McKenzie River

The McKenzie River is a 90-mile tributary of the Willamette River in western Oregon in the United States. It drains part of the Cascade Range east of Eugene and flows westward into the southernmost end of the Willamette Valley. It is named for Donald McKenzie, a Scottish Canadian fur trader who explored parts of the Pacific Northwest for the Pacific Fur Company in the early 19th century. As of the 21st century, six large dams have been built on the McKenzie and its tributaries.
The McKenzie River originates as the outflow of Clear Lake in the high Cascades of eastern Linn County in the Willamette National Forest. 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 tunnel to Smith Reservoir. Between Carmen Reservoir and Tamolitch Falls, the riverbed is dry for 3 miles 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 the community of McKenzie Bridge. It receives the South Fork McKenzie River about three miles east of Blue River. through Cougar Reservoir and Cougar Dam.)

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