Diemazz
Carnegie CorporationEsdras
ZNF7
Brckovljani
Abney
Template talk:USSenOH
Scarlet (color)
Yevgeniy Savitskiy
File:Tang xuanzong jpg
amal maahad
Xi Xia
Connecticut Huskies
William Ainsley
Y2K
Category:Public holidays in Japan
Gill (unit)
Vérigny
underground freestyle rap battle lyrics
WROQ
Emperor Hui of Jin
Help:Japanese
Bargarh
ckwx broadcasts
Aung San Suu Kyi
Keokuk, Iowa
Blagica Pavlovska
Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou
WDRQ
334 BC
cgi scripts
Category:627 births
black tea caffeine
ChthoniC
11 AH
Suooshima
contactos badoo
Frontier Organic Research Farm Botanical Garden
blueprint lsat
Pastoria
Brugada syndrome
Chubb
Dreamspace
9780060193140
Requirement
| Columbia River Gorge | |
| Protected Area | |
 Columbia River Gorge near Crown Point, Oregon, looking upstream from Chanticleer Point.
|
|
| Official name: Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area |
|
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| States | Oregon, Washington |
| Region | Pacific Northwest |
| Founded | 1986 |
 |
|
| Website: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/columbia/ | |
The Columbia River Gorge is a canyon of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Up to 4,000 feet (1,200 m) deep, the canyon stretches for over 80 miles (130 km) as the river winds westward through the Cascade Range forming the boundary between the State of Washington to the north and Oregon to the south. Extending roughly from the confluence of the Columbia with the Deschutes River down to eastern reaches of the Portland metropolitan area, the gorge furnishes the only navigable route through the Cascades and the only water connection between the Columbia River Plateau and the Pacific Ocean.
The gorge holds federally protected status as a National Scenic Area and is a popular recreational destination.
Contents |
Description
The western gorge is dominated by conifers, Bigleaf Maple, Cottonwood, Oregon Ash, and Vine Maple.[citation needed] The eastern gorge is home to Bigleaf Maple and Garry Oak.[citation needed] The wide range of elevation and precipitation in the gorge creates a diverse collection of ecosystems from the temperate rain forest at Oneonta Gorge (with an average annual precipitation of 75 inches (1,900 mm) to the Celilo grasslands (with average annual precipitation 12 inches (300 mm), with a transitional dry woodland between Hood River and The Dalles.[citation needed] A large variety of endemic wildflowers thrives throughout the gorge.[citation needed]
Atmospheric pressure differentials east and west of the Cascades create a wind tunnel effect in the deep cut of the gorge, generating 35 mph (56 km/h) winds that make it a popular windsurfing and kiteboarding location.
The gorge also contains the greatest concentration of waterfalls in the Pacific Northwest[citation needed], with over 77 waterfalls on the Oregon side of the gorge alone. Many are along the Historic Columbia River Highway, including the notable 620 feet (190 m)-high Multnomah Falls.
 |
 |
 |
 |
History
The Columbia River Gorge began forming as far back as the Miocene Era, (roughly 12 - 17 million years ago), and continued to take shape through the Pleistocene era, (700,000 - 2 million years ago). During this period the Cascades Range was forming, which slowly moved the Columbia River's delta about 100 miles north to its current location.[1]
Although the river slowly eroded the land over this period of time, the most drastic changes took place at the end of the last Ice Age when the Missoula Floods cut the steep, dramatic walls that exist today.[2] This quick erosion left many layers of volcanic rock exposed.[1]
The gorge has supported human habitation for over 13,000 years. Evidence of the Folsom and Marmes people, who crossed the Bering land bridge from Asia, were found in archaeological digs. Excavations near Celilo Falls, a few miles east of The Dalles, show humans have occupied this salmon-fishing site for more than 10,000 years.[citation needed]
The gorge have provided a transportation corridor for thousands of years. American Indians would travel through the Gorge to trade at Celilo Falls, both along the river and over Lolo Pass on the north side of Mount Hood. In 1805, the route was used by the Lewis and Clark Expedition to reach the Pacific.[3] Early European and American settlers subsequently established steamboat lines and railroads through the gorge.
The Columbia River Highway, built in the early 20th century, was the first major paved highway in the Pacific Northwest. Shipping was greatly simplified after Bonneville Dam and The Dalles Dam submerged the gorge's major rapids.
In November 1986, Congress made it the first U.S. National Scenic Area and established the Columbia River Gorge Commission as part of an interstate compact.[4] In 2004, the gorge became the namesake of the Columbia Gorge American Viticultural Area, a 4,432-acre (1,794 ha) area located on both sides of the river.
See also
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Columbia River Gorge |
- Barlow Road, the first wagon-compatible pioneer road to provide a safer alternative to traveling through the gorge
- Cascades Rapids
- Columbia Gorge casino, a proposed off-reservation casino in Cascade Locks
References
- ^ a b "Columbia River Gorge". Retrieved on 2008-06-02.
- ^ The Seattle Times' Pacific NW magazine - "Trailing an Apocalypse" - 30 September 2007
- ^ O'Connor, Jim E. (Fall 2004). "The Evolving Landscape of the Columbia River Gorge: Lewis and Clark and Cataclysms on the Columbia". Oregon Historical Quarterly. http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ohq/105.3/oconnor.html.
- ^ Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area Act from GorgeFriends.org
External links
- U.S. Forest Service - Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area
- Columbia River Gorge Commission
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||
|
| |||||||||||