Chinook people, the Multnomahs, lived in villages along the channel at the time of European exploration of the Columbia River in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

[2][4] In its first 0.5 miles (0.80 km), the channel receives Miller Creek from the left, then passes under Wapato Bridge, which carries Northwest Sauvie Island Road.

[6] Multnomah, used by Lewis and Clark to refer to the main stem of the Willamette, is what the Chinook people living on Sauvie Island in the early 19th century called themselves.

[3] Private moorages and marinas, some with public fee-for-service boat ramps, lie along the channel between the main stem and the Sauvie Island Bridge.

[7] Further downriver is the Sauvie Island Public Boat Ramp at RM 18 (RK 29), followed by Hadley's Landing and its tie-up and trail 0.5 miles (0.80 km) later.

[7] A productive fishery for spring Chinook salmon, the channel is also home to sturgeon, walleye, shad, brown bullhead catfish, and other small fish, and crayfish.

Oregon's lower-Willamette health advisories on consumption of resident (non-migratory) fish, especially large bottom feeders, apply to the Multnomah Channel as well as the main stem.