Columbia
Columbia is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. 2 dams stand on this watercourse and are written up below. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Dams Recorded
- 2
- Coordinates
- 48.11°, -119.31°
About Columbia
The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: Wimahl or Wimal; Sahaptin: Nch’i-Wàna or Nchi wana; Sinixt dialect swah'netk'qhu) is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river forms in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada. It flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state of Oregon before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. The river is 1,243 miles (2,000 kilometers) long, and its largest tributary is the Snake River. Its drainage basin is roughly the size of France and extends into seven states of the United States and one Canadian province. The fourth-largest river in the United States by flow, the Columbia has the greatest flow of any river into the eastern Pacific.
The Columbia and its tributaries have been central to the region's culture and economy for thousands of years. They have been used for transportation since ancient times, linking the region's many cultural groups. The river system hosts many species of anadromous fish, which migrate between freshwater habitats and the saline waters of the Pacific Ocean.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Columbia River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Columbia in Depth
Course
The Columbia begins its 1,243-mile (2,000 km) journey in the southern Rocky Mountain Trench in British Columbia (BC). Columbia Lake – 2,690 ft (820 m) above sea level – and the adjoining Columbia Wetlands form the river's headwaters. The trench is a broad, deep, and long glacial valley between the Canadian Rockies and the Columbia Mountains in BC. For its first 200 mi (320 km), the Columbia flows northwest along the trench through Windermere Lake and the town of Invermere, a region known in BC as the Columbia Valley, then northwest to Golden and into Kinbasket Lake. Rounding the northern end of the Selkirk Mountains, the river turns sharply south through a region known as the Big Bend Country, passing through Revelstoke Lake and the Arrow Lakes.
Ecology and environment
The Columbia supports several species of anadromous fish that migrate between the Pacific Ocean and freshwater tributaries of the river. Sockeye, Coho and Chinook ("king") salmon, and steelhead, all of the genus Oncorhynchus, are ocean fish that migrate up the rivers at the end of their life cycles to spawn. White sturgeon, which take 15 to 25 years to mature, typically migrate between the ocean and the upstream habitat several times during their lives.
Salmon populations declined dramatically after the establishment of canneries in 1867. In 1879 it was reported that 545,450 salmon, with an average weight of 22 pounds (10.0 kg) were caught (in a recent season) and mainly canned for export to England. A can weighing 1 pound (0.45 kg) could be sold for 8 or 9 pence.
Geology
When the rifting of Pangaea, due to the process of plate tectonics, pushed North America away from Europe and Africa and into the Panthalassic Ocean (ancestor to the modern Pacific Ocean), the Pacific Northwest was not part of the continent. As the North American continent moved westward, the Farallon Plate subducted under its western margin. As the plate subducted, it carried along island arcs which were accreted to the North American continent, resulting in the creation of the Pacific Northwest between 150 and 90 million years ago. The general outline of the Columbia Basin was not complete until between 60 and 40 million years ago, but it lay under a large inland sea later subject to uplift.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Columbia River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Columbia: Key Facts
| Length | 2,000 km |
|---|---|
| Average discharge | 7,500 m³/s |
| Drainage basin | 668,217 km² |
| Source | Columbia Lake |
| Mouth | Pacific Ocean |
| Drainage system | Columbia Basin |
| Tributaries | Kootenay River, Pend Oreille River, Spokane River, Snake River, Deschutes River, Willamette River, Okanogan River, Yakima River |
Facts from Wikidata Q2251 (CC0).
Dams on the Columbia
2 dams on the Columbia, ordered by structural height, with their reservoirs and generating capacity.
| Dam | Height | Capacity | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Coulee Dam | 168 m | 6,809 MW | 1942 |
| Bonneville Dam | 60 m | 1,242 MW | 1937 |
Grand Coulee Dam
Concrete Gravity dam · Washington, USA
Grand Coulee Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Columbia in Washington, USA, standing 168 m (551 ft) high and completed in 1942. It carries an installed hydroelectric capacity of 6,809 MW. The structure impounds Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake, about 119 km² on the map.
The Grand Coulee Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, built to produce hydroelectric power and provide irrigation water. Constructed between 1933 and 1942, Grand Coulee originally had two powerhouses. The third powerhouse ("Nat"), completed in 1974 to increase energy production, makes the Grand Coulee Dam the largest power station in the United States by nameplate capacity at 6,809 MW.
The proposal to build the dam was the focus of intense debate during the 1920s between two groups. One group wanted to irrigate the ancient Grand Coulee with a gravity canal while the other pursued a high dam and pumping scheme. The dam supporters won in 1933, but, although they fully intended otherwise, the initial proposal by the Bureau of Reclamation was for a "low dam" 290 feet (88 m) tall which would generate electricity without supporting irrigation. That year, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and a consortium of three companies called MWAK (Mason-Walsh-Atkinson Kier Company) began construction on a high dam, although they had received approval for a low dam.
Adapted from Wikipedia: Grand Coulee Dam (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Dam type
- Concrete Gravity
- Structural height
- 168 m (551 ft)
- Installed capacity
- 6,809 MW
- Impounded river
- Columbia
- Reservoir
- Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake
- Location
- Washington, USA
- Year completed
- 1942
- Height rank
- #22 of 115 indexed
- Output rank
- #9 of 102 indexed
- Coordinates
- 47.9572°, -118.9817°
Notable: Largest electric power-producing facility in the United States and largest concrete structure in the US.
Among the 115 dams indexed in YearMaps, Grand Coulee Dam ranks #22 by structural height, behind Jinping-I Dam (305 m). By installed generating capacity it ranks #9, behind Three Gorges Dam (22,500 MW).
The Reservoir: Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake
Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake is the water body held back by Grand Coulee Dam, with a mapped surface of about 119 km², impounded in 1941. The area is computed from the mapped outline and is approximate.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake (also called Lake Roosevelt) is the reservoir created in 1941 by the impoundment of the Columbia River by the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state. It is named for Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was president during the construction of the dam. Covering 125 square miles (80,000 acres), it stretches about 150 miles (240 km) from the Canada–US border to Grand Coulee Dam, with over 600 miles (970 km) of shoreline; by surface area it is the largest lake and reservoir in Washington. It is the home of the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area.
The reservoir lies in parts of five counties in northeastern Washington; roughly in descending order of lake acreage they are Ferry, Stevens, Lincoln, Okanogan, and Grant counties.
Adapted from Wikipedia: Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Nearest cities: Wenatchee (116 km), Spokane (121 km), Coeur d'Alene (167 km).
More about Grand Coulee Dam
Background
The Grand Coulee is an ancient river bed on the Columbia Plateau created during the Pliocene Epoch (Calabrian) by retreating glaciers and floods. Originally, geologists believed a glacier that diverted the Columbia River formed the Grand Coulee, but it was revealed in the mid-late 20th century that massive floods from Lake Missoula carved most of the gorge. The earliest known proposal to irrigate the Grand Coulee with the Columbia River dates to 1892, when the Coulee City News and The Spokesman Review reported on a scheme by a man named Laughlin McLean to construct a 1,000 ft (305 m) dam across the Columbia River, high enough that water would back up into the Grand Coulee. A dam that size would have its reservoir encroach into Canada, which would violate treaties.
Construction
On July 16, 1933, a crowd of 3,000 witnessed the driving of the first stake at the low dam site, marking the start of excavation. Core drilling began in September, while the Bureau of Reclamation accelerated its studies and designs for the dam. The structure was intended to control floods and provide irrigation and hydroelectric power, albeit at a reduced capacity. However, it would not raise the reservoir high enough to irrigate the plateau surrounding the Grand Coulee. The design allowed for the possibility of future height increases and upgrades.
Before and during construction, workers and engineers experienced problems. Contracts for companies to construct the various parts of the dam were difficult to award as few companies were sizable enough to fill them.
Operation and benefits
The dam's primary goal, irrigation, was postponed as the wartime need for electricity increased. The dam's powerhouse began production around the time World War II began, and its electricity was vital to the war effort. The dam powered aluminum smelters in Longview and Vancouver, Washington, Boeing factories in Seattle and Vancouver, and Portland's shipyards. In 1943, its electricity was also used for plutonium production in Richland, Washington, at the Hanford Site, which was part of the top-secret Manhattan Project. The demand for power at that project was so great that in 1943, two generators originally intended for the Shasta Dam in California were installed at the Grand Coulee Dam to hurry the generator installation schedule.
Tourism
Built in the late 1970s, the Visitor Center contains many historical photos, geological samples, turbine and dam models, and a theater. The building was designed by Marcel Breuer and resembles a generator rotor. Since May 1989, on summer evenings, the laser light show at Grand Coulee Dam is projected onto the dam's wall. The show includes full-size images of battleships and the Statue of Liberty, as well as some environmental comments.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Grand Coulee Dam (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Grand Coulee Dam: Key Facts
| Crest length | 1,592 m |
|---|
Facts from Wikidata Q930391 (CC0).
Bonneville Dam
Concrete Gravity dam · Oregon / Washington, USA
Bonneville Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Columbia in Oregon / Washington, USA, standing 60 m (197 ft) high and completed in 1937. It carries an installed hydroelectric capacity of 1,242 MW. The structure impounds Lake Bonneville.
Bonneville Lock and Dam consists of several run-of-the-river dam structures that together complete a span of the Columbia River between the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington at River Mile 146.1. The dam is located 40 miles (64 km) east of Portland, Oregon, in the Columbia River Gorge. The primary functions of Bonneville Lock and Dam are electrical power generation and river navigation. The dam was built and is managed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. At the time of its construction in the 1930s it was the largest water impoundment project of its type in the nation, able to withstand flooding on an unprecedented scale. Electrical power generated at Bonneville is distributed by the Bonneville Power Administration. Bonneville Dam was named after an adjacent railway station, which in turn was named for United States Army Captain Benjamin Bonneville, an early explorer and fur trader, who never came close to the site. The Bonneville Dam Historic District was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1987.
Adapted from Wikipedia: Bonneville Dam (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Dam type
- Concrete Gravity
- Structural height
- 60 m (197 ft)
- Installed capacity
- 1,242 MW
- Impounded river
- Columbia
- Reservoir
- Lake Bonneville
- Location
- Oregon / Washington, USA
- Year completed
- 1937
- Height rank
- #74 of 115 indexed
- Output rank
- #46 of 102 indexed
- Coordinates
- 45.6444°, -121.9406°
Notable: Historic New Deal spillway on Columbia River; famous for pioneering fish ladders for migrating salmon.
Among the 115 dams indexed in YearMaps, Bonneville Dam ranks #74 by structural height, behind Jinping-I Dam (305 m). By installed generating capacity it ranks #46, behind Three Gorges Dam (22,500 MW).
Nearest cities: Vancouver (54 km), Portland (59 km), Longview (95 km).
More about Bonneville Dam
History
In 1896, prior to this damming of the river, the Cascade Locks and Canal were constructed, allowing ships to pass the Cascades Rapids, located several miles upstream of Bonneville.
Prior to the New Deal, development of the Columbia River to provide flood control, hydroelectricity, navigation, and irrigation was deemed to be important. In 1929, the US Army Corps of Engineers published the Columbia River 308 Report that recommended ten dams on the river, but no action was taken until the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration and the New Deal. During this period, America was in the Great Depression, and the dam's construction provided jobs and other economic benefits to the Pacific Northwest.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Bonneville Dam (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Bonneville Dam: Key Facts
| Crest length | 1,056 m |
|---|
Facts from Wikidata Q892800 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Columbia: Quick Answers
- Where is Columbia?
- Columbia is located in United States and Canada, at 48.1082° N, 119.3121° W.
- Are there dams on the Columbia?
- Yes. YearMaps records 2 dams on the Columbia: Grand Coulee Dam, Bonneville Dam.
- What is the tallest dam on the Columbia?
- Grand Coulee Dam is the tallest dam recorded on the Columbia, at 168 m (551 ft), completed in 1942.
- Which dam on the Columbia generates the most electricity?
- Grand Coulee Dam has the largest installed hydroelectric capacity on the Columbia: 6,809 MW. Installed capacity is the maximum rated output, not the annual average.