List of rapids of the Columbia River explained

This is a list of rapids of the Columbia River, listed in upriver order. The river flows through Canada and the United States. Almost all of these rapids are now submerged in the reservoirs of dams. The list is not exhaustive; there were numerous minor rapids and riffles, many of which were never named.

Mouth to Snake River

Snake River to Bridgeport

The 70 mile stretch between Priest Rapids and the mouth of the Snake River (the Hanford Reach) "has the slowest current of any part of the Columbia above The Dalles".[6]

Bridgeport to Canada–US border

The portion of the river between Monaghan Rapids and Foster Creek Rapids was regarded as particularly hazardous. An 1893 report by the Army Corps of Engineers described the river from Monaghan Rapids to the foot of Foster Creek Rapids as "very swift and studded with rocks, and taken all in all will be found an extremely hard and dangerous if not absolutely impassable portion of the river to navigate". Over the 45miles from Monaghan to Foster Creek the river fell 171feet at low-water. Over the 10miles between Mah-kin Rapids and a point three miles below Parson Rapids the river fell 41feet at low water. The portion from White Cap Rapids to Eagle Rapids was once known as "Nespilem Canyon". The Corps' 1893 report said that over the worst 3miles stretch the river fell 22feet at low-water and 24feet at high-water, and that the speed of the current at low-water was about 10mph. On the possibility of navigation the Corps was pessimistic: "The fall of the river here is so great that it is certain that no system of rock removal could make the river sufficiently navigable to justify the danger and risk necessarily incurred in running boats on it."[12]

Canada–US border to Revelstoke

Revelstoke to Mica Dam

Mica Dam to source at Columbia Lake

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: Ulrich, Roberta . Empty Nets: Indians, dams, and the Columbia River . Oregon State University Press . Corvallis, Oregon . 2007 . 21 . 978-0-87071-469-6 . registration .
  2. Book: Freeman, Lewis Ransome . Down the Columbia . Lewis R. Freeman . 1921 . Dodd, Mead and company . New York . 1738301 . 326–329, 335–339.
  3. Book: Meinig, D.W. . D.W. Meinig . The Great Columbia Plain . 1968 . Weyerhaeuser Environmental Classic . 1995 . University of Washington Press . 0-295-97485-0 . 214, 252–253.
  4. Web site: Dam the Columbia: Umatilla Rapids Association . Center for Columbia River History . 7 October 2009.
  5. http://search.tpl.lib.wa.us/wanames/ Washington Place Names
  6. Down the Columbia, p. 320
  7. Annual reports of the War Department, Part 4 . United States. War Dept . Annual Reports of the War Department: For the Fiscal Year Ended June 30 . United States Department of War . . 1893 . 1777262 . 1050-1274.
  8. Book: Dorpat, Paul . Genevieve McCoy . Building Washington: A History of Washington State Public Works . 1998 . Tartu Publications . 0-9614357-9-8 . 25.
  9. Annual report of the Chief of Engineers to the Secretary of War for the year 1892, Volume 3 . United States Army Corps of Engineers . Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers to the Secretary of War for the Year . United States Army Corps of Engineers . . 1892 . 5168701 . 1050-1266 . 2716.
  10. Book: Gulick, Bill . Steamboats on Northwest Rivers . 2004 . Caxton Press . 978-0-87004-438-0 . 225–228.
  11. Book: Landes, Henry . A Geographic Dictionary of Washington . Washington Geological Survey . 1917 . 2882774 . 132, 233.
  12. Book: Report of the Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army, Part 4 . United States Army Corps of Engineers . United States Army Corps of Engineers . . 1893 . 18063671 . 3388–3389, 3394–3396.
  13. Book: Symons, Thomas William . . Report of an examination of the upper Columbia River and the territory in its vicinity in September and October, 1881, to determine its navigability, and adaptability to steamboat transportation . 1882 . . 13375670 . 182.
  14. Down the Columbia, p. 274
  15. Annual reports of the War Department, Part 4 . United States. War Dept . Annual Reports of the War Department: For the Fiscal Year Ended June 30 . United States Department of War . . 1893 . 1777262 . 1050-1274 . 3389–3390.
  16. Book: Report of the Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army . United States Army Corps of Engineers . United States Army Corps of Engineers . . 1912 . 0271-3845 . 5168357 . 2798–2800, 2863.
  17. Down the Columbia, p. 275
  18. Down the Columbia, p. 271
  19. Report of an examination of the upper Columbia River, p. 172
  20. Report of an examination of the upper Columbia River, p. 168
  21. Down the Columbia, p. 224
  22. Annual reports of the War Department, Part 4 . United States. War Dept . Annual Reports of the War Department: For the Fiscal Year Ended June 30 . United States Department of War . . 1893 . 1777262 . 1050-1274 . 3385.
  23. Down the Columbia p. 197
  24. Web site: Tin Cup Rapids . Trails in Time . 10 October 2009.
  25. and topographic maps
  26. and topographic maps
  27. Down the Columbia, pp. 180-182
  28. Down the Columbia pp. 172-173
  29. Web site: Revelstoke - Golden, Big Bend - Columbia River, 1941, Map No. 5D . British Columbia Department of Lands Geographic Branch . 1941 . Lithographed Regional Maps, Topographic Series, 1917-1952, Sheets: 5A - 5E . British Columbia Archives, Royal BC Museum . 28 November 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081224140246/http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/cartogr/img_html/dir_1/cm_c627.htm . 24 December 2008 . dead .
  30. Down the Columbia, pp. 141, 144-145
  31. Down the Columbia, pp. 151-157
  32. Down the Columbia, pp. 114-115