, listed west to east, are in the valley: Cedar Flat , Walterville, Deerhorn , Leaburg, Vida, Nimrod , Finn Rock , Blue River, Rainbow , McKenzie Bridge, and Belknap Springs. For about 8,000 years, the McKenzie River has been home to Native Americans. In more recent history, Kalapuya and Molala tribes lived nomadically in

532-559: The Cougar Reservoir. Since Cougar Reservoir is built for flood control, the levels of the reservoir vary greatly, causing the units to operate at heads between 400 and 438 feet (122 and 134 m) one third of the time and at heads between 270 and 310 feet (82 and 94 m) one fifth of the time. In 2002, the Corps began lowering the level of the reservoir for the construction of a temperature control facility. The reservoir level

570-542: The Leaburg Canal, completed in 1930, each contain water diverted from the McKenzie to produce electricity. Most of the water is returned to the river after power production. The eastern portion of Oregon Route 126 passes through the valley of the McKenzie River, closely following the river for much of its route. The 60-mile (97 km) stretch of the river from the edge of the Springfield metro area eastward to

608-408: The McKenzie River reduces salmon migration and productivity. In the fall, the reservoir level is considerably lower and the warmer water from the surface enters the intakes and makes the river downstream unnaturally warm which causes salmon eggs to hatch several months too early. In order to help control the temperature of water discharged below the dam, the original intake tower was modified by adding

646-577: The McKenzie River watershed—three on the river and three each on a different tributary of the McKenzie. The three dams on the McKenzie's main stem form Carmen Reservoir, Trail Bridge Reservoir, and Leaburg Reservoir, respectively. The other dams in the watershed are the Smith River dam on the Smith River in the upper basin, Cougar Dam on the South Fork McKenzie River, and Blue River Dam on the Blue River. The Carmen Diversion Dam

684-498: The South Fork McKenzie River below Cougar Dam which was completed in 2010. From 2003 to 2005, state-of-the-art turbine runners were installed in the turbine-generator units at the Cougar powerhouse, and were designed to resist cavitation and operate efficiently at very large head ranges. Cougar Dam was completed in 1963 at a cost of $ 54.2 million and the two turbine units were completed in 1964. Cougar Dam operates in coordination with Blue River Dam to control flooding, and since

722-620: The U.S. state of Oregon . It has a gated concrete spillway and a powerhouse with two turbines totaling 25 megawatts of electric power. The dam impounds the South Fork McKenzie River about 42 miles (68 km) east of Eugene, Oregon , creating Cougar Reservoir which has a storage capacity of 219,000 acre-feet (270,000,000 m ). The purpose of Cougar Dam is to provide flood risk management , hydropower, water quality improvement, irrigation, fish and wildlife habitat, recreation, storage, and navigation. In 2005,

760-493: The Willamette River from the east 5 miles (8 km) north of Eugene . The McKenzie River drains a region of about 1,300 square miles (3,400 km ) and is one of the primary tributaries of the Willamette River. Elevations in the watershed range from 10,358 feet (3,157 m) at the summit of the South Sister to 375 feet (114 m) at the McKenzie's mouth on the Willamette River north of Eugene. The upper basin, in

798-542: The Willamette temperature control facility was constructed to help regulate the water temperature released to the river below Cougar Dam in an attempt to reduce the negative effects on salmon migration. To further help recover threatened chinook salmon and bull trout populations, in the Willamette River Basin, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed a fish collection and sorting facility on

SECTION 20

#1732772511909

836-610: The community of McKenzie Bridge . It receives the South Fork McKenzie River about three miles east of Blue River . (The South Fork rises near the Pacific Crest Trail in the Three Sisters Wilderness and flows north-northwest for about 30 miles (48 km) through Cougar Reservoir and Cougar Dam . ) After the South Fork confluence, the main stem of the McKenzie River continues west through

874-406: The completion of the dam, it is estimated that it prevented approximately $ 452 million in potential flood damages. The dam consists of a rock-fill embankment approximately 1,500 feet (460 m) long, a penstock to power two Kaplan turbines , an emergency spillway capable of a capacity of 76,140 cu ft/s (2,156 m /s), a regulating outlet, and a diversion tunnel. The diversion tunnel

912-463: The contract was awarded to General Electric Hydro of Montreal , Quebec , Canada and the project was completed in March 2005. The project included physical model testing, new turbine runners, a major turbine overhaul, a generator rewind, and disassembly and reassembly of the units. The problems with the runners for the turbines at Cougar powerhouse are associated with the cycle of large head changes of

950-495: The fish. The threatened northern spotted owl inhabits dense forest on the west side of the upper McKenzie basin in Linn County. Forests of Douglas fir , western hemlock , and western red cedar cover the vast majority of the watershed. The McKenzie River is popular for boating—especially fishing, kayaking, and whitewater rafting. The McKenzie River dory (or drift boat), specifically designed for use in whitewater,

988-669: The high Cascades, consists of granular , permeable igneous rocks that are geologically young, while most of the middle and lower McKenzie valley in the Western Cascades is made of the remnants of older, more weathered volcanic rocks. Major watersheds bordering the McKenzie basin include the Calapooia ; the South , Middle and North Santiam rivers to the north; the Middle Fork Willamette River to

1026-530: The remainder is residential or industrial. Most of the public land is part of the Willamette National Forest and is important for logging and recreation. The river is the sole tap water source for the cities of Eugene and Springfield, fulfilling the water needs of about 200,000 people. The Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) utility draws the water at river mile (RM) 11 or river kilometer (RK) 18 in Springfield. Water quality in

1064-460: The river is rated good to excellent, with better quality upstream than downstream. Principal sources of contaminants in the McKenzie are agriculture and residential development, including septic systems. Small amounts of herbicides detected in the river and some of its tributaries may be from aerial spraying by timber companies for forestry. The region has a temperate climate with wet winters and dry summers. About 90 percent of precipitation in

1102-571: The riverbed is dry for 3 miles (4.8 km) because lava from Belknap Crater buried that stretch of the river about 1,600 years ago. The river flows under the lava for those three miles and re-surfaces at Tamolitch Pool at the base of Tamolitch Falls. It then flows south into Trail Bridge Reservoir, where the Smith River enters from the right . After passing through Trail Bridge Dam, the river enters Lane County . The McKenzie continues south to Belknap Springs , where it turns west and flows past

1140-437: The runner blades are thin, making them difficult to weld, and the spacing between the blades is small which gives limited access to the damaged area. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers realized that a state-of-the-art runner design was required and devised a turbine-generator rehabilitation program. Due to the technical challenges associated with the program, the Corps chose a best value procurement method for this project. In 2003,

1178-431: The same term This disambiguation page lists articles about distinct geographical locations with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=McKenzie_River&oldid=997715844 " Category : Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

McKenzie River - Misplaced Pages Continue

1216-548: The south; and the Deschutes River to the east. Most of the watershed is lightly populated; about 70 percent of it is public land managed by the U.S. Government , of which about 39 percent is the Three Sisters Wilderness. Over 96 percent of the basin is forested, just under 4 percent is devoted to agricultural use—mainly farms and orchards on the lower floodplain—and

1254-491: The summer and spent winters in the lower valley. This way of life continued until the mid-19th century, when many natives died of disease or were relocated to reservations. The first recorded exploration of the river occurred in the spring of 1812, when the Pacific Fur Company reached the McKenzie via the Willamette River, as part of a larger exploration led by Donald McKenzie . The company had established

1292-414: The upper McKenzie. Most whitewater rafting takes place between Quartz Creek and Helfrich Boat launch. This segment is roughly nine miles long and has three rapids, Browns Hole, Mamma's Pies, and Marten's Rapid (Class III). There are also a couple of smaller surfer rapids that kayakers typically stop at. Cougar Dam Cougar Dam is a 519-foot (158 m) tall rockfill hydroelectric dam in

1330-502: The watershed comes between October and May. Precipitation in the basin varies greatly with elevation; about 40 inches (1,000 mm) fall annually in the Willamette Valley, while the Three Sisters in the high Cascades can receive 125 inches (3,200 mm) in a year. Above 4,000 feet (1,200 m), about 35 percent of precipitation falls as snow, and at 7,000 feet (2,100 m) and higher, over 75 percent of precipitation

1368-436: Was built to divert the South Fork McKenzie River during the construction of Cougar Dam, and the tunnel was later closed with a concrete plug once the construction of the dam was complete. The original intakes for the powerhouse and regulating outlet were deep and pulled water from the bottom of the reservoir which is much colder than the surface water. During the spring and summer, the release of unnaturally cold water into

1406-594: Was first developed on the Mckenzie in the 1940s; adaptations of this design quickly grew in popularity on other Western rivers such as the Rogue and the Colorado . Boating is also common on Blue River Reservoir and Cougar Reservoir. Hiking and mountain biking are popular activities on trails in the McKenzie watershed. Trails include the 26.5-mile (42.6 km) McKenzie River National Recreation Trail, which follows much of

1444-413: Was originally constructed, it contained adult and juvenile fish passage facilities that helped fish move past the dam. However, fish no longer migrated to the facility, and it became ineffective. The Army Corps of Engineers decided to construct a new collection and sorting facility to collect, sort, and transport fish upstream and downstream of the dam. The new facility would cost $ 14.7 million and include

#908091