Page 139 - Clackamas County Watertourism Strategic Plan. Final.v3
P. 139
STRATEGIC PLAN FOR WATER-BASED TOURISM IN CLACKAMAS COUNTY, OREGON THE OPPORTUNITIES
6-36
navigable river.” The first of the conflicting documents is a County Commissioner Journal of 1896 that says “Clackamas River in the County of Clackamas State of Oregon has not
nor has any portion thereof been declared by law to be navigable, and that said river and the whole thereof from its source to its mouth is not in fact navigable for commercial
purposes; that said river is susceptible of being made and ought in the public interest be made a public highway for the floating and transportation of logs, piling and poles”
Even within the County Commission’s opinion that the river is not navigable, they insert ambiguity by expressing the desire for it to be exactly that. Based in part by these
statements both the US Supreme Court and the Clackamas County Circuit Court declared the river to be non-navigable. There is clearly conflicting support, evidence, and need
on the navigability of the Clackamas River and therefore a conclusive study is recommended.
