Habitat Improvement Project, No. 2

"The construction of Illinois Falls fish ladder on the Illinois River in Oregon was completed in November 1961. The ladder was opened and operated during the winter of 1961-62. Final cleanup and rock removal was completed in the fall of 1962. The ladder was installed on a natural barrier where fish passage was delayed by low and moderately high river levels. The facility installed was a concrete vertical baffle-type fishway patterned after the Hells Gate fishway in use on the Fraser River in Canada. Since the ladder has been installed, salmon and steelhead have arrived at upper river areas much earlier than previously recorded. Concentrations of fish have not been observed below the falls." (Abstract from Author