Foster Reservoir

Foster Dam is an embankment type rock-fill dam across the South Santiam River near Sweet Home, Oregon, United States. Designed by the Corps of Engineers, it began service on August 22, 1968. Its primary purpose is flood control but it also provides power, navigation improvement downstream and irrigation. The damming of the river created Foster Reservoir, which is a popular fishing and water sports area. The reservoir stores 28,300 acre-feet (34,900,000 m3). The powerhouse has two generators with a capacity totaling 20 MW. The dam regulates water flow from the main facility, Green Peter Dam.

Foster is an unincorporated community partly within the city of Sweet Home in Linn County, Oregon. It is located on the western end of the Foster Reservoir. A post office named Foster serves ZIP code 97345, which serves areas beyond the Sweet Home city limits on both the north and south sides of Foster Lake: on the north side, the area extends along the Middle Santiam River to the west end of Green Peter Lake; on the south, the area extends for several miles along the South Santiam River and U.S. Route 20.

The Sweet Home Valley of the South Santiam River runs from an area known as The Narrows near the western edge of the city of Sweet Home, Oregon to the confluence of the South Santiam and Middle Santiam rivers at Foster Reservoir on the east. Extending on either side of the South Santiam, nearly all of the valley south of the river is inside the city of Sweet Home while the valley north of the river remains unincorporated. Prior to the construction of Foster Dam, the area inundated by Foster Reservoir was occupied by several ranches and farms.

The Middle Santiam River is a tributary of the South Santiam River, 38.5 miles (62.0 km) long, in western Oregon in the United States. It drains a remote area of the Cascade Range east of Sweet Home in the watershed of the Willamette River. It rises in the Cascades in eastern Linn County in the Willamette National Forest, about half a mile west of Iron Mountain. It flows briefly north, then generally west and southwest through the mountains and Middle Santiam Wilderness. In central Linn County it is impounded at the Green Peter Dam to form the Green Peter Reservoir. Approximately 4 miles (6 km) downstream from the dam it joins the South Santiam from the northeast as an arm of Foster Reservoir.

Sweet Home is a city in Linn County, Oregon, United States, with a population of 8,925 at the 2010 census. Built near the site of a prehistoric petrified forest, Sweet Home experienced substantial growth during the construction of the Green Peter and Foster dams in the 1940s. The town's main attraction nowadays is the Cascade mountains through Santiam Pass.

Sweet Home High School is a public high school located in Sweet Home, Oregon, United States.

Ames Creek is a small tributary of the South Santiam River in the U.S. state of Oregon. It begins near Chimney Rock in the foothills of the Cascade Range in Linn County. It flows northwest to meet the river at Sweet Home, about 33 miles (53 km) by river from the South Santiam's confluence with the Santiam River. Ames Creek passes under U.S. Route 20 just before entering the river.

The Weddle Bridge is a 120-foot (37 m) long wooden covered bridge in Sweet Home, Oregon, United States. The bridge originally spanned Thomas Creek near Scio but was replaced by a concrete bridge in 1980 and was scheduled to be destroyed in 1987. To save the bridge, local activists staged protests and persuaded former Oregon Senator Mae Yih to help save the bridge. The Oregon Legislative Assembly soon approved the Oregon Covered Bridge Program, which helped pay for covered bridge rehabilitation projects statewide. The Weddle Bridge was the first to receive grants from the program.In 1989, using grant funds as well as funds from local residents, a Sweet Home group called the Cascade Forest Resource Center rebuilt the Weddle Bridge across Ames Creek in Sankey Park. Also assisting in the project were the Covered Bridge Society of Oregon, which raised additional funds, and the Jordan Bridge Company, which had built the Jordan Bridge in Stayton.The bridge was temporarily closed in 2005 after an engineering inspection determined that repairs were necessary. Proceeds from the Oregon Jamboree country music festival and donations of cash or building materials from several businesses and individuals made the repairs possible. The bridge has been used for public events such as fundraisers for breast-cancer detection and related services or for private events such as weddings.The original bridge over Thomas Creek was named for a farmer who lived nearby, but it was also known as the Devaney Bridge for another early resident. Similar in design to other covered bridges along Thomas Creek, the Weddle Bridge featured a Howe truss, segmented portal arches, large side openings, and white board-and-batten siding.

KFIR (720 AM) is a news/talk radio station licensed to Sweet Home in the U.S. state of Oregon. KFIR also serves Albany, Corvallis, Lebanon, and Salem, all in the Willamette Valley. Radio Fiesta Network, LLC, owns the news and talk station.KFIR is a class D station, as 720 AM is a United States clear-channel frequency on which there are nine radio stations in the United States, four in Mexico and none in Canada. KOTZ in Kotzebue, Alaska, and WGN in Chicago, Illinois, are the dominant Class A stations.

Holley is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Linn County, Oregon, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 378. It is about 4 miles (6 km) southwest of Sweet Home on Oregon Route 228 near the Calapooia River.The Holley area was once the source of the semi-precious gemstone Holley blue agate.

Waterloo is a city in Linn County, Oregon, United States. The population was 229 at the 2010 census. The city's name, a joking reference to the Battle of Waterloo, stemmed from a 19th-century court decision that settled a land dispute at Kees Mill along the South Santiam River. After the dispute ended, Kees Mill became known as Waterloo.The federal government established a post office at Waterloo on January 5, 1875. S. D. Granger was its first postmaster. The post office closed in 1974.

The Crawfordsville Bridge spans the Calapooia River adjacent to Oregon Route 228 near the community of Crawfordsville in Linn County, Oregon, United States.The 105-foot Howe truss type bridge was built in 1932. The bridge was bypassed in 1963 and is now maintained by the Linn County Parks & Recreation Department as a pedestrian bridge across the river. Since 1990, the bridge has been the site of a Bridge Day festival held annually in the summer. A small park next to the bridge includes a picnic table and fire pit.The bridge was featured in the 1976 television movie The Flood.The bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.