The downstream tip of the island is located at Columbia River Mile (RM) 86.5, also the location of the mouth of the Multnomah Channel, and directly across from the mouth of the Lewis River on the Washington side. The Multnomah Channel then follows the western shore of Sauvie Island for 21 miles. The upstream point of Sauvie Island is located at RM 101.5, the location of the mouth of the Willamette River, and across from Washington State's Frenchmans Bar and Blurock Landing. Sauvie Island's southeast shore then follows the Willamette River for three miles, to a point where the Willamette meets the southern end of the Multnomah Channel.

The northern 12,000 acres of Sauvie Island is a wildlife area managed by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and provides feeding and resting area for bald eagles, sandhill cranes, great blue herons, and black-tailed deer. Over 150,000 ducks and geese use the area during fall migration.

Sauvie Island was named after Laurent Sauvé, a French-Canadian employee of the Hudson's Bay Company, who had settled on the island to operate the Hudson's Bay dairy farm.

In 1891 the U.S. Board of Geographic Names made "Sauvie Island" the official name.

In 1805 and 1806, the Lewis and Clark expedition passed the Island and called it "Wappato Island" after the Indian word for arrowhead root which grew in the marshes of the island.

Between 1834 and 1835, Nathaniel Wyeth, an American entrepreneur, built Fort Williams in an attempt to establish a fur-trading enterprise in Hudson's Bay Company territory. The Fort was constructed on the island near the confluence of the Willamette River with the Columbia, about five miles from Fort Vancouver, and named for one of Wyeth's fur trade partners. Wyeth was unable to get a foothold into the Hudson's Bay Company trade and he abandoned the project in 1836.

By 1838, the Hudson's Bay Company was utilizing the island to graze cattle and horse, and by 1841 four dairy farms had been established on the island to supply milk, butter, and cheese. Settler's began arriving on the island by the 1840s.

The lettering "Sauvies Island" appeared on Preston's 1856 Map of Oregon, and in Bancroft's History of the Northwest Coast (Vol.2) it states the island was named after Jean Baptiste Sauve. However, according to McArthur in Oregon Geographic Names (2003) the Island bears the name of a Canadian, Laurent Sauve who settled on the Island to work one of the dairy farms (see more above).

A post office named "Mouth of the Willamette" was established in June 1851 near the mouth of the Willamette River. The name was changed to "Souvies Island" on March 5, 1852. This post office was discontinued in August 1860. A new post office named "Sauvies Island" was established in May 1866 about two miles south of Reeder Point. In 1869, it was moved north to Columbia County but returned to Multnomah County the following year.

• Beaches (Collins, North Unit, Reeder, Walton, Warrior Point, Willow Bar) ...
• Belle Vue Point ...
• Bybee House (Bybee-Howell House) ...
• Coon Point Viewpoint ...
• Fort William ...
• Gilbert River ...
• Great Blue Heron Rookery ...
• Hudson's Bay Company ...
• Howell Territorial Park ...
• Morgan Landing ...
• Multnomah Channel ...
• Oak Island ...
• Pumpkin Patches and Corn Mazes ...
• Reeder Point ...
• Reeder Road Viewing Platform ...
• Reeder's Landing ...
• Rentenaar Road ...
• Sauvie Island Boat Ramp ...
• Sauvie Island Bridge ...
• Sauvie Island Wildlife Area ...
• Sturgeon Lake ...
• Views of the Cascade Range ...
• Wapato State Park (Virginia Lakes, Hadley's Landing) ...
• Warrior Point and Warrior Rock ...
• Willow Bar Islands ...

South to North:

• Reeder Beach does not have direct public access. Access from the Reeder Beach RV Park and Country Store is private.

• Willow Bar Beach is located at milepost 7 on Reeder Road. It is two miles in length and is located on the Columbia River side of the Willow Bar Islands.

• Walton Beach is located at milepost 9.8 on Reeder Road. It is one-mile long. Park on the west side of Reeder Road, cross the road, and climb the stairs of the dike. A Great Blue Heron rookery can be seen in the trees behind the parking area.

• Collins Beach is a mile-long clothing-optional beach located at milepost 11 on Reeder Road. The beach has been in use from at least the 1970s. It begins about 1/4 mile after Reeder Road becomes gravel. Park on the west side of the road. There are six foot-trails (numbered 1-6) leading to the beach.

• North Unit Beach is three-miles long and is located at milepost 13, at the end of Reeder Road, two and 1/4 miles after the pavement ends. Park at the parking area at the end of the road. Trails circle the north point of Sauvie Island.

• Warrior Point Beach is accessible by boat or a 3.5 mile hike from the end of Reeder Road.

The "History of Clarke County Washington Territory.", Published by The Washington Publishing Company, 1885, tells of "Fort Williams" in 1835:

"... Fort Williams, erected by N. J. Wyeth at the mouth of the Willamette, was nearly deserted, Mr. Townsend, the ornithologist, being about the only occupant at that time. Wyeth had gone to his Fort Hall in the Interior. ..."

"We visited fort William, (Wyeth's new settlement upon Wappatoo island,) which is about fifteen miles from the lower mouth of the Wallammet. We found here the missionaries, Messrs. Lee and Edwards, who arrived to-day from their station, sixty miles above. ...   They have built several comfortable log houses ...   The spot chosen by Captain W. for his fort is on a high piece of land, which will probably not be owverflown by the periodical freshets, and the soil is the rich black loam so plentifully distributed through this section of country. The men now live in tents and temporary huts, but several log houses are constructing, which, when finished, will vie in durability and comfort with Vancouver itself. ..." Source:    John Kirk Townsend, May 20th, 1835, IN: Narrative of a Journey across the Rocky Mountains, published 1839.

"Fort William:  Established on Sauvies Island in Multnomah country this fort occupied two sites. The first was near Warrier Point where the fort was established in the fall of 1834. In May 1835, the fort was moved south opposite the Logie Trial, which was a route of travel to the Tualatin Valley. Commercial rivalry with the Hudson Bay Co. forced abandonment. The site is shown as Fort William Bend on USGS Sauvie Island quadrangle." Source:    Map, "Camps - Roads", prepared by the Oregon National Guard, July 1976, Oregon State Archives, 2014.

According to "Oregon Geographic Names" (McArthur and McArthur, 2003):

"Gilbert River, COLUMBIA, MULTNOMAH. Gilbert River pursues a meandering course on Sauvie Island, draining a number of lakes and finally emptying into Multnomah Channel. W.H.H. Morgan, a pioneer resident of Sauvie Island, told the compiler in 1926 that the stream was named in fur-trading days because a trapper, supposed to be in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company, was drowned in it. He was a French Canadian called Gilbert, and his name has been attached to the stream ever since."

The 1854 U.S. Bureau of Land Management's cadastral survey (tax survey) map for T2N R1W shows "Gilbert River".

1829-1846: "Nathaniel Wyeth was an American entrepreneur attempting to establish a fur-trading enterprise in Hudson's Bay Company territory. In 1834-35 he established a post, Fort William, on what is now known as Sauvie Island, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, about five miles from Fort Vancouver. Underfunded and inexperienced, Wyeth was unable to break the Company's hold on the fur trade, and when he abandoned his business in 1836, he left his buildings and other improvements on the island in the care of Chief Factor McLoughlin, with whom he maintained good relations. By 1838, the Company was utilizing the island to graze cattle and horses, where there was "abundant feed," although the livestock was moved from the island during the flood season--its highest point was only fifty feet above sea level. By 1841, four dairies were operating on the island to help fulfill the Puget's Sound Agricultural Company's contract for butter with the Russians in Alaska. By the end of this period, 1846, there were several outbuildings and dwellings on the island, associated with the Company's dairies, although squatters had, by 1845, already begun to appropriate land there. ... The Company had cattle grazing on the island by 1838, when James Douglas noted there was abundant feed on it, but that it was subject to flooding. When McLoughlin returned from London in 1839 ... he directed the construction of three dairies on the island, all of which were, in 1841, located near the site of Fort William. Archibald McKinlay later said that butter and cheese were made "in great quantities" at three dairies on Sauvie Island ... George Simpson, on his visit to the Columbia in 1841-42, noted that the dairy had about two hundred cattle, but that another two or three hundred were allowed to roam the island "... with a view to their breeding ..." to increase the Company herds. George Emmons, who visited the "Island of Multnomah" in August 1841, noted that the Company had a large stock of cattle and horses on the island. ... Four dairies were located on the island in 1844: Gilbot's Dairy, Taylor's Dairy, Sauve's Dairy, and Logie's Dairy. Laurent Sauve dit Laplante had worked as a cowherd for the company since 1829; his name is applied to the island today. James Logie served as a dairyman between 1837 and 1839, when he was placed in charge of one of the new dairies on the island. Gilbot was Pierre Gilbot, and Taylor, James Taylor. ... Four dairies were also listed in the 1846-47 inventory of Company improvements at "Sauve's Island," ..." 1847-1860: "In 1852, Fort Vancouver's administrator John Ballenden reported that he had "broken up" the dairies on Sauvie Island, because they were, according to him, both "useless and expensive," but that he left an employee in residence there to protect the Company's property, probably James Logie, one of the Company's dairymen, who made a provisional claim to 640 acres surrounding "his" dairy in 1845, and later claimed the land under the Donation Land Act of 1850. Two other Company employees, James Taylor and Pierre Gilbouts were also settled on the island by the mid-1840s. In the mid-1840s a between six and ten American immigrants made provisional land claims on Sauvie Island, followed by many more in the late 1840s and 1850s. When the Company's holdings at the post were evaluated by Americans under Isaac Stevens' direction in 1854, for the purpose of preparing an American assessment of the Company's claims, Stevens' report said the firm had: "A farm of six hundred and forty acres, on Sauvie island, at the mouth of the Willamette, with a house, dairy, and garden; the buildings about six years old." It seems likely this farm was Logie's, although by that time he had made two claims for it in his own name. It seems that for all practical purposes, Fort Vancouver's tenure on Sauvie Island terminated with Ballenden's actions in 1852." Source:    Fort Vancouver Cultural Landscape Report, 1992, U.S. National Park Service.

The 1854 Cadastral Survey (tax survey) for T2N R1W shows the Morgan property in Section 11, located on the banks of the Columbia River. The 1870 survey map shows the Edward Morgan owning 639.30 acres ("Claim 39") spreading through parts of Sections 2, 3, 10, 11, 14, and 15.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management's General Land Office (GLO) database (2015) lists Edward Morgan and Mary Morgan gaining title to 639.30 acres of T2N R1W, and parts of Sections 2, 3, 10, 11, 14, and 15, on March 29, 1866 (1850 Oregon-Donation Act).

The 1888 U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey's "Columbia River, Fales Landing to Portland, Sheet No.6" map shows "Morgan's". It is located across the Columbia River from "Hewlett's Pt.".

"Mr. and Mrs. Simon Morgan Reeder with their young son, James Lawrence, traveled overland by covered wagon to the banks of the Columbia, at The Dalles, and then floated down the river by raft to reach the shores of Sauvie Island in 1853. ... James Lawrence was the father of Earl Reeder, and the grandfather of James Reeder, the present owner. ... Fishermen would arrive on Earl Reeder's property to fish from the shores of the Columbia River. They would park on the road and hike across the fields to the river banks. Mr. Reeder, tired of his fields being trampled down, decided to let the fishermen park on his property for a $.50 fee. Some of the fishermen would come and bring their camping equipment and trailers, asking if they could park them there for an additional fee. This resulted in a fisherman's camp that eventually became the Reeder Beach Resort." ["reederbeach.com" website, 2014]

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management's General Land Office (GLO) database shows Simon M. and Catharine Reeder being granted title to 317.26 acres (Multnomah County) of T3N R1W, Sections 26, 34, and 35, on December 14, 1866 (1850 Oregon-Donation Act).

The database also shows James Lawrence Reeder being granted title to 95.49 acres (Columbia County) of T3N R1W, Sections 26 and 27, on September 12, 1923 (1862 Homestead Entry Original).

The 1888 U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey's "Columbia River, Fales Landing to Portland, Sheet No.6" map shows "Reeders Pt.".

The 1889 Multnomah County map by Robert A. Habersham shows "Reeders Ldg.".

On Monday, October 29, 1792, Lieutenant Broughton of the Captain George Vancouver Expedition, and his men, dined in their boats near today's Reeder Point.

"Sauvie Island Wildlife Area was established in 1947 with primary objectives of protecting and improving waterfowl habitat and providing a public hunting area. The initial purchase of five acres in 1940 and subsequent purchases through 1987 has brought the wildlife area to its present size of 11,543 acres, of which 8,053 acres are under fee title to the department and 3,490 acres are managed through a cooperative agreement with the Oregon Department of State Lands. Currently, the wildlife area supports a biologically diverse assocation of wildlife which includes at least 275 species of birds, 37 species of mammals, 12 species of reptiles and amphibians, and numberous species of fish and plants." [Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife website, 2016]

The 1855 cadastral survey map (tax survey) has Sturgeon Lake labeled "Lake Sturgeon", and the 1888 U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey map "Columbia River, Sheet 6, Fales Landing to Portland" has the lake labeled "Sturgeon Lake".