Columbia River facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Columbia River
Bonneville Dam, in the Columbia River Gorge
Name origin: Captain Robert Gray's ship, Columbia Rediviva
Nickname: Big River, the River of the West, River Oregon
Countries	United States, Canada
States	Washington, Oregon
Province	British Columbia
Tributaries
- left	Spillimacheen River, Beaver River, Illecillewaet River, Incomappleux River, Kootenay River, Pend Oreille River, Spokane River, Snake River, John Day River, Deschutes River, Willamette River
- right	Kicking Horse River, Blaeberry River, Canoe River, Kettle River, Sanpoil River, Okanogan River, Entiat River, Wenatchee River, Yakima River, Lewis River, Cowlitz River
Cities	Revelstoke, BC, Wenatchee, WA, East Wenatchee, WA, Tri-Cities, WA, The Dalles, OR, Hood River, OR, Portland, OR, Vancouver, WA, Longview, WA, Astoria, OR
Source	Columbia Lake
- location	British Columbia, Canada
- elevation	2,690 ft (820 m)
Mouth	Pacific Ocean, at Clatsop County, Oregon / Pacific County, Washington
- elevation	0 ft (0 m)
Length	1,243 mi (2,000 km)
Basin	258,000 sq mi (668,000 km²)
Discharge	for mouth (average); max and min at The Dalles, Oregon, 188.9 miles (304.0 km) from the mouth
- average	265,000 cu ft/s (7,500 m³/s)
- max	1,240,000 cu ft/s (35,100 m³/s)
- min	12,100 cu ft/s (300 m³/s)

The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It flows northwest and then south into the US state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state of Oregon before emptying into the Pacific Ocean.

The river is 1,243 miles (2,000 km) long, and its largest tributary is the Snake River. Its drainage basin is roughly the size of France and extends into seven US states and a Canadian province. By volume the fourth-largest river in the United States, the Columbia has the greatest flow of any North American river entering the Pacific.

The Columbia and its tributaries have been central to the region's culture and economy for thousands of years. They have been used for transportation since ancient times, linking the many cultural groups of the region. The river system hosts many species of anadromous fish, which migrate between freshwater habitats and the saline waters of the Pacific Ocean. These fish—especially the salmon species—provided the core subsistence for native peoples.

History

In the late 18th century, a private American ship became the first non-indigenous vessel to enter the river; it was followed by a British explorer, who navigated past the Oregon Coast Range into the Willamette Valley. In the following decades, fur trading companies used the Columbia as a key transportation route.

Overland explorers entered the Willamette Valley through the scenic but treacherous Columbia River Gorge, and pioneers began to settle the valley in increasing numbers. Steamships along the river linked communities and facilitated trade; the arrival of railroads in the late 19th century, many running along the river, supplemented these links.

Development

Since the late 19th century, public and private sectors have heavily developed the river. To aid ship and barge navigation, locks have been built along the lower Columbia and its tributaries, and dredging has opened, maintained, and enlarged shipping channels.

Since the early 20th century, dams have been built across the river for power generation, navigation, irrigation, and flood control. The 14 hydroelectric dams on the Columbia's main stem and many more on its tributaries produce more than 44 percent of total U.S. hydroelectric generation.

Production of nuclear power has taken place at two sites along the river. Plutonium for nuclear weapons was produced for decades at the Hanford Site, which is now the most contaminated nuclear site in the US. These developments have greatly altered river environments in the watershed, mainly through industrial pollution and barriers to fish migration.

Dams

In 1902, the United States Bureau of Reclamation was established to aid in the economic development of arid western states. One of its major undertakings was building Grand Coulee Dam to provide irrigation for the 600 thousand acres (2,400 km²) of the Columbia Basin Project in central Washington. With the onset of World War II, the focus of dam construction shifted to production of hydroelectricity. Irrigation efforts resumed after the war.

In the 1960s, the United States and Canada signed the Columbia River Treaty, which focused on flood control and the maximization of downstream power generation. Canada agreed to build dams and provide reservoir storage, and the United States agreed to deliver to Canada one-half of the increase in US downstream power benefits as estimated five years in advance. Canada's obligation was met by building three dams (two on the Columbia, and one on the Duncan River), the last of which was completed in 1973.

Today the main stem of the Columbia River has 14 dams, of which three are in Canada and 11 in the US. Four main-stem dams and four lower Snake River dams contain navigation locks to allow ship and barge passage from the ocean. The river system as a whole has more than 400 dams for hydroelectricity and irrigation. The dams address a variety of demands, including flood control, navigation, stream flow regulation, storage and delivery of stored waters, reclamation of public lands and Indian reservations, and the generation of hydroelectric power.

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, such as Celilo Falls in the eastern Columbia River Gorge, have exhibited a sharp decline in fishing along the Columbia in the last century, and salmon populations have been dramatically reduced. Fish ladders have been installed at some dam sites to help the fish journey to spawning waters. Chief Joseph Dam has no fish ladders and completely blocks fish migration to the upper half of the Columbia River system.

Major tributaries

Images for kids

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  Course of the Columbia River

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  The Columbia River Gorge facing east toward Beacon Rock

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  Drumheller Channels, part of the Channeled Scablands formed by the Missoula Floods

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  Panoramic view of Columbia River Gorge from Dog Mountain in Washington

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  Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce people

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  Dipnet fishing at Celilo Falls, 1941

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  Multnomah Falls, painted by James W. Alden, 1857

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  Carver's map from 1778, showing the River of the West, New Albion, Lake Winnipeg, and the Mountains of Bright Stone

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  Columbia River, Cascade Mountains, Oregon, (1876) by Vincent Colyer (oil on canvas). Beacon Rock is visible on the left.

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  See complete map.]])

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  The mouth of the Columbia is just past Astoria, Oregon; ships must navigate the treacherous Columbia Bar (near horizon, not visible in this picture) to enter or exit the river.

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  The sternwheeler Hassalo runs the Cascades Rapids, May 26, 1888. The rapids are now submerged under the pool of the Bonneville Dam.

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  A massive Benson log raft, containing an entire year's worth of logs from one timber camp, heads downriver in 1906.

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  The Essayons, one of three Army Corps of Engineers dredgers tasked with ongoing maintenance of the Columbia's shipping channel, began service in 1983.

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  Seining salmon on the Columbia River, 1914

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  In their natural life cycle, salmon die shortly after spawning. Eagle Creek in Oregon, November 2007.

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  Nuclear reactors at the Hanford Site along the river

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  Near The Gorge Amphitheatre in George, Washington

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  The Deschutes River at its confluence with the Columbia

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  Kp'itl'els (Brilliant, BC), Sinixt village site at the confluence of the Kootenay and Columbia Rivers

See also

In Spanish: Río Columbia para niños