Chinook salmon spawning Eagle Creek
— — the fish that come back to the gravel that made them.
Not only on a wall.
“Eagle Creek runs out of the western Cascades into the Clackamas River, in Clackamas County, Oregon. Each autumn, fall-run Chinook return from the Pacific, climbing the lower river and gathering at the Eagle Creek National Fish Hatchery near the confluence. The females dig redds in clean gravel, the males hold close, and the run finishes the way it has for as long as the river has been here. from the studio
Chinook salmon spawning Eagle Creek, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Eagle Creek is a tributary of the Clackamas River in Clackamas County, Oregon, joining the larger river near the town of Estacada. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service operates Eagle Creek National Fish Hatchery on the lower creek, established in 1956. The hatchery raises spring Chinook salmon, coho salmon, and winter steelhead, with returning adults entering a fish ladder and holding ponds visible to visitors. The grounds are open to the public daily during daylight hours, with no entrance fee, and viewing windows make the autumn return one of the more accessible salmon-watching sites in the lower Willamette basin.
Fall Chinook return to the Clackamas system from late August through October, with the strongest activity at Eagle Creek and the hatchery typically in September and early October. Females dig redds, depressions in the gravel up to several feet long, by turning on their sides and beating their tails. They lay between 3,000 and 14,000 eggs per fish, depending on size, and die within days of spawning. The carcasses feed the river: nitrogen and marine-derived nutrients move from the Pacific back into the riparian forest each autumn, a cycle measured by federal biologists for decades.
Eagle Creek National Fish Hatchery is on Southeast Rainbow Road, off Highway 224, near the unincorporated community of Eagle Creek and about 25 miles southeast of Portland. Visitor access is daily, dawn to dusk, free of charge, with a small interpretive area and viewing of the fish ladder when returns are active. Late September through mid-October usually offers the best viewing of returning Chinook; coho follow in November. Fishing in the immediate hatchery zone is closed; downstream waters are managed under current ODFW regulations, which change yearly and should be checked before any visit.