Walking along the Millrace near UO campus means walking through decades of illustrious and highly varied history. Starting out as an industrial powerhouse, the Millrace then became a student hub before slipping into disrepair. Now, the Millrace is finally seeing a comeback, and can serve as a role model of what students can achieve for their local community.

The Millrace is an artificial waterway that runs parallel to Franklin Boulevard and the Willamette River. It was created in 1851, nothing more than a ditch five blocks long between Kincaid and Ferry streets. This quickly became an industrial hub for the area, as Millrace was used to provide power to nearby mills. This made Millrace a boon to the local economy, helping Eugene to become a lumber processing titan. 

Within only a few decades, however, the Millrace saw the rise in an entirely different use of the water: recreation. Locals, particularly students, loved the small canal. The area flourished, and soon you could eat, shop, canoe and even ice skate at the Millrace.

Unfortunately, the golden age of the canal was coming to an end, with a crushing blow being dealt by industrial innovation. When the 1900s arrived, the need for mills faded, as we moved to better power sources. Millrace might’ve been a recreation powerhouse, but it was foundationally a literal powerhouse, and the loss of that position in the community posed an existential threat. 

Tragically, the waterway never recovered from the blow, and while students and locals alike still used it for boating and entertainment, it wasn’t the same. The Vietnam War was the last straw as it could no longer be justified to maintain the Millrace’s vital water pumps. It became nothing more than a “storm drain,” a catching basin for runoff, and was declared the least safe place to swim in Lane County. From the late 1960s to the early 2000s, the Millrace continued to degrade. 

That all began to change in the late 2010s, as the University of Oregon once again took an active interest in Millrace. This is thanks, in no small part, to UO’s student body. 

Student volunteers and researchers in the hundreds have done their part to revitalize the Millrace: literal tons of invasive species have been removed, new plants have been established and the area cleaned. 

In a statement to The Daily Emerald, Emily Hamblen, Campus Natural Areas steward, revealed that “In just the past year and a half, almost 500 volunteers and program participants — most of them students — have made visible progress in revitalizing the Millrace Natural Area.” 

There’s been a massive spike in the biodiversity of the Millrace, with everything from cormorants to otters spotted. A walk down there is an easy way to enjoy Eugene’s flora and fauna, and I myself have seen multiple kingfishers. 

I spoke to one freshman who visited recently, and they said they appreciated “all of the plant life I got to see, and the birds were really cool.” 

This shows us the power of students to make a difference in our local communities; in the words of Hamblen, “Seeing students’ leadership grow, and knowing their impact will only increase, gives me great hope for the future.” 

In the span of only a few years, we’ve managed to begin the process of returning a Eugene backwater to its former glory, honoring the thousands of people who once enjoyed this illustrious waterway. It gives me hope that future generations of UO students will continue this project, as well as many others, to help make Eugene a better place.