Columbia
River 
The Columbia River (French: fleuve Columbia) is a
river situated in
British Columbia and the
Pacific Northwest of the
United States. It is the largest
river in volume
flowing into the
Pacific Ocean from the
Western Hemisphere, and is the second largest by volume in North America
behind the
Mississippi. In rare years, the river’s flow may actually exceed that of the
Mississippi. The mean total flow is 262,000 ft³/sec (7400 m³/sec). It is the
largest
hydroelectric power producing river in
North
America. From its headwaters to the Pacific Ocean it flows 1,232 miles
(2,044 km), and drains 258,000 square miles (415,211 km²). Because of its large
water volume, it has the nickname “the Mighty Columbia.” It is four times the
volume of the Colorado River, fifteen times the volume of the Sacramento River,
and over 100 times the volume of the Rio Grande River[citation needed].
The river was named after Capt.
Robert
Gray’s ship Columbia Rediviva, the first to travel up the river.
Columbia Lake forms the Columbia’s
headwaters
in the
Canadian Rockies of southern British Columbia. The river then flows through
Windermere Lake and the town of
Invermere,
then northwest to
Golden and into
Kinbasket Lake. The river then turns (the “Big Bend”) south through
Revelstoke Lake and the
Arrow
Lakes to the BC–Washington
border.The river then flows through the east-central portion of Washington
State. The last 300 miles (480 km) of the Columbia form the Washington-Oregon
boundary. The river goes into the Pacific Ocean at
Ilwaco, Washington and
Astoria, Oregon forming the
Columbia Bar.For its first 200 miles (320 km) the Columbia flows northwest;
it then bends to the south, crossing from Canada into the United States, where
the river meets the Clark Fork. The
Clark Fork River begins near
Butte, Montana and flows through western Montana before entering
Pend Oreille Lake. Water draining from the lake forms the
Pend Oreille River, which flows across the
Idaho panhandle
to Washington’s northeastern corner where it meets the northern Canadian
fork.The river then runs south-southwest through the
Columbia Plateau, changing to a southeasterly direction near the confluence
of the
Wenatchee River in central Washington. The river continues southeast, past
The Gorge Amphitheatre (a prominent concert venue in the Northwest), and
then past the
Hanford Nuclear Reservation just before it reaches the confluence with the
Snake
River. This part of the river is called the
Hanford Reach and is the only part of the river in the United States that is
free-flowing, unimpeded by dams and not a tidal estuary. The Columbia then makes
a sharp bend to the west where it begins to form the Washington-Oregon
border.Near the town of
Hood River, Oregon, the river begins cutting through the
Cascade Mountains at the entrance to the
Columbia River Gorge. The west side of the gorge is marked by
Crown Point. Constant winds of 15 to 35 mph (25 to 55 km/h) blow through
this wide straight
gorge. It was here in
Hood River County, Oregon that
windsurfing was originated.The river continues west with one small
north-northwesterly-directed stretch near
Portland;
Vancouver, Washington; and the
confluence with the
Willamette River. On this sharp bend the river’s flow slows considerably and
it drops the sediment that would normally form a delta.
(Source by
Wikipedia) |
