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Columbia River

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The Columbia River (known as Wimahl or Big River to the Chinook-speaking natives who live on its lowermost reaches) is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It is named after the Columbia Rediviva, the first ship from the western world known to have traveled up the river. It stretches from the Canadian province of British Columbia, through the U.S. state of Washington; forming much of the border between Washington and Oregon before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. The river is 1,243 miles (2,000 km) long, and its drainage basin is 258,000 square miles (668,217 km²).

Measured by the volume of its flow, the Columbia is the largest river flowing into the Pacific from North America, and is the fourth-largest river in the United States. The river's heavy flow, and its large elevation drop over a relatively short distance, give it tremendous potential for the generation of electricity. 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 anadromous fish, which migrate between small, fresh water tributaries of the river and the Pacific Ocean. These fish - especially the various species of salmon - have been a vital part of the river's ecology and the local economy for thousands of years.

The taming of the river for human use, and the industrial waste that resulted in some cases, have come into conflict with ecological conservation numerous times since Americans and Europeans began to settle the area in the 18th century. This "harnessing," as it was commonly described in the popular culture of the early 20th century, included dredging for navigation by larger ships, nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons research and production, and the construction of dams for power generation, irrigation, navigation, and flood control.

Drainage basin

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 North America, and is the fourth-largest America. Ranked by size of drainage basin and length, the Columbia is sixth- and twelfth-largest in the U.S., respectively. The Columbia's highest recorded flow was 1,240,000 ft³/s (35,113 m³/s), in June 1984. The river flows 1,243 miles (2,000 km) from its headwaters to the Pacific, of which 745 miles (1,199 km) are in the U.S., draining an area of about 260,000 square miles (673,400 km²), of which about 85% is in the U.S. The river's drainage basin covers nearly all of Idaho, large portions of British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington, and small portions of several neighboring states.

Columbia Lake—elevation 2,650 ft (808 m)—forms the Columbia’s headwaters in the Canadian Rockies of southern British Columbia. (The province derives its name, indirectly, from the river.) For its first 200 miles (320 km) the Columbia flows northwest, through Windermere Lake and the town of Invermere, then northwest around the to Golden and into Kinbasket Lake. The Windermere-Columbia Lake area is known in BC as the Columbia Valley. The river then turns sharply south (at the “Big Bend”), passing through Revelstoke Lake and the Arrow Lakes; Revelstoke, the Big Bend and the Columbia Valley combined are referred to in BC parlance as the Columbia Country. Below the Arrow Lakes the Columbia passes the cities of Castlegar, located at the Columbia's confluence with the lower Kootenay River, and Trail, two major centres of the West Kootenay region. The Pend Oreille River joins the Columbia about north of the U.S.-Canada border at Waneta.

The Columbia enters of eastern Washington flowing southwest. It marks the southern and eastern borders of the Colville Indian Reservation, and the western border of the Spokane Indian Reservation, before turning south and then southeasterly near the confluence of the Wenatchee River in central Washington. This C-shaped segment of the river is also known as the "Big Bend;" during the Missoula Floods (10,000 to 15,000 years ago), much water took a more direct route south, through the Grand Coulee, which after the floods was dry until the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam in the mid-20th century.

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 one of only three that pass through the Cascade Mountains (the other two being the Klamath River and the Pit River), 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.

Geology

Volcanic activity in the region has been traced to 40 million years ago, in the Eocene era, forming much of the landscape traversed by the Columbia. In the Pleistocene era (the last ice age, two million to 700,000 years ago), the river broke through Cascade Range, forming the Columbia River Gorge.

The river and its drainage basin experienced some of the world’s greatest known floods toward the end of the last ice age. The periodic rupturing of ice dams at Glacial Lake Missoula resulted in discharge rates ten times the combined flow of all the rivers of the world, as many as forty times over a thousand-year period.

Water levels during the Missoula Floods have been estimated at 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. The floods' periodic inundation of the lower Columbia River Plateau deposited rich lake sediments, establishing the fertility that supports extensive agriculture in the modern era. They also formed many unusual geological features, such as the channeled scablands of eastern Washington.

Indigenous peoples

Humans have inhabited the Columbia River Basin for as long as 10,000 years. In the 1990s, remains of a man (dubbed Kennewick Man) were found near Kennewick, Washington, and were determined to date from the 8th millennium BC. This discovery rekindled debate in the scientific community over the origins of human habitation in North America, and also sparked a protracted controversy over whether the scientific or Native American community was entitled to possess and/or study the remains.

Celilo Falls was an important economic and cultural hub for as many as 10,000 years; traders convened from all over western North America to trade, drawn largely by the abundant salmon. The installation of The Dalles Dam in the mid-20th century displaced a thriving community of Native Americans; the Army Corps of Engineers' predictions of vibrant industry and plentiful work along the river did not come to pass.

Several Indian tribes have a historical and continuing presence on the Columbia. The Sinixt or Lakes people lived on the lower stretch of the Canadian portion, the Secwepemc on the upper; the Colville, Spokane, Yakama, Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs tribes live along the U.S. stretch. Along the upper Snake River and Salmon River, the Shoshone Bannock Tribes are present. Near the lower Columbia River, the Cowlitz and Chinook tribes, which are not federally recognized, are present. The Yakama, Nez Perce, Umatilla, and Warm Springs tribes all have treaty fishing rights along the Columbia and its tributaries.

Wider world explores the river

In 1775, Bruno de Heceta became the first European to detect the mouth of the Columbia River. On the advice of his officers, he did not explore it, as he was short-staffed and the current was strong. He considered it a bay, and called it Ensenada de Asuncion. Later Spanish maps based on his discovery showed a river, labeled Rio de San Roque.

British fur trader Captain John Meares sought the river, based on Heceta's reports, in 1788. He misread the currents, and concluded that the river did not in fact exist. British Royal Navy commander George Vancouver sailed past the mouth in April 1792, and observed a change in the water's color, but he accepted Meares' report and continued on his journey.

On May 11 1792, the American captain Robert Gray managed to sail into the Columbia, 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 upstream. Vancouver 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 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.

French explorers called the Columbia River Ouragan (translation: "hurricane"), which is one of several plausible origins of the name "Oregon".

American explorers Lewis and Clark, who charted the vast, unmapped lands west of the Missouri River, traveled down the Columbia, on the last stretch of their 1805 expedition. They explored as far upstream as Bateman Island, near present-day Tri-Cities, Washington. Their journey concluded at the river's mouth.

Canadian explorer 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. 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.

Navigation

American captain Robert Gray was the first Westerner to succeed at crossing the Columbia Bar and entering the river, in his 1792 voyage. He was followed shortly thereafter by British captain George Vancouver, who explored the river as far as its confluence with the Sandy River; these two events were significant in the American and British claims on the Oregon Country.

The use of steamboats, beginning in 1850, contributed to the rapid settlement and economic development of the region. Steamboats operated in several places: on the river's lower reaches, from the Pacific to Cascades Rapids, fromt the Cascades to Celilo Falls, and from Celilo to the confluence with the Snake River; on the Wenatchee Reach of eastern Washington; on British Columbia's Arrow Lakes; and on tributaries like the Willamette and the Snake. The boats, initially powered by burning wood, carried both passengers and freight throughout the region for many years. Railroads served to connect steamboat lines where interrupted by waterfalls on the river's lower reaches. In the 1880s, railroads maintained by such companies as the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company and the Shaver Transportation Company began to supplement steamboat operations as the major transportation links along the river.

The alteration of the Columbia for easier shipping was contemplated as early as 1881, and continues today. The Columbia Bar, a shifting sandbar at the mouth of the river, makes passage between the river and the Pacific Ocean difficult and dangerous, and numerous rapids along the river made navigation difficult. Changes to the river have involved the construction of jetties at the river's mouth, dredging, and the construction of canals and navigation locks.

Jetties, first constructed in 1886, extend the river's channel into the ocean. Strong currents and the shifting sandbar beneath the surface remain a threat to ships entering the river, and necessitate continuous maintenance of the jetties. Today, ocean freighters can travel upriver as far as Portland and Vancouver, and barges can reach as far inland as Lewiston, Idaho and eastern Washington.

Navigation locks were first constructed in 1896 around the Cascade Rapids, enabling boats to travel safely through the Columbia River Gorge. The Celilo Canal, bypassing Celilo Falls, opened to river traffic in 1915.

In 1891 the Columbia was dredged to enhance shipping; the channel between the ocean and Portland/Vancouver was deepened from to 25 feet (7.6 m.) The Columbian newspaper called for the channel to be deepened to 40 feet (12.2 m) as early as 1905, but that depth was not attained until 1976.

In the mid-20th century, the construction of dams calmed rapids up and down the river, and locks allowed ships and barges to pass easily from one reservoir to the next. A navigation channel reaching to Lewiston, Idaho, along the Columbia and Snake Rivers, was completed in 1975.

The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens caused mudslides in the area, which reduced the Columbia's depth by 25 feet for a four-mile stretch, disrupting Portland's economy.

In 1999, Congress authorized dredging the lower Columbia, to deepen the channel between Portland and Astoria from 40 to 43 feet (31.1 m.) A depth of will make it possible for large container and grain ships to reach Portland and Vancouver.

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.

The project includes measures to mitigate environmental damage; for instance, for every acre (4,000 m²) of wetland damaged by the project, the Corps must restore 12 acres (49,000 m²) of wetland. In early 2006, the Corps spilled 50 gallons (189 L) of hydraulic oil into the Columbia, drawing further criticism from environmental organizations.

Studies for the project were conducted as early as 1990, and were controversial from the start. 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.

Dams: "harnessing" the river

In 1902, the United States Bureau of Reclamation was established to aid in the economic development of dry western states. An early effort was the Columbia Basin Project of central Washington, constructing dams for the purpose of irrigation; with the onset of World War II, the focus of dam construction shifted to production of hydroelectricity. Irrigation efforts resumed after the war.

River development occurred within the structure of the 1909 International Boundary Waters Treaty between the U.S. and Canada. In the 1960s, the United States and Canada signed the Columbia River Treaty. Canada agreed to build dams and provide reservoir storage, and the U.S. agreed to deliver to Canada one-half of the increase in U.S. 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 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. The dams addressed 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 river's many tributaries contain dams as well; four on the lower Snake River contain navigation locks, permitting shipping from the ocean as far as Lewiston, Idaho.

The larger U.S. dams are owned and operated by the Federal Government (some by the Army Corps of Engineers, some by the Bureau of Reclamation), while Public utility districts, and private power companies control many of the smaller dams.

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 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.

Irrigation

The Bureau of Reclamation's Columbia Basin Project focused on the generally dry Columbia River Basin, which features rich loess soil deposited by the Missoula Floods. Several groups developed competing proposals, and in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the Columbia Basin Project. The Grand Coulee Dam was the project's central component; upon completion, it pumped water up from the Columbia to fill the formerly dry Grand Coulee, forming Banks Lake. By 1935, the intended height of the dam was increased from 200-300 feet to 500, a height which would extend the lake impounded by the dam all the way to the Canadian border; the project had grown from a local New Deal relief measure to a major national project.

The project's initial purpose was irrigation, but the onset of World War II created a high demand for electricity, mainly for aluminum production and for the development of nuclear weapons at the Hanford Site. (See next section.) Irrigation began in 1951. 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.

Since 1750, the Columbia has experienced six multi-year droughts, much more severe than any in recent memory. The longest, in the mid-1800s, lasted 12 years, with the river's flow dropping 20% below average. Scientists have expressed concern over what such a drought could do to the today's regional economy, with its heavy reliance on the Columbia. In 1992–1993, a lesser drought impacted farmers, hydroelectric power producers, shippers, and wildlife managers.

Hydroelectricity

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 ; for comparison, the Mississippi drops less than .

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. The largest of the 150 hydroelectric projects, the Grand Coulee Dam and the Chief Joseph Dam, are also the largest in the United States; and among the largest in the world.

Inexpensive hydro-power supported the emergence of an extensive aluminum industry, which draws tremendous amounts of power. Until 2000, the Northwestern United States produced up to 40% of the aluminum produced in the U.S., and 17% of the world's aluminum. But the commoditization of power in the early 2000s, coupled with drought that reduced the generation capacity of the river, damaged the industry; by 2003, the U.S. produced only 15% of the world's aluminum, many smelters among the Columbia having gone dormant or having gone out of business.

Power remains relatively inexpensive along the Columbia, and in recent years, high-tech companies like Google have begun to move server farm operations into the area to avail themselves of cheap power.

Downriver of Grand Coulee, each dam’s reservoir is closely regulated by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), 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.

In 1941, the BPA hired Oklahoma folksinger Woody Guthrie to write songs for a documentary film promoting the benefits of hydropower. In the month he spent traveling the region Guthrie wrote 26 songs, which have become an important part of the cultural history of the region.

Ecology and environment

The Columbia supports several species of anadromous fish, which migrate between the Pacific Ocean and fresh water tributaries of the river. Coho and Chinook salmon and Steelhead are ocean fish which migrate up the rivers at the end of their life cycles to spawn; White sturgeon, which take 25 years to grow to full size, would typically migrate between the ocean and the upstream habitat several times over the course of their lives.

Logging and the installation of dams have had a negative impact on these fish. Timber harvesting contaminates river water; the Northwest Forest Plan, a piece of federal legislation from 1994, mandated that timber companies consider the environmental impacts of their practices on rivers like the Columbia.

Dams interrupt the migration of anadromous fish. Salmon and steelhead return to the stream in which they were born to spawn; where dams prevent their return, entire populations of salmon die off. Some of the Columbia's dams employ fish ladders, which are effective to varying degrees at allowing these fish to travel upstream; others, like the Grand Coulee Dam and several on the Columbia's tributaries, entirely block migration. Fish are also transported around dams in some cases. Sturgeon have different migration habits, and can survive without ever visiting the ocean. In many upstream areas cut off from the ocean by dams, sturgeon simply live upstream of the dam.

The Grand Coulee Dam, originally intended primarily for irrigation, was ultimately designed to produce enormous quantities of hydroelectric power, as World War II escalated. The power was used to fuel the Hanford Site, constructed in the 1940s in southeastern Washington. Part of the Manhattan Project, 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 contains several Superfund sites. The Superfund cleanup is expected to be completed in 2030.

Studies by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state monitoring programs have found that nuclear waste contaminated the Columbia's water, posing a potential threat to downstream communities that use the river's water for drinking water.

In addition to concerns about nuclear waste, numerous other pollutants are found in the river. These include pesticides, bacteria, arsenic, dioxins, and Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB.)

Studies have also 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.

Environmental advocates have called for the removal of certain dams in the Columbia River system for many years. Of the 227 major dams in the Columbia River Basin, four dams on the Snake River are most often identified for removal. These dams and reservoirs currently limit the recovery of upriver salmon runs to Idaho's Salmon and Clearwater rivers,Historically, the Snake produced over 1.5 million spring and summer Chinook Salmon, a number that has dwindled to several thousand in recent years. Idaho Power Company's Hells Canyon dams have no fish ladders (and do not pass juvenile salmon downstream), and thus allow no steelhead or salmon to migrate above 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.

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.

Major tributaries

Tributary Average
discharge:
ft³/s (m³/s)
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)

See also

References

Further reading

External links



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Last updated on Thursday March 13, 2008 at 16:30:10 PDT (GMT -0700)
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