A Rare Glimpse into Jennie’s World: Willamette Falls & The Journey South (Part 7)

A Rare Glimpse into Jennie’s World: Willamette Falls & The Journey South (Part 7)

Series: Beyond the Paper Trail: Unlocking Jennie McKay’s Roots in Oregon History

← Previous: Part 6 | Current: Part 6 | Next: Part 8 → (Coming soon!)

Take a close look at this photograph of Willamette Falls at Oregon City, captured around 1857 by U.S. Army Lt. Lorenzo Lorain.

While it stands on its own as a rare early view of the landscape—showing the rapid rise of pioneer mills and industrial structures along the rocky riverbanks—it carries a much deeper, more personal meaning for our family history.

This photo shows the exact landscape an eight-year-old girl named Jennie, along with her mother and aunt, were forcibly removed from around 1856.

The Home Lost: For generations, Willamette Falls—known as Tumwata (Chinuk Wawa for "waterfall" or "cataract")—was a sacred fishing, trading, and cultural gathering place not just for Jennie’s immediate community, but for many interlinked peoples—including the Clackamas, Klickitat, Kalapuya (such as the Tualatin and Yamhill bands), Molala, Cascades, and other regional groups.

The Forced Removal: Just a year before or around the time this image was exposed, Jennie was taken from her home area near Oregon City and moved through staging grounds at Dayton before being relocated to the Grand Ronde Reservation.

The Journey South: Imagine looking at this rocky shore through the eyes of an eight-year-old child. Boarding a boat south of the falls alongside her ailing mother and aunt, Jennie pleaded to stay with her Klickitat family across the Columbia River. Instead, with endless questions running through her mind and no clear answers as to where they were being taken, she was transported upriver past Canemah toward Dayton—watching the familiar waters of her childhood slip away behind her.

The Military View: Ironically, the photographer, Lorenzo Lorain, was an officer stationed at regional military outposts built to enforce reservation boundaries and control Indigenous movements during this exact era.

When we look at early mid-19th-century photographs of Oregon, it is easy to view them simply as historic landscapes. But knowing Jennie’s path changes how we see it. This image isn't just a scenic view of the falls—it is a direct look at the world taken from her, right as her journey to Grand Ronde began.

Jennie was taken from the falls in 1856, but the story didn't end there. Today, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde have reclaimed 23 acres directly along the riverbank at Willamette Falls—the former Blue Heron Paper Mill site in downtown Oregon City—now being redeveloped as tumwata village.

While nearby Canemah sits just south upriver as the historical steamboat terminal and upper portage site, tumwata village anchors the falls themselves. Grand Ronde's master plan for the site includes restoring native riverbank ecology, creating public riverwalk access, and establishing pedestrian and bike trails connecting south toward Canemah—restoring tribal stewardship and returning to the very waters where Jennie's family once stood.

If you’ve been following our posts on Jennie’s story, this visual gives incredible context to the 1856–1857 timeline we've been tracing.

Willamette Falls at Canemah (1867): Photographed by Carleton E. Watkins, this 1867 view captures the bustling riverbank at Canemah—the critical upper portage site where Jennie, her family, and hundreds of displaced Native people were assembled and boarded onto riverboats bound south toward Dayton and Grand Ronde. (Courtesy of Oregon Historical Society Research Library, OrHi 21597)

A Gathering of Many Descendants: While our family traces Jennie's specific path, Willamette Falls and the surrounding encampments brought together many interlinked peoples during the 1855–1856 removals. Families from the Clackamas, Klickitat, Kalapuya, Molala, Cascades, Rogue River, Takelma, and neighboring bands were all part of this shared history and the journey to Grand Ronde and Siletz. 

Canemah Landing—The Shared Trail: This view of Canemah by photographer Isaac Davidson captures the exact riverbank and portage grounds where our ancestors' journeys south began. For Jennie, her mother, her aunt, and hundreds of other displaced native people—including Clackamas, Kalapuya, Molala, Klickitat, and Rogue River families—Canemah was the tragic turning point. It was here that families were assembled, loaded onto riverboats, and forced upriver toward Dayton and the Grand Ronde Reservation along Oregon's own forced removal route. (Photo by Isaac Davidson, courtesy of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library, OrHi 98521)

Canemah Landing (c. 1880s): Photographed by Isaac Davidson, this view captures the upper riverbank and portage grounds looking south toward the route used during the 1855–1856 forced removals. (Courtesy of Oregon Historical Society Research Library, OrHi 98521)

Healing the Land (2019): In 2019, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde purchased the 23-acre property at Willamette Falls. Today, efforts continue for river cleanup, fish restoration, and the overall revitalization of the site as tumwata village.

While nearby Canemah served historically as the upper river portage site where Jennie’s journey south began, tumwata village anchors the falls themselves. The Tribe’s master plan includes restoring native riverbank ecology, creating public riverwalk access, and establishing pedestrian and bicycle trails connecting south toward Canemah—restoring tribal stewardship and returning to the very waters where Jennie’s family once stood.

Willamette Falls (tumwata) Today: Taken around 2019, this view shows the falls alongside the former Blue Heron Paper Mill complex—the historic industrial site purchased by the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde in 2019 to begin river cleanup, fish restoration, and revitalization as tumwata village. (Photo courtesy of tumwata village / Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde)

Full Circle at the Falls

Looking at these images side-by-side, it’s hard not to feel the heavy weight of what was taken in 1856—the land, the seasonal fishing encampments, and the daily rhythm of life along the river. When Jennie and her family were loaded onto boats at Canemah, it was meant to be an ending.

But history didn't stop at removal.

Today, the work happening at Willamette Falls isn't about looking back with nostalgia; it’s about real, practical restoration. By reclaiming 23 acres of their ancestral riverbank, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde are doing the quiet, hard work of healing—cleaning up old industrial contamination, restoring native fish habitats, and securing tribal fishing rights for generations to come.

Standing on these banks today, the story finally comes full circle. The river is still flowing, the salmon are still returning, and the people whose roots run deepest in this basalt are right back where they belong—stewarding tumwata once again.

Sources & Image Credits

• Lt. Lorenzo Lorain Photograph (c. 1857): Falls of the Willamette River at Oregon City, circa 1857. Photographed by Lt. Lorenzo Lorain, U.S.A. Courtesy of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library (Org Lot 1416, Item OrgLot1416_F04_006).

• Carleton E. Watkins Photograph (1867): Willamette Falls at Canemah, 1867. Photographed by Carleton E. Watkins. Courtesy of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library (OrHi 21597).

• Isaac Davidson Photograph (c. 1880s): Canemah. Photographed by Isaac Davidson. Courtesy of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library (OrHi 98521).

• Modern Falls Photograph: Willamette Falls (tumwata) Today. Courtesy of tumwata village / Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.