What's this big slab of concrete along the river?

Anybody knows what this piece of concrete used to be? It's at the far end of E Hillcrest Dr. Along the river.

28 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

Commenting to follow cuz I grew up near there and always wondered. Given its size, grade and placement I assumed it was perhaps for bank stabilization.

Historic aerial images going back to 1960 show there’s never been a bridge as another commenter said. However in the 1960 image, it appears that area could be in use for gravel mining or some type of construction as a road leads down to river edge and it appears to be bare gravel/rock.

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u/Ausiwandilaz 2d ago edited 2d ago

Bank stabilization makes sence, Delta Pond's park has a map of how the Willamette was stabilized from a marshy run off to a river.

It has been awhile since I saw the map, but basically they damned most of the marsh run offs which there were alot, and my guess this is how.

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u/starr2rs 1d ago

Sad fish noises*

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u/Ausiwandilaz 1d ago

It definitly decreased the fish spawns, which is why they throw planters out there.

u/Independent_Step6069 2d ago

There’s lots of random stuff that’s been used to shore up the banks of the willamette historically: https://www.oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical-records/rusty-automobiles-willamette-river-west-salem/

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u/Independent_Step6069 2d ago

near the rose garden there’s lots of rusty car parts embedded in the riverbank

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u/Paper-street-garage 2d ago

Ohh ill have to take a look next time. Shame they did that you could make some cool hot rods out of those bodies/ parts nowadays and they’d be valuable.

u/Nonyabeez420 2d ago

Probs an old bridge

u/Odd-Measurement-7963 2d ago

Oh yeah.. along the bike path right off river road,..there was an old gravel pit/mine along that swath of land decades ago. Lots of remnants

u/InternationalCost234 2d ago

If I’m not mistaken a lot of old infrastructure like that was to divert logs off the main river and into sloughs where mills could process them.

u/Proud_Cauliflower400 2d ago

I used to know the answer to this. A long time ago. When we were both cats.

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u/matt-du-Jura 1d ago

That's the randomest answer to this! Love it.

u/supersunnyout 2d ago

Probably part of an old aqueduct for a mill back in the day (1880 to 1920)

u/mcgr123 2d ago

Near delta those are for fishing

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u/rigor_mortus_boner 2d ago

is that right near that spot at the river that's horrible during the summertime?

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u/matt-du-Jura 1d ago

Yes, the horrible spot where you can sit on rocks and admire the river.

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u/rigor_mortus_boner 1d ago

🤫

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u/snappyhome 2d ago

Probably old bike path that got moved due to bank erosion.