List of tributaries of the Columbia River

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Tributaries and sub-tributaries are hierarchically listed in order from the mouth of the Columbia River upstream. Major dams and reservoir lakes are also noted.

Contents

Map of the Columbia drainage Basin with the Columbia River highlighted and showing the major tributaries Columbiarivermap.png
Map of the Columbia drainage Basin with the Columbia River highlighted and showing the major tributaries

List of major tributaries

The main river and tributaries are (sorted in order from the mouth heading upstream):

Left

tributary

Right

tributary

Length

(km)

Basin size

(km2)

Average discharge

(m3/s)

Lower Columbia

Mouth to Bonneville Dam

Youngs 43 257.6 14.7
Grays 48 320 15.9
Elochoman 24 490 10.8
Clatskanie 40 269.2 10.6
Cowlitz 169 6,698 286.6
Kalama 72 530 34.5
Lewis 153 2,709 173.4
Lake 18 260
Willamette 301 28,949 1,098.7
Washougal 53 550 24.7
Sandy 92 1,316 65
Middle Columbia

Bonneville Dam to McNary Dam

Wind 48 580 34.2
Little White Salmon 31 350
White Salmon 71.3 1,000 30.4
Hood 40 720 27.6
Klickitat 154.3 3,496 44.5
Fifteenmile Creek 87 970 5.6
Deschutes 406 27,549.6 215.7
John Day 457 20,521.3 80.4
Willow Creek 127 2,300 0.9
Umatilla 143 6,345 14
Upper Columbia

McNary Dam to Columbia Lake

Walla Walla 98 4,553 34.3
Snake 1,735 260,938.7 1,755.6
Yakima 344 15,930.4 100.3
Crab Creek 262 13,200 40.4
Wenatchee 85 3,473.1 103.7
Entiat 92 1,210 20.2
Chelan 6.6 2,390 57.8
Methow 129 4,727 44.4
Okanogan 185 21,385.7 99
Nespelem 580.8 2.5
Sanpoil 95 2,540 11.4
Spokane 179 17,353.4 228.6
Colville 97 2,646.8 16.4
Kettle 282 10,877 82.3
Pend Oreille 771 67,055.5 850.2
Kootenay 780 50,298 868
Whatshan 581.4 12
Mosquito Creek 435 10.2
Kuskanax Creek 350.9 10.6
Halfway 447.4 14.2
Incomappleux 1,020 55.8
Akolkolex 388.7 16.5
Illecillewaet 62 1,213.3 61.4
Jordan 345.6 11.1
Downie Creek 655.8 27.9
Goldstream 954.4 39.5
Big Mouth Creek 591.2 22.9
Canoe 712.6 15.2
Wood 841.7 18.1
Cummins 262.6 8.5
Kinbasket 261.3 7.6
Windy 252.3 10.2
Sullivan 632.5 18.9
Bush 1,100.1 25.5
Gold 566.4 27.9
Beaver 1,163 54.3
Bluewater 392.5 12.5
Waitabit Creek 352.2 9.6
Blaeberry 60 745.6 17.8
Kicking Horse 1,815.4 40.9
Canyon Creek 161.7 4.9
Spillimacheen 118 1,456.2 38
Bugaboo Creek 368.4 7.3
Forster Creek 592.4 8.8
Horsethief Creek 630.5 10
Toby Creek 673.5 9
Dutch Creek 676.5 7.9

[1] [2]

Willamette River system

Snake River system

Yakima River system

Pend Oreille River system

Kootenay River system

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snake River</span> Major river in the northwestern United States

The Snake River is a major river in the interior Pacific Northwest region of the United States. About 1,080 miles (1,740 km) long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, which is the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. Beginning in Yellowstone National Park, western Wyoming, it flows across the arid Snake River Plain of southern Idaho, the rugged Hells Canyon on the borders of Idaho, Oregon and Washington, and finally the rolling Palouse Hills of southeast Washington. It joins the Columbia River just downstream from the Tri-Cities, Washington, in the southern Columbia Basin.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Owyhee River</span> River in Nevada, Idaho, and Oregon, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clark Fork River</span> River in the U.S. states of Montana and Idaho

The Clark Fork, or the Clark Fork of the Columbia River, is a river in the U.S. states of Montana and Idaho, approximately 310 miles (500 km) long. The largest river by volume in Montana, it drains an extensive region of the Rocky Mountains in western Montana and northern Idaho in the watershed of the Columbia River. The river flows northwest through a long valley at the base of the Cabinet Mountains and empties into Lake Pend Oreille in the Idaho Panhandle. The Pend Oreille River in Idaho, Washington, and British Columbia, Canada which drains the lake to the Columbia in Washington, is sometimes included as part of the Clark Fork, giving it a total length of 479 miles (771 km), with a drainage area of 25,820 square miles (66,900 km2). In its upper 20 miles (32 km) in Montana near Butte, it is known as Silver Bow Creek. Interstate 90 follows much of the upper course of the river from Butte to Saint Regis. The highest point within the river's watershed is Mount Evans at 10,641 feet (3,243 m) in Deer Lodge County, Montana along the Continental Divide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pend Oreille River</span> River, tributary of the Columbia

The Pend Oreille River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately 130 miles (209 km) long, in northern Idaho and northeastern Washington in the United States, as well as southeastern British Columbia in Canada. In its passage through British Columbia its name is spelled Pend-d'Oreille River. It drains a scenic area of the Rocky Mountains along the U.S.-Canada border on the east side of the Columbia. The river is sometimes defined as the lower part of the Clark Fork, which rises in western Montana. The river drains an area of 66,800 square kilometres (25,792 sq mi), mostly through the Clark Fork and its tributaries in western Montana and including a portion of the Flathead River in southeastern British Columbia. The full drainage basin of the river and its tributaries accounts for 43% of the entire Columbia River Basin above the confluence with the Columbia. The total area of the Pend Oreille basin is just under 10% of the entire 258,000-square-mile (670,000 km2) Columbia Basin. Box Canyon Dam is currently underway on a multimillion-dollar project for a fish ladder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kootenay River</span> River in Western Canada and the United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flathead River</span> River in Montana, United States

The Flathead River, in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Montana, originates in the Canadian Rockies to the north of Glacier National Park and flows southwest into Flathead Lake, then after a journey of 158 miles (254 km), empties into the Clark Fork. The river is part of the Columbia River drainage basin, as the Clark Fork is a tributary of the Pend Oreille River, a Columbia River tributary. With a drainage basin extending over 8,795 square miles (22,780 km2) and an average discharge of 11,380 cubic feet per second (322 m3/s), the Flathead is the largest tributary of the Clark Fork and constitutes over half of its flow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steamboats of the Willamette River</span> Steamboats in a US river

The Willamette River flows northwards down the Willamette Valley until it meets the Columbia River at a point 101 miles from the Pacific Ocean, in the U.S. state of Oregon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geography of Idaho</span> Overview of the Geograpny of Idaho

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clearwater River (Idaho)</span> River in Idaho, United States

The Clearwater River is in the northwestern United States, in north central Idaho. Its length is 74.8 miles (120.4 km), it flows westward from the Bitterroot Mountains along the Idaho-Montana border, and joins the Snake River at Lewiston. In October 1805, the Lewis and Clark Expedition descended the Clearwater River in dugout canoes, putting in at "Canoe Camp," five miles (8 km) downstream from Orofino; they reached the Columbia Bar and the Pacific Ocean about six weeks later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Course of the Willamette River</span> River in Oregon, United States

The Willamette River is a 187-mile (301 km) tributary of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Oregon. The upper tributaries of the Willamette originate in mountains south and southeast of the twin cities of Eugene and Springfield. Formed by the confluence of the Middle Fork Willamette River and Coast Fork Willamette River near Springfield, the main stem meanders generally north from source to mouth. The river's two most significant course deviations occur at Newberg, where the stream turns sharply east, and about 18 miles (29 km) downriver from Newberg, where it turns north again. Near its mouth, the river splits into two channels that flow around Sauvie Island. The main channel enters the Columbia about 101 miles (163 km) from the larger stream's mouth on the Pacific Ocean, and the smaller Multnomah Channel enters the Columbia about 14.5 miles (23.3 km) further downstream near St. Helens in Columbia County.

References

  1. ↑ "USGS".
  2. ↑ "Rivers Network".
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