Pend Oreille River
Encyclopedia
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 66800 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 258000 mi2 Columbia Basin.
in Bonner County, Idaho
in the Idaho Panhandle, draining the lake from its western end near Sandpoint
(The Clark Fork River enters the lake from its eastern end). It flows west, receiving the Priest River
from the north at the town of Priest River
, then flows into southern Pend Oreille County in northeastern Washington at Newport
. Once in Washington it turns north, flowing along the eastern side of the Selkirk Mountains
. It flows roughly parallel to the Idaho border for approximately 50 miles (80.5 km), through the Colville National Forest
, past Tiger
and Metaline Falls
. It crosses the international border into southeastern British Columbia, looping west for about 15 miles (24.1 km) and joining the Columbia from the east, approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the international border and approximately 5 miles (8 km) south of Montrose
.
stretches across most of western Montana, northern Idaho and northeastern Washington, as well as tiny portions in southern British Columbia drained by the North Fork Flathead River
and the lower Pend Oreille River. Much of the southern drainage divide of the watershed forms the border of Idaho and Montana, and a very short portion of the northeastern divide forms the border of British Columbia and Alberta
. The river is sometimes considered as one with the Clark Fork, which is the primary river flowing into Lake Pend Oreille. For example, in Stewart Holbrook's book The Columbia, he repeatedly refers to the Pend Oreille River as the Clark Fork. If the lengths of the North Fork Flathead, main Flathead, Clark Fork and Pend Oreille are added together, the total is over 510 miles (820.8 km) stretching from the Rocky Mountains north of Glacier National Park to the Canada-U.S. border south of Montrose, British Columbia
. This makes the Pend Oreille system the second longest tributary of the Columbia River (after the Snake River
). It is the fourth largest by discharge (after the Snake, Kootenay
and Willamette River
s) and drains the second largest area (second only to the Snake).
The Pend Oreille River watershed divide is formed on the east side by the Continental Divide
. On the south, the Spokane River
and Snake River drainage basins border on the Clark Fork. To the west smaller rivers such as the Colville River
and tributaries of the Spokane drain the lands past the watershed divide. In the north is the Kootenay River, a similar-sized tributary of the Columbia. To the east, in Montana, is the Missouri River
and tributaries such as the Marias River
and Milk River
. In the southwest the watershed borders on the Big Hole River
and Jefferson River
, headwater streams of the Missouri. The Pend Oreille/Clark Fork system is notable in that it cuts right between the Bitterroot Range
and Selkirk Range, two major chains of the Rocky Mountains
. The only other river to do so is the Kootenay, just to the north. The Rocky Mountain Trench
runs across the northeast part of the watershed, through the Flathead Valley, and eventually terminating in mountains near the Clark Fork's confluence with the Flathead.
, uplifted over 500 million years ago from the former floor of the Precambrian
sea that covered the region during that period. Granite
batholith
s overlain by layers of sedimentary rock compose most of the higher terrain, such as the Cabinet Mountains
. The age of the rocks along the Pend Oreille generally decreases as one travels downstream (north), and the terrain is also more rugged towards the north than in the south. About 200 million years ago, increased tectonic activity caused the uplift of the Idaho Batholith, a portion of which cooled and eroded to become the present main body of the Bitterroot Range
, a major physiographic feature of the watershed which sweeps from northwest to southeast along the entire Clark Fork valley (and the border of Idaho and Montana), by about 70 million years ago. This time period is generally accepted as when the entire Rocky Mountains
system was formed, although age of the rocks varies with location.
In the previous Ice Age
, a massive glacier of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet
advanced southwards through the Idaho Panhandle, burying the Lake Pend Oreille and upper Pend Oreille River valley with ice hundreds to thousands of feet thick. This formed a pair of ice dams, one gigantic, and one significantly smaller. The one that caused the water of the Clark Fork and other smaller streams to back up into Glacial Lake Missoula
, which stretched over two hundred miles southwest across western Montana, containing some 500 cubic miles (2,084.1 km³) of water, was over 2000 feet (609.6 m) high. The second one blocked the upper Pend Oreille River near Sandpoint, creating an enlarged Lake Pend Oreille that could have connected with a similarly enlarged Kootenay Lake
in the north. Water pressure and glacial melt destroyed the larger of the two ice dams several times, causing massive amounts of water to rush out across eastern Washington through the upper Pend Oreille River. A mistaken belief is that these cataclysmic floods, known as the Missoula Floods
, traveled down the Pend Oreille Valley into the Columbia. Rather, it is now thought that the water completely breached the western divide of the Pend Oreille River valley and rushed out towards the direction of Spokane
.
). Archaeological evidence suggests that people lived in the region as early as the end of the last Ice Age
, about 11,000-12,000 years ago. The name Pend d'Oreille or Pend Oreille is variously stated to mean "earring", "hang from ears", or "shape of an ear". Kalispel is thought to mean "camas
people", referring to the roots that provided their primary food. Both tribes lived around the area of Lake Pend Oreille occasionally ranging lower onto the Pend Oreille River (or maybe they did have settlements along the river?) but the lower (north) basin was generally less populated than the upper (south) portion. The Flathead tribe inhabited the upper (Clark Fork) part of the basin, especially the Bitterroot Valley
. The Ktunaxa lived just to the east of the Pend Oreille river.
The first non-indigenous people to see the Pend Oreille were French-Canadian fur trappers working for various fur trading companies to provide beaver
pelts to trade overseas. Some of these people were the ones to coin the term "Pend d'Oreille". Canadian explorer David Thompson
saw the river in 1807, after a long and arduous journey from Saskatchewan
. His primary mission was to find the source of the Columbia River (Columbia Lake
), which he did. Afterwards he proceeded to establish trading posts throughout the region, including Kullyspell House
on the north shore of Lake Pend Oreille. In 1808, Thompson again traveled into the Pend Oreille region. The following spring, he tried to reach the Columbia River by way of the Pend Oreille, but rapids and waterfalls hampered his attempt. He ended up retreating to another trading post in British Columbia a few months later. After these early explorations, however, there still were no permanent white settlements along the Pend Oreille River.
By the 1840s, Europeans and Americans were pouring into the region in increasing numbers, although growth was slow. These newcomers did not strike good relations with the Native Americans of the area, and diseases such as smallpox
wiped out many indigenous (this happened with many other tribes across North and Middle America as they were not used to such a sickness). After numerous wars and treaties, much of the land in the Pend Oreille basin especially the upper Clark Fork area had been ceded to the settlers. The last land in the Bitterroot area was given up in 1889, and many tribes of the Pend Oreille basin were moved to reservations in northwestern Montana. In the late 1850s, a major influx of non-indigenous peoples occurred when gold was discovered near Metaline Falls on the Pend Oreille River. The first major white settlements in that area, however, were not created until 1884. Mining for gold soon ceased but lead and zinc mining continued, reaching a peak in World War II
when the metals were desperately needed for the productions of weapons, ships, planes.
In the 19th century, logging
was the other major industry of the Pend Oreille River area, and attracted hundreds to thousands of men to the region, many of them Scandinavia
n. Logging was profitable because almost the entire Pend Oreille watershed was forested with various types of trees. However, shipping logs to ports lower on the Columbia River (to the southwest of the Pend Oreille River) was a problem. Not only was the river riddled with frightening waterfalls and rapids, but it flows north, in the opposite direction that the logging companies wanted to move their logs. At about this time, steamboat
s were introduced to the Pend Oreille River. The first steamboat on the river was The Bertha, buiilt in 1887 at Albeni Falls. Other well-known craft included Ione, Spokane, and Metaline (Pend Oreille). These boats carried passengers and ore and also towed log rafts up the river. (Since it flows north, they had to tow the logs south, against the current, to ship it a shorter distance to the lumber mills and factories lower in the Columbia Basin.) Navigation on the Pend Oreille presented few problems upstream of the Box Canyon rapids about three-fourths of the way down the Pend Oreille River (today close to the site of Box Canyon Dam
). Many boats were wrecked in the stretch between Box Canyon and the river's mouth (including Metaline, which was the only large steamer to operate on the lower river on a regular basis). After the Idaho & Washington Northern Railroad was built in the area, steamboat commerce faded and the logs were transported by rail. The Idaho & Washington Northern was eventually succeeded by the Milwaukee Road
.
The Pend Oreille River valley was never easy for early or later emigrants to settle in. The little arable land that did exist was mostly within the river's floodplain
, and in many places there was only a narrow strip of flat ground that would soon run against vertical cliffs or dense forests with rocky soil. Nevertheless, some permanent settlements persisted, at Newport, Albeni Falls, Ione, Dalkena, Metaline Falls, Cusick, Usk, and many at the sites of the sawmills that cut the lumber extracted from the region. Some emigrants also settled along the Clark Fork, but there were similar problems because for most of its course, the Clark Fork, like the Pend Oreille, flows in a steep and narrow gorge. Larger amounts of people settled in the Flathead River
valley, around Flathead Lake
and Lake Pend Oreille, in the Priest River
valley, and in the Bitterroot Valley
of south-western Montana. Sandpoint
(population 7,000), near where the river flows out of Lake Pend Oreille, remains the largest city in close proximity to the river.
(owned by Teck Cominco) and Seven Mile
(B.C. Hydro) dams in Canada, Boundary
(Seattle City Light), Box Canyon
, (Pend Oreille County PUD), and Albeni Falls
(U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) dams in the United States. None provide for fish passage or navigation.
Tributary
A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...
of the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, 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...
, approximately 130 miles (209 km) long, in northern Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
and northeastern Washington in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, as well as southeastern British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. In its passage through British Columbia its name is spelled Pend-d'Oreille River. It drains a scenic area of the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
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
Clark Fork (river)
The Clark Fork is a river in the U.S. states of Montana and Idaho, approximately 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, flowing northwest through a long...
, which rises in western Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
. The river drains an area of 66800 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
Flathead River
The Flathead River, in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Montana, originates in the Rocky Mountains near Glacier National Park and flows southwest into Flathead Lake, then after a journey of , empties into the Clark Fork. The river is part of the Columbia River drainage basin, as the Clark...
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 258000 mi2 Columbia Basin.
Course
The Pend Oreille River begins at Lake Pend OreilleLake Pend Oreille
Lake Pend Oreille is a lake in the northern Idaho Panhandle, with a surface area of . It is 65 miles long, and 1,150 feet deep in some regions, making it the fifth deepest in the United States. It is fed by the Clark Fork River and the Pack River, and drains via the Pend Oreille River...
in Bonner County, Idaho
Bonner County, Idaho
Bonner County is a county located in the northern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. Established in 1907, it was named for Edwin L. Bonner, a ferry operator. As of the 2010 census, the county had a population of 40,877. The county seat and largest city is Sandpoint.-History:Bonner County was formed...
in the Idaho Panhandle, draining the lake from its western end near Sandpoint
Sandpoint, Idaho
Sandpoint is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Bonner County, Idaho, United States. Its population was 7,365 at the 2010 census.Sandpoint's major economic contributors include forest products and light manufacturing, tourism and recreation and government services...
(The Clark Fork River enters the lake from its eastern end). It flows west, receiving the Priest River
Priest River (Idaho)
The Priest River is a tributary of the Pend Oreille River in the U.S. state of Idaho. It is part of the Columbia River basin, as the Pend Oreille River is a tributary of the Columbia River. The river's drainage basin is in area.-Course:...
from the north at the town of Priest River
Priest River, Idaho
Priest River is a city in Bonner County, Idaho, United States. The population was 1,751 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Priest River is located at ....
, then flows into southern Pend Oreille County in northeastern Washington at Newport
Newport, Washington
Newport is a city in, and the county seat of, Pend Oreille County, Washington. The population was 2,126 at the 2010 census.-History:Newport was given its name in 1890 because it was selected as a landing site for the first steamboat on the Pend Oreille River. Newport was officially incorporated on...
. Once in Washington it turns north, flowing along the eastern side of the Selkirk Mountains
Selkirk Mountains
The Selkirk Mountains are a mountain range spanning the northern portion of the Idaho Panhandle, eastern Washington, and southeastern British Columbia. They begin at Mica Peak near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and extend approximately 320 km north from the border. The range is bounded on its west,...
. It flows roughly parallel to the Idaho border for approximately 50 miles (80.5 km), through the Colville National Forest
Colville National Forest
The Colville National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in northeastern Washington state. It is bordered on the west by the Okanogan National Forest and the Kaniksu National Forest to the east...
, past Tiger
Tiger, Washington
Tiger is an unincorporated community in Pend Oreille County, Washington, United States. Named for early settler George Tiger, Tiger is located near Washington State Route 31 south of Ione....
and Metaline Falls
Metaline Falls, Washington
Metaline Falls is a town in Pend Oreille County, Washington, United States. The population was 238 at the 2010 census.-History:Metaline Falls was discovered by natives 12,000 years ago. Eventually by fur traders came in 1810. The town was founded in 1900, with most of its residents then employed...
. It crosses the international border into southeastern British Columbia, looping west for about 15 miles (24.1 km) and joining the Columbia from the east, approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the international border and approximately 5 miles (8 km) south of Montrose
Montrose, British Columbia
Montrose is a village located in south-eastern British Columbia in the West Kootenay region.It is located 7 km east of the city of Trail along Highway 3B.-Geography:The village of Montrose is built on a mountain ledge leading to Beaver Valley...
.
Watershed
Spreading across 25792 mi2, the Pend Oreille River watershedDrainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
stretches across most of western Montana, northern Idaho and northeastern Washington, as well as tiny portions in southern British Columbia drained by the North Fork Flathead River
North Fork Flathead River
The North Fork Flathead River is a river flowing through British Columbia , Canada south into the U.S. state of Montana. It is one of the three primary forks of the Flathead River, a tributary of the Pend Oreille River, via Clark Fork. The river is sometimes considered the upper headwaters of the...
and the lower Pend Oreille River. Much of the southern drainage divide of the watershed forms the border of Idaho and Montana, and a very short portion of the northeastern divide forms the border of British Columbia and Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
. The river is sometimes considered as one with the Clark Fork, which is the primary river flowing into Lake Pend Oreille. For example, in Stewart Holbrook's book The Columbia, he repeatedly refers to the Pend Oreille River as the Clark Fork. If the lengths of the North Fork Flathead, main Flathead, Clark Fork and Pend Oreille are added together, the total is over 510 miles (820.8 km) stretching from the Rocky Mountains north of Glacier National Park to the Canada-U.S. border south of Montrose, British Columbia
Montrose, British Columbia
Montrose is a village located in south-eastern British Columbia in the West Kootenay region.It is located 7 km east of the city of Trail along Highway 3B.-Geography:The village of Montrose is built on a mountain ledge leading to Beaver Valley...
. This makes the Pend Oreille system the second longest tributary of the Columbia River (after the Snake River
Snake River
The Snake is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean...
). It is the fourth largest by discharge (after the Snake, Kootenay
Kootenay River
The Kootenay is a major river in southeastern British Columbia, Canada and the northern part of the U.S. states of Montana and Idaho. It is one of the uppermost major tributaries of the Columbia River, which is the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean...
and Willamette River
Willamette River
The Willamette River is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States...
s) and drains the second largest area (second only to the Snake).
The Pend Oreille River watershed divide is formed on the east side by the Continental Divide
Continental Divide
The Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Gulf of Division or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain...
. On the south, the Spokane River
Spokane River
The Spokane River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northern Idaho and eastern Washington in the United States. It drains a low mountainous area east of the Columbia, passing through the city of Spokane, Washington.-Description:...
and Snake River drainage basins border on the Clark Fork. To the west smaller rivers such as the Colville River
Colville River (Washington)
The Colville River is a 60 mile long tributary of the Columbia River in northeastern Washington in the United States.-Course:The Colville River begins in southern Stevens County, Washington at the confluence of Sheep Creek and Deer Creek. It flows northwest past Colville and into the Columbia...
and tributaries of the Spokane drain the lands past the watershed divide. In the north is the Kootenay River, a similar-sized tributary of the Columbia. To the east, in Montana, is the Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
and tributaries such as the Marias River
Marias River
The Marias River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 210 mi long, in the U.S. state of Montana. It is formed in the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Glacier County, in northwestern Montana, by the confluence of the Cut Bank Creek and the Two Medicine River...
and Milk River
Milk River (Montana-Alberta)
The Milk River is a tributary of the Missouri River, long, in the United States state of Montana and the Canadian province of Alberta. Rising in the Rocky Mountains, the river drains a sparsely populated, semi-arid watershed of , ending just east of Fort Peck, Montana.-Geography:It is formed in...
. In the southwest the watershed borders on the Big Hole River
Big Hole River
The Big Hole River is a tributary of the Jefferson River, approximately 153 miles long, in southwestern Montana in the United States. It rises in Skinner lake in the Beaverhead National Forest in the Beaverhead Mountains of the Bitterroot Range at the continental divide along the...
and Jefferson River
Jefferson River
The Jefferson River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the U.S. state of Montana. The Jefferson River and the Madison River form the official beginning of the Missouri at Missouri Headwaters State Park near Three Forks...
, headwater streams of the Missouri. The Pend Oreille/Clark Fork system is notable in that it cuts right between the Bitterroot Range
Bitterroot Range
The Bitterroot Range runs along the border of Montana and Idaho in the northwestern United States. The range spans an area of 62,736 square kilometers and is named after the bitterroot , a small pink flower that is the state flower of Montana.- History :In 1805, the Corps of Discovery,...
and Selkirk Range, two major chains of the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
. The only other river to do so is the Kootenay, just to the north. The Rocky Mountain Trench
Rocky Mountain Trench
The Rocky Mountain Trench, or the Trench or The Valley of a Thousand Peaks, is a large valley in the northern part of the Rocky Mountains. It is both visually and cartographically a striking physiographic feature extending approximately from Flathead Lake, Montana, to the Liard River, just south...
runs across the northeast part of the watershed, through the Flathead Valley, and eventually terminating in mountains near the Clark Fork's confluence with the Flathead.
Geology
Much of the Pend Oreille valley consists of relatively ancient metamorphic rockMetamorphic rock
Metamorphic rock is the transformation of an existing rock type, the protolith, in a process called metamorphism, which means "change in form". The protolith is subjected to heat and pressure causing profound physical and/or chemical change...
, uplifted over 500 million years ago from the former floor of the Precambrian
Precambrian
The Precambrian is the name which describes the large span of time in Earth's history before the current Phanerozoic Eon, and is a Supereon divided into several eons of the geologic time scale...
sea that covered the region during that period. Granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
batholith
Batholith
A batholith is a large emplacement of igneous intrusive rock that forms from cooled magma deep in the Earth's crust...
s overlain by layers of sedimentary rock compose most of the higher terrain, such as the Cabinet Mountains
Cabinet Mountains
The Cabinet Mountains are part of the Rocky Mountains, located in northwest Montana and the Idaho panhandle, in the United States. The mountains cover an area of 2,134 square miles...
. The age of the rocks along the Pend Oreille generally decreases as one travels downstream (north), and the terrain is also more rugged towards the north than in the south. About 200 million years ago, increased tectonic activity caused the uplift of the Idaho Batholith, a portion of which cooled and eroded to become the present main body of the Bitterroot Range
Bitterroot Range
The Bitterroot Range runs along the border of Montana and Idaho in the northwestern United States. The range spans an area of 62,736 square kilometers and is named after the bitterroot , a small pink flower that is the state flower of Montana.- History :In 1805, the Corps of Discovery,...
, a major physiographic feature of the watershed which sweeps from northwest to southeast along the entire Clark Fork valley (and the border of Idaho and Montana), by about 70 million years ago. This time period is generally accepted as when the entire Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
system was formed, although age of the rocks varies with location.
In the previous Ice Age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
, a massive glacier of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet
Cordilleran Ice Sheet
The Cordilleran ice sheet was a major ice sheet that covered, during glacial periods of the Quaternary, a large area of North America. This included the following areas:*Western Montana*The Idaho Panhandle...
advanced southwards through the Idaho Panhandle, burying the Lake Pend Oreille and upper Pend Oreille River valley with ice hundreds to thousands of feet thick. This formed a pair of ice dams, one gigantic, and one significantly smaller. The one that caused the water of the Clark Fork and other smaller streams to back up into Glacial Lake Missoula
Glacial Lake Missoula
Glacial Lake Missoula was a prehistoric proglacial lake in western Montana that existed periodically at the end of the last ice age between 15,000 and 13,000 years ago...
, which stretched over two hundred miles southwest across western Montana, containing some 500 cubic miles (2,084.1 km³) of water, was over 2000 feet (609.6 m) high. The second one blocked the upper Pend Oreille River near Sandpoint, creating an enlarged Lake Pend Oreille that could have connected with a similarly enlarged Kootenay Lake
Kootenay Lake
Kootenay Lake is a lake located in British Columbia, Canada and is part of theKootenay River. The lake has been raised by the Corra Linn Dam and has a dike system at the southern end, which, along with industry in the 1950s-70s, has changed the ecosystem in and around the water...
in the north. Water pressure and glacial melt destroyed the larger of the two ice dams several times, causing massive amounts of water to rush out across eastern Washington through the upper Pend Oreille River. A mistaken belief is that these cataclysmic floods, known as the Missoula Floods
Missoula Floods
The Missoula Floods refer to the cataclysmic floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Gorge at the end of the last ice age. The glacial flood events have been researched since the 1920s...
, traveled down the Pend Oreille Valley into the Columbia. Rather, it is now thought that the water completely breached the western divide of the Pend Oreille River valley and rushed out towards the direction of Spokane
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
.
History
Native people who lived along the river included the Pend d'Oreilles and Kalispel (considered as a single tribe by the Bureau of Indian AffairsBureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...
). Archaeological evidence suggests that people lived in the region as early as the end of the last Ice Age
Ice age
An ice age or, more precisely, glacial age, is a generic geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers...
, about 11,000-12,000 years ago. The name Pend d'Oreille or Pend Oreille is variously stated to mean "earring", "hang from ears", or "shape of an ear". Kalispel is thought to mean "camas
Camassia
Camassia is a genus of six species native to western North America, from southern British Columbia to northern California, and east to Utah, Wyoming and Montana...
people", referring to the roots that provided their primary food. Both tribes lived around the area of Lake Pend Oreille occasionally ranging lower onto the Pend Oreille River (or maybe they did have settlements along the river?) but the lower (north) basin was generally less populated than the upper (south) portion. The Flathead tribe inhabited the upper (Clark Fork) part of the basin, especially the Bitterroot Valley
Bitterroot Valley
The Bitterroot Valley is located in southwestern Montana in the northwestern United States. It extends over 100 miles from remote Horse Creek Pass north to a point near the city of Missoula...
. The Ktunaxa lived just to the east of the Pend Oreille river.
The first non-indigenous people to see the Pend Oreille were French-Canadian fur trappers working for various fur trading companies to provide beaver
Beaver
The beaver is a primarily nocturnal, large, semi-aquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, North American Beaver and Eurasian Beaver . Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges . They are the second-largest rodent in the world...
pelts to trade overseas. Some of these people were the ones to coin the term "Pend d'Oreille". Canadian explorer David Thompson
David Thompson (explorer)
David Thompson was an English-Canadian fur trader, surveyor, and map-maker, known to some native peoples as "Koo-Koo-Sint" or "the Stargazer"...
saw the river in 1807, after a long and arduous journey from Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
. His primary mission was to find the source of the Columbia River (Columbia Lake
Columbia Lake
Columbia Lake is the primary lake at the headwaters of the Columbia River, in British Columbia, Canada. It is fed by several small tributaries. The village of Canal Flats is located at the south end of the lake....
), which he did. Afterwards he proceeded to establish trading posts throughout the region, including Kullyspell House
Kullyspell House
Kullyspell House was a fur trading post established in 1809 on Lake Pend Oreille in what is now North Idaho...
on the north shore of Lake Pend Oreille. In 1808, Thompson again traveled into the Pend Oreille region. The following spring, he tried to reach the Columbia River by way of the Pend Oreille, but rapids and waterfalls hampered his attempt. He ended up retreating to another trading post in British Columbia a few months later. After these early explorations, however, there still were no permanent white settlements along the Pend Oreille River.
By the 1840s, Europeans and Americans were pouring into the region in increasing numbers, although growth was slow. These newcomers did not strike good relations with the Native Americans of the area, and diseases such as smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
wiped out many indigenous (this happened with many other tribes across North and Middle America as they were not used to such a sickness). After numerous wars and treaties, much of the land in the Pend Oreille basin especially the upper Clark Fork area had been ceded to the settlers. The last land in the Bitterroot area was given up in 1889, and many tribes of the Pend Oreille basin were moved to reservations in northwestern Montana. In the late 1850s, a major influx of non-indigenous peoples occurred when gold was discovered near Metaline Falls on the Pend Oreille River. The first major white settlements in that area, however, were not created until 1884. Mining for gold soon ceased but lead and zinc mining continued, reaching a peak in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
when the metals were desperately needed for the productions of weapons, ships, planes.
In the 19th century, logging
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
was the other major industry of the Pend Oreille River area, and attracted hundreds to thousands of men to the region, many of them Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n. Logging was profitable because almost the entire Pend Oreille watershed was forested with various types of trees. However, shipping logs to ports lower on the Columbia River (to the southwest of the Pend Oreille River) was a problem. Not only was the river riddled with frightening waterfalls and rapids, but it flows north, in the opposite direction that the logging companies wanted to move their logs. At about this time, steamboat
Steamboat
A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...
s were introduced to the Pend Oreille River. The first steamboat on the river was The Bertha, buiilt in 1887 at Albeni Falls. Other well-known craft included Ione, Spokane, and Metaline (Pend Oreille). These boats carried passengers and ore and also towed log rafts up the river. (Since it flows north, they had to tow the logs south, against the current, to ship it a shorter distance to the lumber mills and factories lower in the Columbia Basin.) Navigation on the Pend Oreille presented few problems upstream of the Box Canyon rapids about three-fourths of the way down the Pend Oreille River (today close to the site of Box Canyon Dam
Box Canyon Dam (Washington)
Box Canyon Dam is a gravity-type hydroelectric dam on the Pend Oreille River, in northeast part of the U.S. state of Washington.Capacity: 69MWExpected Production: 52MW averageReservoir Length: Length of Dam: Height of Dam: to top of gates...
). Many boats were wrecked in the stretch between Box Canyon and the river's mouth (including Metaline, which was the only large steamer to operate on the lower river on a regular basis). After the Idaho & Washington Northern Railroad was built in the area, steamboat commerce faded and the logs were transported by rail. The Idaho & Washington Northern was eventually succeeded by the Milwaukee Road
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad
The Milwaukee Road, officially the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until its merger into the Soo Line Railroad on January 1, 1986. The company went through several official names...
.
The Pend Oreille River valley was never easy for early or later emigrants to settle in. The little arable land that did exist was mostly within the river's floodplain
Floodplain
A floodplain, or flood plain, is a flat or nearly flat land adjacent a stream or river that stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and experiences flooding during periods of high discharge...
, and in many places there was only a narrow strip of flat ground that would soon run against vertical cliffs or dense forests with rocky soil. Nevertheless, some permanent settlements persisted, at Newport, Albeni Falls, Ione, Dalkena, Metaline Falls, Cusick, Usk, and many at the sites of the sawmills that cut the lumber extracted from the region. Some emigrants also settled along the Clark Fork, but there were similar problems because for most of its course, the Clark Fork, like the Pend Oreille, flows in a steep and narrow gorge. Larger amounts of people settled in the Flathead River
Flathead River
The Flathead River, in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Montana, originates in the Rocky Mountains near Glacier National Park and flows southwest into Flathead Lake, then after a journey of , empties into the Clark Fork. The river is part of the Columbia River drainage basin, as the Clark...
valley, around Flathead Lake
Flathead Lake
Flathead Lake is the largest natural freshwater lake in the western part of the contiguous United States. With a surface area of between and , it is slightly larger than Lake Tahoe. The lake is a remnant of the ancient inland sea, Lake Missoula of the era of the last interglacial. Flathead Lake...
and Lake Pend Oreille, in the Priest River
Priest River (Idaho)
The Priest River is a tributary of the Pend Oreille River in the U.S. state of Idaho. It is part of the Columbia River basin, as the Pend Oreille River is a tributary of the Columbia River. The river's drainage basin is in area.-Course:...
valley, and in the Bitterroot Valley
Bitterroot Valley
The Bitterroot Valley is located in southwestern Montana in the northwestern United States. It extends over 100 miles from remote Horse Creek Pass north to a point near the city of Missoula...
of south-western Montana. Sandpoint
Sandpoint, Idaho
Sandpoint is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Bonner County, Idaho, United States. Its population was 7,365 at the 2010 census.Sandpoint's major economic contributors include forest products and light manufacturing, tourism and recreation and government services...
(population 7,000), near where the river flows out of Lake Pend Oreille, remains the largest city in close proximity to the river.
Dams
There are five hydroelectric dams on the Pend Oreille River: WanetaWaneta Dam
Waneta Dam is a concrete gravity-type hydroelectric dam on the Pend d'Oreille River 9 km downstream from Seven Mile Dam in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It supplies electric power to metallurgical operations at Trail, British Columbia and for BC Hydro which since 2009 has a 1/3...
(owned by Teck Cominco) and Seven Mile
Seven Mile Dam
Seven Mile Dam is a concrete gravity-type hydroelectric dam on the Pend d'Oreille River 15 km SE of Trail, 18 km downstream from Boundary Dam and 9 km upsteam from Waneta Dam in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The powerplant has a capacity of 848 MW and generates 3200 GWh per year...
(B.C. Hydro) dams in Canada, Boundary
Boundary Dam
Boundary Dam is a concrete arch gravity-type hydroelectric dam on the Pend Oreille River, in the U.S. state of Washington. The dam is located in the northeast corner of Washington state, just south of the border with British Columbia, Canada. It is operated by Seattle City Light and makes up a...
(Seattle City Light), Box Canyon
Box Canyon Dam (Washington)
Box Canyon Dam is a gravity-type hydroelectric dam on the Pend Oreille River, in northeast part of the U.S. state of Washington.Capacity: 69MWExpected Production: 52MW averageReservoir Length: Length of Dam: Height of Dam: to top of gates...
, (Pend Oreille County PUD), and Albeni Falls
Albeni Falls Dam
Albeni Falls Dam is located on the Pend Oreille River between Oldtown, Idaho, and Priest River, Idaho. It is located on the site of a natural waterfall named Albeni Falls, named after early pioneer Albeni Poirier....
(U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) dams in the United States. None provide for fish passage or navigation.
Names
Variant names, according to the USGS, include: Bitter Root River, Bitterroot River, Clark Fork, Clarke Fork, Clarkes Fork, Clarks Fork, Deer Lodge River, Hell Gate River, Missoula River, Pend d'Oreille River, Silver Bow River, Clark's Fork, and Pend-d'Oreille River.Conservation
- Pend Orielle Basin Commission formed to oversee any issues relating to water quality and/or water quantity in Lake Pend Oreille, Pend Oreille River, Priest Lake and Priest River Basin
See also
- List of tributaries of the Columbia River
- List of rivers of Washington
- List of rivers of British Columbia
- List of rivers of Idaho
- List of northward-flowing rivers of the United States