Urbanized Willamette

28 September 2008
1:40
Willamette River, Portland, OR
As we wait for some of our friends to arrive we walked over to the riverfront of the Willamette River, just beyond Saturday Market. I stand against the fence and lean over to stare down into the water below. I think back to the when our class visited the Willamette River and how different this area is. This urbanized area of the Willamette is tamed by cement walls that rise straight out of its depths, bridges build a cage over the river, and even from the height I am at I can see the pollution that has taken over. This river is much like the mill stream but on a much greater level. When you follow the mill stream to either end of campus it changes from a beautiful winding stream to an almost gutter like wash. This is the same with the Willamette river, where we swam at Minto Brown Park the water was clear and beautiful flowing in a natural path that was carved by years of evolution around rocks and trees, but when you follow this river up to Portland it turns into a sad sight, another environmental feature that has been domesticated by man.