The Portland District, US Army Corps of Engineers offered a “We will rock you” Facebook update about the South Jetty:
“The primary rock gathering area at the mouth of the Columbia River South Jetty is nearly full with approximately 115,000 tons of armor rock ready for placement, which means the jetty is ready (ready, Freddie) to be rocked!” Technically, it will actually be rehabilitated.
“Repairing a jetty, unlike a repair, involves end-to-end treatment, which is historically rare, and requires a huge amount of hydraulic stone. This is probably the largest quantity of armor stone ever stored at this location (photo) or on any scaffold in the Portland District. It can also be the biggest effort to acquire stones at all our jetties, or any jetty in the country.”
One commenter wanted to know where all the stones came from. Some come from north-central Washington and are trucked in; More mining occurs on the northern and southern coasts of Oregon, where it is easier for ocean-going vessels to bring the stones to the jetty area.
“We are currently in a unique phase of this rehabilitation project, which began in 2020,” the post continued, “where we have had enough time to purchase this enormous amount of bricks and (can) exceed the number of bricks installed.” With fingers crossed, they expect to place the final stone in the fall of 2025.
