HISTORY OF COLUMBIA RIVER JETTIES

Abstract

Columbia River is the largest river on the Pacific Coast of the United States. It heads at Columbia Lake in British Columbia, about 80 miles north of the international boundary, and flows northward parallel to the summit of the Rocky Mountains for about 185 miles, thence turns back and flows generally southward through Upper and Lower Arrow Lakes and enters the United States about 25 miles west of the northeast corner of the State of Washington. Thence the river flows by a sinuous course southward, westward, and southeastward to the Oregon-Washington boundary, thence generally westward between the two states, discharging into the Pacific Ocean 583 statute miles north of San Francisco Bay and 154 miles south of the Straits of Juan de Fuca (distances computed from differences in latitude). The river has a total length of 1,210 miles, of which 750 miles are in the United States.