COLUMBIA RIVER
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(Redirected from Columbia river)
The 'Columbia River' is a river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It stretches from the Canadian province of British Columbia, through the U.S. state of Washington, and forms much of the border between Washington and Oregon before emptying into the Pacific Ocean.
The Columbia is the largest river (measured by volume) flowing into the Pacific from the Western Hemisphere, and is the fourth-largest in North America, behind the Mississippi, St. Lawrence, and Mackenzie Rivers. (In rare years, the river’s flow may actually exceed that of the Mississippi.) The Columbia's average annual flow is about 265,000 ft³/s (7,500 m³/s). It flows 1,243 miles (2,000 km) from its headwaters to the Pacific, draining 258,000 square miles (668,217 km²), of which about 15% is in Canada.
The river's heavy flow, and its large elevation drop over a relatively short distance, give it tremendous potential for hydroelectricity generation. It is the largest hydroelectric power producing river in North America, with 14 hydroelectric dams in the United States and Canada.
The Columbia and its tributaries are home to numerous fish, including Steelhead and Chinook Salmon, which migrate up the rivers to spawn, and sturgeon. The "harnessing" of the river for human use, including dredging for navigation by larger ships, the construction of dams for power generation, irrigation, and navigation, and industrial waste have come into conflict with ecological conservation at numerous times since Americans and Europeans began to settle the area in the 18th century.
The river was named after Captain Robert Gray’s ship ''Columbia Rediviva'', the first ship from the United States or a European country documented to have traveled up the river.[1]
Columbia Lake—elevation 2,650 ft (808 meters)—forms the Columbia’s headwaters in the Canadian Rockies of southern British Columbia. For its first 200 miles (320 km) the Columbia flows northwest, through Windermere Lake and the town of Invermere, then northwest to Golden and into Kinbasket Lake. The river then turns sharply south (at the “Big Bendâ€), passing through Revelstoke Lake and the Arrow Lakes to the BC–Washington border.
The Pend Oreille River joins the Columbia in British Columbia, just north of the border.
The Columbia then winds through the channeled scablands of eastern Washington, flowing to the southwest and then changing to a south and southeasterly direction near the confluence of the Wenatchee River in central Washington. The river flows past The Gorge Amphitheatre—a prominent concert venue in the Northwest—and then past the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. The Snake River joins the Columbia in the Tri-Cities area.
Hanford Reach, a section of the Columbia between Priest Rapids Dam and the Tri-Cities, is the only American stretch of the river that is free-flowing, unimpeded by dams, and not a tidal estuary.
The Columbia makes a sharp bend to the west at the Washington-Oregon border. The river defines that border for the final 300 miles (480 km) of its journey.
The river is the only one to pass through the Cascade Mountains, which it does between The Dalles, Oregon and Portland, forming the Columbia River Gorge. The gorge is known for strong and steady winds, scenic beauty, and as an important transportation link.
The river continues west, bending sharply to the north-northwest between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington, at the river's confluence with the Willamette River. Here the river slows considerably, dropping sediment that might otherwise form a river delta.
The Columbia empties into the Pacific Ocean just past Astoria, Oregon over the Columbia Bar, a shifting sandbar which makes the river's mouth one of the most hazardous stretches of water to navigate in the world.[2]
Main articles: Tributaries of the Columbia River
★
With an average annual flow of about 265,000 ft³/s (7,500 m³/s), the Columbia is the largest river by volume flowing into the Pacific from the Western Hemisphere, and is the fourth-largest in North America. The Columbia's highest recorded flow was 1,240,000 ft³/s (35,113 m³/s), on June 6, 1894. The river flows 1,243 miles (2,000 km) from its headwaters to the Pacific, draining an area of about 258,000 square miles (668,217 km²).
Main articles: Missoula Floods
The Columbia River and its drainage basin has experienced some of the world’s greatest known floods. Towards the end of the last ice age, the rupturing of ice dams at Glacial Lake Missoula resulted in discharge rates ten times the combined flow of all the rivers of the world.[3] Water levels resulting from the Missoula Floods have been estimated to be 1,250 feet (381 m) at the Wallula Gap, 830 feet (253 m) at Bonneville Dam, and 400 feet (122 m) over current day Portland, Oregon.[4] In addition to their temporary inundation of the lower Columbia basin, these floods are responsible for many geological features still visible on the Columbia Plateau.
In 1775, Bruno de Heceta became the first European to sight the mouth of the Columbia River, naming it either ''BahÃa de la Asunción,'' or the ''San Rogue River''. On May 11 1792, Captain Robert Gray managed to sail into the Columbia River, becoming the first explorer to enter it. Gray had traveled to the Pacific Northwest to trade for furs in a privately owned vessel named ''Columbia Rediviva''; he named the river after the ship. Gray spent nine days trading near the mouth of the Columbia, then left without having gone beyond 13 miles upstream. George Vancouver, commander of the British naval expedition that was exploring the region at the same time, soon learned that Gray claimed to have found a navigable river, and went to investigate for himself. In October 1792, Vancouver sent Lieutenant William Robert Broughton, his second-in-command, up the river. Broughton sailed up for some miles, then continued in small boats. He got as far as the Columbia River Gorge, about 100 miles upstream, sighting and naming Mount Hood. He also formally claimed the river, its watershed and the nearby coast for Britain. Gray's discovery of the Columbia was used by the United States to support their claim to the Oregon Country, which was also claimed by Russia, Great Britain, Spain and other nations.[5]
French explorers called the Columbia River "the river of storms", ''ouragan'', which is one of several plausible origins of the name "Oregon".
Lewis and Clark’s overland expedition explored the vast, unmapped lands west of the Missouri River. On the last stretch of their expedition in 1805 they traveled down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean.
David Thompson of the North West Company spent the winter of 1807–08 at Kootenae House near the source of the Columbia at present day Invermere, British Columbia. In 1811 he traveled down the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first European-American to travel the entire length of the river.
In 1825, on behalf of the Hudson's Bay Company, Dr. John McLoughlin established Fort Vancouver (currently Vancouver, Washington) on the banks of the Columbia as a fur trading headquarters in the region. The fort was by far the largest European settlement in the northwest of the time. Every year ships would come from London (via the Pacific) to drop off supplies and trade goods in exchange for the furs. For many settlers the fort became the last stop on the Oregon Trail to buy supplies and land before starting their homestead. Because of its access to the Columbia river, Fort Vancouver’s influence reached from Alaska to California and from the Rocky Mountains to the Hawaiian Islands.
By the turn of the 20th century, the difficulty of navigating the Columbia was seen as an impediment to the economic development of the Inland Empire region east of the Cascades.[6] The dredging and dam building that followed would permanently alter the river, disrupting its natural flow but also providing electricity, irrigation, navigability and other benefits to the region.
The Columbia's heavy flow and extreme elevation drop over a short distance give it tremendous capacity for hydroelectricity generation. It was estimated in the 1960s – 70s that the Columbia represented a fifth of the total hydroelectric capacity on Earth (although these estimates may no longer be accurate.) The Columbia drops , as compared with the Mississippi which drops less than .
Today, the mainstream of the Columbia River has 14 dams (three in Canada, 11 in the United States.) Four mainstem dams and four lower Snake River dams have locks to allow ship and barge passage. Numerous Columbia River tributaries have dams for hydroelectric and/or irrigation purposes. While hydroelectricity accounts for only 6.5% of energy in the United States, the Columbia and its tributaries provide approximately 60% of the hydroelectric power on the west coast.[7] The largest of the 150 hydroelectric projects, the Grand Coulee Dam and the Chief Joseph Dam, are also the largest in the United States; the Grand Coulee is the third largest in the world.
In addition to generating power, the dams enable ships to navigate the river, and provide irrigation. The dams in the United States are owned by the Federal Government (Army Corps of Engineers or Bureau of Reclamation), Public Utility Districts, and private power companies.
Grand Coulee Dam provides water for the Columbia Basin Project, one of the most extensive irrigation projects in the western United States. The project provides water to over 500,000 acres (2,000 km²) of fertile but arid lands in central Washington State. Water from the project has transformed the region from a wasteland barely able to produce subsistence levels of dry-land wheat crops to a major agricultural center. Important crops include apples, potatoes, alfalfa, wheat, corn (maize), barley, hops, beans, and sugar beets.
The installation of dams dramatically altered the landscape and ecosystem of the river. At one time the Columbia was one of the top salmon-producing river systems in the world. Previously active fishing sites, most notably Celilo Falls in the eastern Columbia River Gorge, have exhibited a sharp decline in fishing along the Columbia in the last century. The presence of dams, coupled with over-fishing, has played a major role in the reduction of salmon populations. Fish ladders[8] have been installed at some dam sites to help the fish journey to spawning waters. Grand Coulee Dam has no fish ladders and completely blocks fish migration to the upper half of the Columbia River system. Downriver of Grand Coulee, each dam’s reservoir is closely regulated by the Bonneville Power Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and various Washington Public Utility Districts to ensure flow, flood control, and power generation objectives are met. Increasingly, hydro-power operations are required to meet standards under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and other agreements to manage operations to minimize impacts on salmon and other fish, and some conservation and fishing groups support removing four dams on the lower Snake River, the largest tributary of the Columbia.
The Hanford Site was established in 1940s as part of the Manhattan Project. It is located along the river in southeastern Washington on 586 mile² (1,520 km²) of some of the most fertile land in North America; at the time of its establishment, the area was considered a wasteland. The site served as a plutonium production complex with nine nuclear reactors and related facilities. Most of the facilities were shut down in the 1960s. The site is currently under control of the Department of Energy, and is a Superfund site. The Superfund cleanup is expected to be completed in 2030.
Studies by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state monitoring programs have found significant levels of toxins in fish and the waters they inhabit within the basin. Accumulation of toxins in fish threatens the survival of fish species, and human consumption of these fish can lead to health problems. Many governments, communities and citizens have rallied to launch a long term and intense recovery effort to restore these remarkable fish.
Water quality is also an important factor in the survival of other wildlife and plants that grow in the Columbia River Basin. The states, Indian tribes, and federal government are all engaged in efforts to restore and improve the water, land, and air quality of the Columbia River Basin and have committed to work together to enhance and accomplish critical ecosystem restoration efforts. A number of important work efforts are currently underway, including Portland Harbor in the Lower Basin, Hanford in the Middle Basin and Lake Roosevelt in the Upper Basin.[9]
Environmental advocates have called for the destruction of certain dams in the Columbia River system for many years, most notably four dams on the Snake River that have no fish ladders and prevent steelhead and salmon from migrating past Hells Canyon. In 2007, the destruction of the Marmot Dam on the Sandy River marked the first of several dams to be removed in the system.[10]
On July 1 2003, Christopher Swain of Portland, Oregon became the first person to swim the Columbia River's entire length, in an effort to raise public awareness about the river's pollution.[11]
In 1999, Congress authorized dredging the lower Columbia, to deepen the channel between Portland and Astoria from 40 feet to 43 feet. A depth of 43 feet will make it possible for large container and grain ships to reach Portland and Vancouver.[12]
The project, however, has met opposition, due to concerns about stirring up toxic sediment on the riverbed. Portland-based Northwest Environmental Advocates brought a lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers, but it was rejected by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in August, 2006.[13]
The project includes measures to mitigate environmental damage; for instance, for every acre of wetland damaged by the project, the Corps must restore 12 acres of wetland. In early 2006, the Corps spilled 50 gallons of hydraulic oil into the Columbia, drawing further criticism from environmental organizations.[14]
Studies for the project were conducted as early as 1990, and were controversial from the start.[15] After approval in 1999, work began in 2005, and is expected to conclude in 2010. The project's cost is estimated at $150 million. The federal government is paying 65%, Oregon and Washington are paying $27 million each, and six local ports make payments as well.[16]
The Columbia was first dredged in 1891, deepening it from 17 feet to 25 feet. ''The Columbian'' newspaper advocated for deepening it to 40 feet as early as 1905, but a depth of 40 feet was not attained until 1976.[17]
With the importance of the Columbia to the Pacific Northwest, it has made its way into the culture of the area and the nation. Celilo Falls, in particular, was an important economic and cultural hub of western North America for as many as 10,000 years.
Several Indian tribes have a historical and continuing presence on the Columbia River, most notably the Sinixt or Lakes people in Canada and in the U.S. the Colville, Spokane, Yakama, Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs tribes. In the upper Snake River and Salmon River basin the Shoshone Bannock Tribes are present. In the Lower Columbia River, the Cowlitz and Chinook Tribes are present, but these tribes are not federally recognized. The Yakama, Nez Perce, Umatilla, and Warm Springs Tribes all have treaty fishing rights in the Columbia River and tributaries.
On February 13 1980, $5,800 (in bundles of $20 bills) was found by a family on a picnic five miles northwest of Vancouver, Washington on the banks of the Columbia River. The money is believed by the FBI to be connected with the 1971 disappearance of hijacker D. B. Cooper.[18]
★ List of crossings of the Columbia River
★ Columbia River Highway
★ Empire Builder, an Amtrak rail line following much of the river from Portland to Spokane
★ Cities on the Columbia River
★ Cascades Rapids
★ List of Washington rivers
★ List of Oregon rivers
★ List of British Columbia rivers
★ Grays Point (Washington)
★ Columbia River Treaty
★ Bateman Island
★ Gray Sails the Columbia River
★ Drumheller Channels - landscape feature formed by the Missoula Floods
1. Atlas of Oregon, , Willam G., Loy, University of Oregon Press, , ISBN 0-87114-102-7
2. Columbia pilot pay attracts port’s eye Ben Jacklet
3. Glacial Lake Missoula and the Missoula Floods
4. Wild in the City, , Michael C., Houck, Oregon Historical Society, , ISBN 0-87595-273-9
5. Winning Oregon: A Study of An Expansionist Movement, , Melvin C., Jacobs, The Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1938, 77
6. Open the Columbia to the sea Lee B. Reeder
7. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Annual, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Columbia River Power System, brochure (2003), p. 1.
8. http://www.fpc.org/
9. EPA report on the Columbia
10. A river released to the wild
11. Challenge sets off global ripples Jennifer Anderson
12. Dredging Columbia a very big job Tom Koenninger
13. In Our View - Monitor the Dredging
14. State rebukes Corps of Engineers over oil spill Erik Robinson
15. Cleanup study already bogged in controversy
16. Bush budget offers million for dredging
17. Rewind--Editorials from our archives: 1905: 40-ft. depth wanted
18.
★ Leaves of knowledge, , Elma, MacGibbon, Shaw & Borden, 1904,
★ Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
★ US Environmental Protection Agency Columbia River Basin
★ Bibliography on Water Resources and International Law See 'Columbia River'. Peace Palace Libray
★ Historic Columbia River Highway
★ ''National Geographic'' on the Columbia
★ BC Hydro Generation System Information
★ Bonneville Power Administration
★ Center for Columbia River History
★ Columbia River Maritime Museum
★ Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area
★ CORIE, a Columbia River observation and prediction system
★ University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Tollman and Canaris Photographs Photographs document the salmon fishing industry on the southern Washington coast and in the lower Columbia River around the year 1897 and offer valuable insights into the history of commercial salmon fishing and the techniques used at the beginning of the 20th century.
★ Columbia River Fishing Guides Association
The 'Columbia River' is a river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It stretches from the Canadian province of British Columbia, through the U.S. state of Washington, and forms much of the border between Washington and Oregon before emptying into the Pacific Ocean.
The Columbia is the largest river (measured by volume) flowing into the Pacific from the Western Hemisphere, and is the fourth-largest in North America, behind the Mississippi, St. Lawrence, and Mackenzie Rivers. (In rare years, the river’s flow may actually exceed that of the Mississippi.) The Columbia's average annual flow is about 265,000 ft³/s (7,500 m³/s). It flows 1,243 miles (2,000 km) from its headwaters to the Pacific, draining 258,000 square miles (668,217 km²), of which about 15% is in Canada.
The river's heavy flow, and its large elevation drop over a relatively short distance, give it tremendous potential for hydroelectricity generation. It is the largest hydroelectric power producing river in North America, with 14 hydroelectric dams in the United States and Canada.
The Columbia and its tributaries are home to numerous fish, including Steelhead and Chinook Salmon, which migrate up the rivers to spawn, and sturgeon. The "harnessing" of the river for human use, including dredging for navigation by larger ships, the construction of dams for power generation, irrigation, and navigation, and industrial waste have come into conflict with ecological conservation at numerous times since Americans and Europeans began to settle the area in the 18th century.
The river was named after Captain Robert Gray’s ship ''Columbia Rediviva'', the first ship from the United States or a European country documented to have traveled up the river.[1]
| Contents |
| Geography |
| Major tributaries |
| Drainage |
| Missoula Floods |
| Modern history |
| Hydroelectric dams |
| Ecology and environment |
| Dredging |
| Culture |
| See also |
| References |
| Further reading |
| External links |
Geography
Columbia Lake—elevation 2,650 ft (808 meters)—forms the Columbia’s headwaters in the Canadian Rockies of southern British Columbia. For its first 200 miles (320 km) the Columbia flows northwest, through Windermere Lake and the town of Invermere, then northwest to Golden and into Kinbasket Lake. The river then turns sharply south (at the “Big Bendâ€), passing through Revelstoke Lake and the Arrow Lakes to the BC–Washington border.
The Pend Oreille River joins the Columbia in British Columbia, just north of the border.
The Columbia then winds through the channeled scablands of eastern Washington, flowing to the southwest and then changing to a south and southeasterly direction near the confluence of the Wenatchee River in central Washington. The river flows past The Gorge Amphitheatre—a prominent concert venue in the Northwest—and then past the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. The Snake River joins the Columbia in the Tri-Cities area.
Hanford Reach, a section of the Columbia between Priest Rapids Dam and the Tri-Cities, is the only American stretch of the river that is free-flowing, unimpeded by dams, and not a tidal estuary.
The Columbia makes a sharp bend to the west at the Washington-Oregon border. The river defines that border for the final 300 miles (480 km) of its journey.
The river is the only one to pass through the Cascade Mountains, which it does between The Dalles, Oregon and Portland, forming the Columbia River Gorge. The gorge is known for strong and steady winds, scenic beauty, and as an important transportation link.
The river continues west, bending sharply to the north-northwest between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington, at the river's confluence with the Willamette River. Here the river slows considerably, dropping sediment that might otherwise form a river delta.
The Columbia empties into the Pacific Ocean just past Astoria, Oregon over the Columbia Bar, a shifting sandbar which makes the river's mouth one of the most hazardous stretches of water to navigate in the world.[2]
Major tributaries
Main articles: Tributaries of the Columbia River
Columbia River Basin, showing major dams and tributaries
| Tributary | Discharge ★ |
|---|---|
| Snake River | 56,900 (1611) |
| Willamette River | 35,660 (1010) |
| Kootenay River (Kootenai) | 30,650 (867) |
| Pend Oreille River | 27,820 (788) |
| Cowlitz River | 9,200 (261) |
| Spokane River | 6,700 (190) |
| Deschutes River | 6,000 (170) |
| Lewis River | 4,800 (136) |
| Yakima River | 3,540 (100) |
| Wenatchee River | 3,220 (91) |
| Okanogan River | 3,050 (86) |
| Kettle River | 2,930 (83) |
| Sandy River | 2,260 (64) |
★
Drainage
With an average annual flow of about 265,000 ft³/s (7,500 m³/s), the Columbia is the largest river by volume flowing into the Pacific from the Western Hemisphere, and is the fourth-largest in North America. The Columbia's highest recorded flow was 1,240,000 ft³/s (35,113 m³/s), on June 6, 1894. The river flows 1,243 miles (2,000 km) from its headwaters to the Pacific, draining an area of about 258,000 square miles (668,217 km²).
Missoula Floods
Main articles: Missoula Floods
The Columbia River and its drainage basin has experienced some of the world’s greatest known floods. Towards the end of the last ice age, the rupturing of ice dams at Glacial Lake Missoula resulted in discharge rates ten times the combined flow of all the rivers of the world.[3] Water levels resulting from the Missoula Floods have been estimated to be 1,250 feet (381 m) at the Wallula Gap, 830 feet (253 m) at Bonneville Dam, and 400 feet (122 m) over current day Portland, Oregon.[4] In addition to their temporary inundation of the lower Columbia basin, these floods are responsible for many geological features still visible on the Columbia Plateau.
Modern history
Cascade on the Columbia River
The Columbia near The Dalles, Oregon
Interstate 90 crossing the Columbia River. The view is from the east side of the river, looking south toward Wanapum Dam.
In 1775, Bruno de Heceta became the first European to sight the mouth of the Columbia River, naming it either ''BahÃa de la Asunción,'' or the ''San Rogue River''. On May 11 1792, Captain Robert Gray managed to sail into the Columbia River, becoming the first explorer to enter it. Gray had traveled to the Pacific Northwest to trade for furs in a privately owned vessel named ''Columbia Rediviva''; he named the river after the ship. Gray spent nine days trading near the mouth of the Columbia, then left without having gone beyond 13 miles upstream. George Vancouver, commander of the British naval expedition that was exploring the region at the same time, soon learned that Gray claimed to have found a navigable river, and went to investigate for himself. In October 1792, Vancouver sent Lieutenant William Robert Broughton, his second-in-command, up the river. Broughton sailed up for some miles, then continued in small boats. He got as far as the Columbia River Gorge, about 100 miles upstream, sighting and naming Mount Hood. He also formally claimed the river, its watershed and the nearby coast for Britain. Gray's discovery of the Columbia was used by the United States to support their claim to the Oregon Country, which was also claimed by Russia, Great Britain, Spain and other nations.[5]
French explorers called the Columbia River "the river of storms", ''ouragan'', which is one of several plausible origins of the name "Oregon".
Lewis and Clark’s overland expedition explored the vast, unmapped lands west of the Missouri River. On the last stretch of their expedition in 1805 they traveled down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean.
David Thompson of the North West Company spent the winter of 1807–08 at Kootenae House near the source of the Columbia at present day Invermere, British Columbia. In 1811 he traveled down the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first European-American to travel the entire length of the river.
In 1825, on behalf of the Hudson's Bay Company, Dr. John McLoughlin established Fort Vancouver (currently Vancouver, Washington) on the banks of the Columbia as a fur trading headquarters in the region. The fort was by far the largest European settlement in the northwest of the time. Every year ships would come from London (via the Pacific) to drop off supplies and trade goods in exchange for the furs. For many settlers the fort became the last stop on the Oregon Trail to buy supplies and land before starting their homestead. Because of its access to the Columbia river, Fort Vancouver’s influence reached from Alaska to California and from the Rocky Mountains to the Hawaiian Islands.
By the turn of the 20th century, the difficulty of navigating the Columbia was seen as an impediment to the economic development of the Inland Empire region east of the Cascades.[6] The dredging and dam building that followed would permanently alter the river, disrupting its natural flow but also providing electricity, irrigation, navigability and other benefits to the region.
Hydroelectric dams
The Columbia's heavy flow and extreme elevation drop over a short distance give it tremendous capacity for hydroelectricity generation. It was estimated in the 1960s – 70s that the Columbia represented a fifth of the total hydroelectric capacity on Earth (although these estimates may no longer be accurate.) The Columbia drops , as compared with the Mississippi which drops less than .
Today, the mainstream of the Columbia River has 14 dams (three in Canada, 11 in the United States.) Four mainstem dams and four lower Snake River dams have locks to allow ship and barge passage. Numerous Columbia River tributaries have dams for hydroelectric and/or irrigation purposes. While hydroelectricity accounts for only 6.5% of energy in the United States, the Columbia and its tributaries provide approximately 60% of the hydroelectric power on the west coast.[7] The largest of the 150 hydroelectric projects, the Grand Coulee Dam and the Chief Joseph Dam, are also the largest in the United States; the Grand Coulee is the third largest in the world.
In addition to generating power, the dams enable ships to navigate the river, and provide irrigation. The dams in the United States are owned by the Federal Government (Army Corps of Engineers or Bureau of Reclamation), Public Utility Districts, and private power companies.
Grand Coulee Dam provides water for the Columbia Basin Project, one of the most extensive irrigation projects in the western United States. The project provides water to over 500,000 acres (2,000 km²) of fertile but arid lands in central Washington State. Water from the project has transformed the region from a wasteland barely able to produce subsistence levels of dry-land wheat crops to a major agricultural center. Important crops include apples, potatoes, alfalfa, wheat, corn (maize), barley, hops, beans, and sugar beets.
The installation of dams dramatically altered the landscape and ecosystem of the river. At one time the Columbia was one of the top salmon-producing river systems in the world. Previously active fishing sites, most notably Celilo Falls in the eastern Columbia River Gorge, have exhibited a sharp decline in fishing along the Columbia in the last century. The presence of dams, coupled with over-fishing, has played a major role in the reduction of salmon populations. Fish ladders[8] have been installed at some dam sites to help the fish journey to spawning waters. Grand Coulee Dam has no fish ladders and completely blocks fish migration to the upper half of the Columbia River system. Downriver of Grand Coulee, each dam’s reservoir is closely regulated by the Bonneville Power Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and various Washington Public Utility Districts to ensure flow, flood control, and power generation objectives are met. Increasingly, hydro-power operations are required to meet standards under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and other agreements to manage operations to minimize impacts on salmon and other fish, and some conservation and fishing groups support removing four dams on the lower Snake River, the largest tributary of the Columbia.
Ecology and environment
Columbia River, Cascade Mountains, Oregon (1876) by Vincent Colyer (oil on canvas)
The Hanford Site was established in 1940s as part of the Manhattan Project. It is located along the river in southeastern Washington on 586 mile² (1,520 km²) of some of the most fertile land in North America; at the time of its establishment, the area was considered a wasteland. The site served as a plutonium production complex with nine nuclear reactors and related facilities. Most of the facilities were shut down in the 1960s. The site is currently under control of the Department of Energy, and is a Superfund site. The Superfund cleanup is expected to be completed in 2030.
Studies by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state monitoring programs have found significant levels of toxins in fish and the waters they inhabit within the basin. Accumulation of toxins in fish threatens the survival of fish species, and human consumption of these fish can lead to health problems. Many governments, communities and citizens have rallied to launch a long term and intense recovery effort to restore these remarkable fish.
Water quality is also an important factor in the survival of other wildlife and plants that grow in the Columbia River Basin. The states, Indian tribes, and federal government are all engaged in efforts to restore and improve the water, land, and air quality of the Columbia River Basin and have committed to work together to enhance and accomplish critical ecosystem restoration efforts. A number of important work efforts are currently underway, including Portland Harbor in the Lower Basin, Hanford in the Middle Basin and Lake Roosevelt in the Upper Basin.[9]
Environmental advocates have called for the destruction of certain dams in the Columbia River system for many years, most notably four dams on the Snake River that have no fish ladders and prevent steelhead and salmon from migrating past Hells Canyon. In 2007, the destruction of the Marmot Dam on the Sandy River marked the first of several dams to be removed in the system.[10]
On July 1 2003, Christopher Swain of Portland, Oregon became the first person to swim the Columbia River's entire length, in an effort to raise public awareness about the river's pollution.[11]
Dredging
In 1999, Congress authorized dredging the lower Columbia, to deepen the channel between Portland and Astoria from 40 feet to 43 feet. A depth of 43 feet will make it possible for large container and grain ships to reach Portland and Vancouver.[12]
The project, however, has met opposition, due to concerns about stirring up toxic sediment on the riverbed. Portland-based Northwest Environmental Advocates brought a lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers, but it was rejected by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in August, 2006.[13]
The project includes measures to mitigate environmental damage; for instance, for every acre of wetland damaged by the project, the Corps must restore 12 acres of wetland. In early 2006, the Corps spilled 50 gallons of hydraulic oil into the Columbia, drawing further criticism from environmental organizations.[14]
Studies for the project were conducted as early as 1990, and were controversial from the start.[15] After approval in 1999, work began in 2005, and is expected to conclude in 2010. The project's cost is estimated at $150 million. The federal government is paying 65%, Oregon and Washington are paying $27 million each, and six local ports make payments as well.[16]
The Columbia was first dredged in 1891, deepening it from 17 feet to 25 feet. ''The Columbian'' newspaper advocated for deepening it to 40 feet as early as 1905, but a depth of 40 feet was not attained until 1976.[17]
Culture
Kitesurfing on the Columbia River
With the importance of the Columbia to the Pacific Northwest, it has made its way into the culture of the area and the nation. Celilo Falls, in particular, was an important economic and cultural hub of western North America for as many as 10,000 years.
Several Indian tribes have a historical and continuing presence on the Columbia River, most notably the Sinixt or Lakes people in Canada and in the U.S. the Colville, Spokane, Yakama, Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs tribes. In the upper Snake River and Salmon River basin the Shoshone Bannock Tribes are present. In the Lower Columbia River, the Cowlitz and Chinook Tribes are present, but these tribes are not federally recognized. The Yakama, Nez Perce, Umatilla, and Warm Springs Tribes all have treaty fishing rights in the Columbia River and tributaries.
On February 13 1980, $5,800 (in bundles of $20 bills) was found by a family on a picnic five miles northwest of Vancouver, Washington on the banks of the Columbia River. The money is believed by the FBI to be connected with the 1971 disappearance of hijacker D. B. Cooper.[18]
See also
★ List of crossings of the Columbia River
★ Columbia River Highway
★ Empire Builder, an Amtrak rail line following much of the river from Portland to Spokane
★ Cities on the Columbia River
★ Cascades Rapids
★ List of Washington rivers
★ List of Oregon rivers
★ List of British Columbia rivers
★ Grays Point (Washington)
★ Columbia River Treaty
★ Bateman Island
★ Gray Sails the Columbia River
★ Drumheller Channels - landscape feature formed by the Missoula Floods
References
1. Atlas of Oregon, , Willam G., Loy, University of Oregon Press, , ISBN 0-87114-102-7
2. Columbia pilot pay attracts port’s eye Ben Jacklet
3. Glacial Lake Missoula and the Missoula Floods
4. Wild in the City, , Michael C., Houck, Oregon Historical Society, , ISBN 0-87595-273-9
5. Winning Oregon: A Study of An Expansionist Movement, , Melvin C., Jacobs, The Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1938, 77
6. Open the Columbia to the sea Lee B. Reeder
7. Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Annual, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Columbia River Power System, brochure (2003), p. 1.
8. http://www.fpc.org/
9. EPA report on the Columbia
10. A river released to the wild
11. Challenge sets off global ripples Jennifer Anderson
12. Dredging Columbia a very big job Tom Koenninger
13. In Our View - Monitor the Dredging
14. State rebukes Corps of Engineers over oil spill Erik Robinson
15. Cleanup study already bogged in controversy
16. Bush budget offers million for dredging
17. Rewind--Editorials from our archives: 1905: 40-ft. depth wanted
18.
Further reading
★ Leaves of knowledge, , Elma, MacGibbon, Shaw & Borden, 1904,
External links
★ Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission
★ US Environmental Protection Agency Columbia River Basin
★ Bibliography on Water Resources and International Law See 'Columbia River'. Peace Palace Libray
★ Historic Columbia River Highway
★ ''National Geographic'' on the Columbia
★ BC Hydro Generation System Information
★ Bonneville Power Administration
★ Center for Columbia River History
★ Columbia River Maritime Museum
★ Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area
★ CORIE, a Columbia River observation and prediction system
★ University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Tollman and Canaris Photographs Photographs document the salmon fishing industry on the southern Washington coast and in the lower Columbia River around the year 1897 and offer valuable insights into the history of commercial salmon fishing and the techniques used at the beginning of the 20th century.
★ Columbia River Fishing Guides Association
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