COLUMBIA RIVER

Physical features of western North America. largest river flowing into the Pacific Ocean from North America. It is exceeded in discharge on the continent only by the Mississippi, St. Lawrence, and Mackenzie rivers. The Columbia is one of the world's greatest sources of hydroelectric power and, with its tributaries, represents a third of the potential hydropower of the United States. In addition, its mouth provides the first deepwater harbour north of San Francisco. Two-fifths of the river's course, some 500 miles (800 km) of its 1,240-mile (2,000-km) length, lies in Canada, between its headwaters in British Columbia and the U.S. border. largest river in volume flowing into the Pacific Ocean from North America. It rises in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, flows through the east-central portion of the U.S. state of Washington, and, for 300 miles (480 km) to the Pacific at Astoria, Ore., forms the Washington-Oregon boundary. The Columbia River has a drainage basin of 258,000 square miles (668,000 square km) and a total length of 1,240 miles (2,000 km), comprising some 500 miles (800 km) in Canada and 740 miles (1,200 km) in the United States. Its major tributaries are the Kootenay, Snake, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Okanogan, Yakima, Cowlitz, and Willamette rivers. The Columbia is exceeded in discharge on the continent only by the Mississippi, St. Lawrence, and Mackenzie rivers. It is one of the world's greatest sources of hydroelectric power. As the only water-level route to the interior, the Columbia River served as the major transportation artery in the Pacific Northwest until the coming of the railroads. The canoes and barges of the fur traders and early immigrants gave way to river steamers by the 1850s. But in 1887 the Northern Pacific Railway reached Tacoma, Wash., on the Puget Sound, directly over the Cascade Range, and the monopoly of the Columbia River route was ended. The abundance of salmon in the river was noted by the early explorers, and from the 1870s on, the Columbia supplied the world with millions of pounds of salmon annually. Modern dam construction and pollution have significantly reduced the salmon population and jeopardized the fishing industry. The true development of the Columbia River main stem began in the 1930s with construction of the Grand Coulee and Bonneville dams by the U.S. government. Within 50 years, all but 80 feet (24 m) of the 1,290-foot (393-metre) fall of the river within the United States had been converted into a series of stair steps by a total of 11 dams. Grand Coulee Dam is the largest and most complex of the dams. The hydroelectric power plants along the Columbia River are the backbone of the power-generating network of the Pacific Northwest. The Columbia Basin Project is the region's largest single irrigation project. Additional reading Studies of the physical environment of the Columbia River include Bates McKee, Cascadia: The Geologic Evolution of the Pacific Northwest (1972), a classic, well-illustrated survey; Jerry F. Franklin and C.T. Dyrness, Natural Vegetation of Oregon and Washington, new ed. (1988), which examines the complex vegetation patterns of the region; and John A. Alwin, Between the Mountains: A Portrait of Eastern Washington (1984), a descriptive work. George Sundborg, Hail Columbia: The Thirty-Year Struggle for Grand Coulee Dam (1954), offers a fascinating account of the long controversy that led to the decision to construct the dam. Anthony Netboy, Salmon of the Pacific Northwest (1958), was the first work to predict the consequences of dams on the salmon population. Gene Tollefson, BPA and the Struggle for Power at Cost (1987), provides a more recent description of developments in the region's economy that are directly influenced by the river. William Dietrich, Northwest Passage: The Great Columbia River (1995), chronicles the history of various environmental and social issues connected with the river. A wealth of information is provided in the reports of special agencies, such as Northwest Power Planning Council (U.S.), Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program (1982), with later irregular updates. Dorothy O. Johansen and Charles M. Gates, Empire of the Columbia: A History of the Pacific Northwest, 2nd ed. (1967), is a standard history of the area, with a comprehensive bibliography. D.W. Meinig, The Great Columbia Plain: A Historical Geography, 18051910 (1968), is the classic work on the settlement history of eastern Washington. Two other readable accounts of history and folklore are Murray C. Morgan, The Columbia: Powerhouse of the West (1949); and Stewart H. Holbrook, The Columbia (1956, reprinted 1974). Marion E. Marts