Here pioneers loaded their wagons onto barges and floated down the Columbia and then the Willamette River.

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Overlooking the Willamette River west of downtown Portland, Forest Park is one of the largest protected wilderness areas inside a US city.

BBC: Portland's urban adventures

For the romantic adventurer, Portland Kayak Company offers guided sunset and moonlight tours of Ross Island, the biggest of the four forested Willamette River islands.

BBC: Portland's urban adventures

The Willamette flows through farmland and Oregon's major cities from Eugene to its confluence with the Columbia River in Portland.

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The Clean River Plan is just one facet of the city's drive to implement a new strategy for the Willamette as the 2005 bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark expedition nears.

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