John Day River | |
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![]() John Day River (northwestern Oregon) | |
Etymology | John Day of the Astor–Hunt party of 1811–12 [1] |
Location | |
Country | United States |
State | Oregon |
County | Clatsop |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Northern Oregon Coast Range |
• location | Clatsop State Forest |
• coordinates | 46°08′20″N123°42′17″W / 46.13889°N 123.70472°W [2] |
• elevation | 467 ft (142 m) [3] |
Mouth | Columbia River |
• location | Cathlamet Bay |
• coordinates | 46°10′53″N123°44′26″W / 46.18139°N 123.74056°W Coordinates: 46°10′53″N123°44′26″W / 46.18139°N 123.74056°W [2] |
• elevation | 3 ft (0.91 m) [2] |
The John Day River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately 6 miles (10 km) long, in northwestern Oregon in the United States. The river rises in the Northern Oregon Coast Range in Clatsop County [4] at 46°08′20″N123°42′17″W / 46.138889°N 123.704722°W . [2]
Flowing generally north, the river enters the Columbia at John Day Point, east of Tongue Point and about 4 miles (7 km) east of Astoria. [4] It passes under U.S. Route 30 near the unincorporated community of John Day [4] (not to be confused with the city of the same name in Grant County). The mouth of the river is about 15 miles (24 km) upstream from the mouth of the Columbia on the Pacific. The John Day River has only one named tributary, Jack Creek, which enters from the left. [4]
The river is named for John Day, a hunter and fur trapper who took part in William Price Hunt's overland expedition for John Jacob Astor in 1811–12. [5] There's a John Day River in eastern Oregon, a John Day Dam, a city John Day, and John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, which were all named after John Day. John Day Point, a cape located at the mouth of the river and protruding into Cathlamet Bay, [6] takes its name from the river, as did a former railway station in the vicinity. [1] Lewis and Clark, who camped near here in 1805, referred to the river as Kekemarke, their version of a Native American name. [1] Lewis and Clark write about the river in their journals. The river was known as Swan Creek by Charles Wilkes, of the U.S. Exploring Expedition and was documented as such on his illustrated map. [7]
There's a railroad swing bridge crossing the mouth of the river. The tracks were used by Lewis and Clark Explorer Train which is no longer operating. [8] The railroad bridge has a clearance of 8 feet. [9]
Tidal currents control the river throughout most of its length. Moored houseboats cover some of the shorelines on both sides of the river. [10]
The John Day River is open to boats, kayaks, and fishing. John Day County Park [11] is 54 acres and the only public park along the John Day River. The boat launch is accessed off Oregon Highway 30. The boat launch puts users into the John Day River just before it enters the Columbia River, giving users access to both. The river can be accessed for about 3.5 miles upstream once you leave the boat ramp.
An uncommon tidal marsh exists along the John Day River. The Marsh is a little over 24 acres owned by North Coast Land Conservancy. [12] The John Day River Marsh is part of the Columbia Quiet Waters [13] initiative which covers the lower Columbia River swamp. The initiative includes a conservation plan to protect the Sitka spruce wetlands that are regarded as rare worldwide.
Chinookan peoples include several groups of Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest in the United States who speak the Chinookan languages. Since time immemorial, Chinookan peoples have resided along the Lower and Middle Columbia River (Wimahl) from the river's gorge downstream (west) to the river's mouth, and along adjacent portions of the coasts, from Tillamook Head of present-day Oregon in the south, north to Willapa Bay in southwest Washington. In 1805 the Lewis and Clark Expedition encountered the Chinook Tribe on the lower Columbia. There are several theories about where the name ″Chinook″ came from. Some say it is a Chehalis word Tsinúk for the inhabitants of and a particular village site on Baker Bay, or "Fish Eaters". It may also be a word meaning "strong fighters".
In the nineteenth century, the Oregon Country was a disputed region of the Pacific Northwest of North America. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, and American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from the Columbia River frequented by ships from all nations engaged in the maritime fur trade, most of these from the 1790s through 1810s being Boston-based. The Oregon Treaty of 1846 ended disputed joint occupancy pursuant to the Treaty of 1818 and established the British-American boundary at the 49th parallel.
The Oregon Coast is a coastal region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Oregon Coast Range to the east, and stretches approximately 362 miles (583 km) from the California state border in the south to the Columbia River in the north. The region is not a specific geological, environmental, or political entity, and includes the Columbia River Estuary.
The Skipanon River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately 7 miles (11 km) long, on the Pacific coast of northwest Oregon in the United States. It is the last tributary of the Columbia on the Oregon side, draining an area of coastal bottom land bordered by sand dunes and entering the river from the south at its mouth west of Astoria.
The Lewis and Clark River is a tributary of Youngs River, approximately 20 miles (32 km) long, in northwest Oregon in the United States. It drains 62 square miles (160 km2) of the Northern Oregon Coast Range in the extreme northwest corner of the state, entering Youngs River just above its mouth on the Columbia River at Youngs Bay. Near the river's mouth is the site of former Fort Clatsop of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The river is named for Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.
The Youngs River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately 27 miles (43 km) long, in northwest Oregon in the United States. It drains part of the Northern Oregon Coast Range in the extreme northwest corner of state, entering the Columbia via Youngs Bay just approximately 10 miles (16 km) from its mouth.
The Wallooskee River is a tributary of the Youngs River, about 10 miles (16 km) long, in northwest Oregon in the United States. It drains a small area of the foothills of the Coast Range near the mouth of the Columbia River. The Youngs River is a tributary of the Columbia River.
Fort Clatsop was the encampment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the Oregon Country near the mouth of the Columbia River during the winter of 1805–1806. Located along the Lewis and Clark River at the north end of the Clatsop Plains approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Astoria, the fort was the last encampment of the Corps of Discovery, before embarking on their return trip east to St. Louis.
The Clatsop is a small tribe of Chinookan-speaking Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. In the early 19th century they inhabited an area of the northwestern coast of present-day Oregon from the mouth of the Columbia River south to Tillamook Head, Oregon.
The Necanicum River is a river on the Pacific coast of northwest Oregon in the United States, approximately 21 miles (34 km) long. It drains a timber-producing area of the Northern Oregon Coast Range northwest of Portland. It forms the first estuary south of the mouth of the Columbia River along the Oregon Coast, reaching the Pacific Ocean at Seaside in Clatsop County.
The Clatsop Plains are an area of wetlands and sand dunes between the Northern Oregon Coast Range and Pacific Ocean in northwestern Oregon in the United States. They stretch from near the mouth of the Columbia River south to the vicinity of Tillamook Head near Seaside. The plains are drained by several coastal rivers include the Skipanon River and the Necanicum River, which flow parallel to the coast and empty into the Columbia at Youngs Bay near Astoria and into the Pacific Ocean near Seaside respectively. At the time, the Lewis and Clark expedition recorded a different river draining the plains which entered the Pacific near the current day Camp Rilea Armed Forces Training Center. Research, 200 years later in 2005, seems to have confirmed this by locating an old river channel.
The Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, located in the vicinity of the mouth of the Columbia River, commemorates the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Administration of the park, which includes both federal and state lands, is a cooperative effort of the National Park Service and the states of Oregon and Washington. The National Historical Park was dedicated on November 12, 2004.
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Svensen is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) on the Columbia River in Clatsop County, Oregon, United States, named after early settler Peter Svensen. There was a post office in Svensen from 1895 to 1944. Since the closure of the Svensen Post Office, mail service has been provided by rural carriers of the Astoria, Oregon post office. Svensen is within the Knappa School District.
Saddle Mountain is the tallest mountain in Clatsop County in the U.S. state of Oregon. Part of the Oregon Coast Range, Saddle Mountain is in Saddle Mountain State Natural Area in the northwest corner of Oregon. The peak is listed on Oregon's Register of Natural Heritage Resources.
The Tillamook are a Native American tribe from coastal Oregon of the Salish linguistic group. The name "Tillamook" is a Chinook language term meaning "people of [the village] Nekelim ", sometimes it is given as a Coast Salish term, meaning "Land of Many Waters". The Tillamook tribe consists of several divisions and dialects, including :
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The Kathlamet people are a tribe of Native American people with a historic homeland along the Columbia River in what is today southwestern Washington state. The Kathlamet people originally spoke the Kathlamet language, a dialect of the Chinookan language. They were also called "Guasámas, or Guithlamethl, by the Clackamas", and "Kwillu'chini, by the Chinook."
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