A few Columbia River Facts

• The Columbia starts 200 miles of its 1,243-mile journey in British Columbia (BC). • On the American side the Pend

Oreille River joins the Columbia about two miles from the Canadian border. • The Columbia receives more than 60 significant tributaries on its path to the Pacific Ocean. • The Columbia empties into the Pacific Ocean just west of

Astoria, Oregon. A shifting sandbar at this point makes the river’s mouth one of the most hazardous stretches of water to navigate in the world and is often called the “Graveyard of

Ships.” • In prehistoric times the Columbia’s salmon and steelhead runs numbered an estimated annual average of 10 to 16 million fish lowering to less than 3.2 • million in 1986. • Indigenous peoples have inhabited the Columbia’s watershed for more than 15,000 years. • There are 37 known tribes connected to this area and is one of the highest diversity of indigenous peoples in one area in the world. • European descent inhabitants is less than 230 years beginning with American Captain Robert

Gray May 12, 1792 as the first known explorer to enter the river from the river’s mouth. • 32 years later in 1825, the

Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) established Fort Vancouver on the bank of the Columbia - Facts adapted from Wikipedia - Columbia River:

wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_River

Discovery Historic Loop

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Columbia Way

A Busy Place Is This

Excerpt: “You are standing on the site of a once-bustling riverfront complex at Fort Vancouver. A boat building operation, blacksmith shop, and tannery filled the air with the sights, sounds, and smells of industry...” 112 Columbia Way hmdb.org/m.asp?m=12292

A River of Settlers

Excerpt: “Before 1846 American immigrants traveling the Oregon Trail to Fort Vancouver had to make a choice at The Dalles (80 miles upriver from here). They could navigate their own handmade raft or take a Hudson’s Bay Company boat down the Columbia River to here...” 112 Columbia Way hmdb.org/m.asp?m=12295

Heart of a Trading Empire

Excerpt: “Look around you. The scenic spot where you now stand was once the heart of one of the busiest shipping ports west of the Rocky Mountains. From 1825 to 1846, Fort Vancouver's waterfront served as the western economic artery of the Hudson's Bay Company, connecting a wilderness of wealth to a powerful trading network...” 112 Columbia Way hmdb.org/m.asp?m=12293

United States Army Arrives

Excerpt: On May 13, 1849, the United States steamer Massachusetts arrived off the Hudson's Bay Company wharf and unloaded Batteries L and M of the First Regiment of United States Artillery. The first permanent official American presence in the Pacific Northwest had arrived!.... 112 Columbia Way hmdb.org/m.asp?m=12289

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