Willamette Landings: Ghost Towns of the River

During the second half of the nineteenth century, the Willamette River served as the primary means of transportation for both people and goods in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Riverboats plied the river along a series of landings and small communities where much of the population clustered. Some of these settlements, such as Albany and Springfield, developed into the towns and metropolitan centers of present-day Oregon. Others, such as Lancaster, flourished briefly before gradually declining or disappearing altogether as transportation shifted to roads and railroads.

Willamette Landings, originally published in 1947, offers a portrait of the Willamette River at a time when it was the bustling center of commerce and settlement. McKinley’s account presents a perspective unfamiliar today – from the river itself.

This new edition includes maps, numerous historic photographs, and in introduction by the well-known writer Robin Cody, whose affinity with the life and history of rivers of the Pacific Northwest is long-standing.