Lowell Historical Displays 1 - Lowell, OR
N 43° 54.593 W 122° 46.783
10T E 517687 N 4861888
These historical displays are located in the parking lot north of the Lowell Covered Bridge along Pioneer Rd, which spans Dexter Reservoir.
Waymark Code: WMFJC4
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 10/25/2012
Views: 5
The Lowell Covered Bridge stands out greatly with its white paint job and invites visitors to pause and take a break from their travels. Visitors are welcomed to a parking lot with restrooms and handicap access and will notice a kiosk-like display of many panels containing a collage of pictures and text. Each panel has a theme -- a few discuss the history behind the nearby Lowell Bridge. Others invite travelers to covered bridge tours in the area. Still others talk about the Dexter Reservoir and Dam, Lookout Point Dam and Lake and the history behind their construction by the Army Corps of Engineers.
On one particular historic panel of interest tells the story behind the reasons why Dexter Reservoir and Dam were constructed here many years ago:
Early emigrants to the broad Willamette AValley were thrilled with its fertile soils and mild climate - but they soon learned that the rich land came at a price. Frequent, sometimes voilent floods revitalized the valley's fertile soil. Smaller floods washed out roads and fdamged buildings; the larger ones were far more devestating. In 1861, the largest Willamette flood in recorded history inundated more than 350,000 acres - entire riverside communities such as Salem were submerged. Throughout the 1800s and early 1900s, lives were lost, homes and businesses were destroyed - and the floods kept coming.
The U.S. Government responded to this ongoing problem with a Flood Control Act of 1936 - flood control became the responsibility of the Army Corps of Engineers. In 1939, the Army Corps proposed a series of dams on the Willamette River and its tributaries. Today, the Willamette Valley Project includes 13 dams and reservoirs with associated dikes, levees, and other flood control measures. Lookout Point and Dexter dams (on either side of the Lowell Covered Bridge) are part of this project.
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