Mill Creek (Marion County, Oregon)

Mill Creek
Mill Creek at Turner
Mill Creek (Marion County, Oregon) is located in Oregon
Mill Creek (Marion County, Oregon)
Location of the mouth of Mill Creek in Oregon
EtymologyA 19th-century sawmill along the creek[2]
Location
CountryUnited States
StateOregon
CountyMarion
Physical characteristics
SourceCoon Hollow
 • locationeast of Sublimity
 • coordinates44°49′54″N 122°42′19″W / 44.83167°N 122.70528°W / 44.83167; -122.70528[1]
 • elevation841 ft (256 m)[3]
MouthWillamette River
 • location
Salem
 • coordinates
44°57′05″N 123°02′17″W / 44.95139°N 123.03806°W / 44.95139; -123.03806[1]
 • elevation
125 ft (38 m)[1]
Length25.7 mi (41.4 km)[4]
Basin size111 sq mi (290 km2)[4]

Mill Creek is a 26-mile (42 km) tributary of the Willamette River that drains a 111-square-mile (290 km2) area of Marion County in the U.S. state of Oregon.[4] Flowing generally west from its source south of Silver Falls State Park, it passes through the cities of Aumsville, Stayton, Sublimity, and Turner before emptying into the Willamette in Salem.[5]

Salem's first gristmill and sawmill were built on the creek in 1840–41 by members of the Oregon Mission.[6]

  1. ^ a b c "Mill Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. November 28, 1980. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
  2. ^ McArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland: Oregon Historical Society Press. pp. 642–43. ISBN 0-87595-277-1.
  3. ^ Source elevation derived from Google Earth search using GNIS source coordinates.
  4. ^ a b c "Willamette Basin TMDL: Middle Willamette Subbasin, Chapter 7" (PDF). Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. 2006. pp. 1–7. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
  5. ^ "Friends of Mill Creek". Salem-Keizer Urban Watershed Council's Association. Retrieved April 11, 2012.
  6. ^ "The Creeks of Salem". Salem Online History. Retrieved January 31, 2008.