Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 16.djvu/217



ADDRESS OF JOSEPH N. TEAL AT DEDICATORY

EXERCISES ON THE FORMAL OPENING OF

THE OREGON CITY LOCKS AND CANAL

AT OREGON CITY, MAY 6, 1915

While deeply sensible of the honor conferred on me by the invitation to address you on this occasion, I am conscious of the fact that I am called on to speak rather in recognition of the work of my father and other pioneers than because of anything I myself have done. Not only was my father an active participant in the work of opening the Willamette River, but my father-in-law, the late David P. Thompson, who long claimed Oregon City as his home, was a co-worker in this cause. If therefore my talk trends somewhat to personal reminiscences, I trust that for once the seeming breach of propriety will be condoned.

On the first of January, forty-two years ago, the gates of the Willamette locks first swung ajar to permit the entrance and passage of a steamer from the lower to the upper river. To the Willamette Valley, which then represented the state to a much greater degree than it does now, it was a momentous event. From time immemorial the falls had presented an un- surmountable obstacle to through navigation, and here, as at Celilo, the control of the portage carried with it the power to levy tribute. Since the producers were dependent very largely on the river for their means of transportation, the toll directly and indirectly levied was a serious burden.

As history seems to be more or less a repetition of what has gone before, we find in this instance, as in later days, an early demand for the clearing of obstructions in the river. Hence we are not surprised at learning that at a meeting held in Eugene on October 6th, 1855, at which my father acted as chairman, strong resolutions were adopted looking to the im- provement of the Willamette River, where navigation of the river had been active for many years. In 1857 my father, who was then engaged in business at Eugene, chartered and