Detroit

Detroit was founded during the construction of the Oregon Pacific Railroad. The name Detroit was selected due to the great presence of people from Detroit, Michigan who had settled there in the 1870s. The Detroit post office was established October 16, 1891, with Vanness G. Danforth as the first Postmaster. Detroit began to prosper as a center of the big timber logging industry in the 1920s. The City of Detroit was incorporated in 1952, which was the same year that it was relocated to higher ground due to the construction of the Detroit Dam.

Culminating in the final weekend of summer the Detroit event season is one that should not be missed. With events that range from the family oriented Fishing derby in May to the boisterous adult theme Lazy Lizard Labor Day Lake Run (4L Run) Detroit has an event that will get you out and having a good time whether you like water or not.



Detroit Lake and Dam

The Detroit Lake Project is one of 13 multi-purpose water projects operated by the Corps of Engineers in the Willamette Valley. The project consists of two dams and two lakes. Detroit and Big Cliff. Both dams have power generating facilities.

When it was completed in 1953, Detroit Dam was the eighth tallest dam in the world. Today standing 463 feet tall it no longer makes the tallest list. The primary purposes of this dam are for controlling runoff and providing flood control, irrigation, power generation, downstream navigation improvement, and recreation. The dam is a concrete gravity structure with a grated spillway; the powerhouse contains two generator units.
Big Cliff, a re-regulating dam and small reservoir, is located three miles downstream from Detroit Dam. Big Cliff Lake is used to smooth out the power generation water releases from Detroit Dam and to control downstream river level fluctuations. Big Cliff Dam is a 191 foot-high concrete dam. Re-regulation operations at big Cliff Dam may cause the lake level to fluctuate as much as 24 feet daily.

Before the dams were built, the city of Detroit was located about a mile south of its present location. Many buildings were moved from the old town site since they would have been under water after the lake filled.
During the winter months when the lake is lowered, you can see the foundations of the construction camp below the Mongold boat ramps. The camp was dismantled prior to filling the lake.

Detroit Lake is 9 miles long, contains 455,100 acre-feet of water and has 32 miles of shoreline. Four hundred thirty-eight square miles of land drain into the lake via two rivers, the North Santiam and Breitenbush, as well as numerous smaller creeks. the lake level is lowered in the winter to provide flood control for the Willamette Valley.

Detroit and Big Cliff Dams were completed in 1953 at a cost of $62.7 million.