Umatilla River
Umatilla River | |
---|---|
Blue Mountains | |
• coordinates | 45°43′32″N 118°11′17″W / 45.72556°N 118.18806°W[1] |
• elevation | 2,332 ft (711 m)[3] |
Mouth | Columbia River |
• location | Umatilla, Oregon |
• coordinates | 45°55′09″N 119°21′20″W / 45.91917°N 119.35556°W[1] |
• elevation | 269 ft (82 m)[1] |
Length | 89 mi (143 km)[4] |
Basin size | 2,450 sq mi (6,300 km2)[4] |
Discharge | |
• location | near Umatilla, 2.1 miles (3.4 km) from the mouth[5] |
• average | 494 cu ft/s (14.0 m3/s)[5] |
• minimum | 0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s) |
• maximum | 19,800 cu ft/s (560 m3/s) |
The Umatilla River is an 89-mile (143 km) tributary of the
The name Umatilla is derived from the Native American autonym of the people residing along its banks - the Umatilla, which called themselves Imatalamłáma - "People from the Village Ímatalam [on the Peninsula formed by the confluence of Umatilla River with the Columbia]", which was first recorded as Youmalolam in the journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and spelled in many other ways in early books about Oregon.[2]
Today the river is also called Nixyáawi wána - "Pendleton area River, i.e. Umatilla River".[citation needed][what language is this?]
Course
The Umatilla River's headwaters lie in the
The river flows by
The Umatilla River joins the Columbia at what is called Lake Umatilla, a reservoir formed by the John Day Dam on the Columbia. The confluence is 289 miles (465 km) from the Columbia's mouth on the Pacific Ocean at Astoria. McNary Dam, another dam on the Columbia, is slightly upstream at about RM 292 (RK 470).[6][7]
Fish
The Umatilla River supports populations of spring Chinook, fall Chinook, and Coho salmon as well as small trout in its upper reaches. Public access to salmon and steelhead fishing is fairly good downstream of the Oregon Route 11 bridge. Upstream of the bridge, the river runs through the Umatilla Indian Reservation, where fishing is limited to those with a tribal permit.[8]
See also
References
- ^ a b c "Umatilla River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. November 28, 1980. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
- ^ a b McArthur, p. 981
- ^ Source elevation derived from Google Earth search using GNIS source coordinates.
- ^ a b c d "Bull Trout Recovery Plan: Columbia River/Klamath (2002), Chapter 10: Umatilla–Walla Walla" (PDF). United States Fish and Wildlife Service. pp. 2–4. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
- ^ a b "Water-data report 2009: 14033500 Umatilla River near Umatilla, OR" (PDF). United States Geological Survey. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
- ^ a b c United States Geological Survey (USGS). "United States Geological Survey Topographic Map". TopoQuest. Retrieved January 7, 2011. The maps, which include river mile (RM) markers for the lower 64 miles (103 km) of the river, include the following quadrants from mouth to source: Umatilla, Hermiston, Stanfield, Echo, Nolin, Barnhart, Pendleton, Mission, Cayuse, Thorn Hollow, Gibbon, and Bingham Springs.
- ^ ISBN 0-89933-235-8.
- ^ Shewey, p. 307
Works cited
- McArthur, Lewis A., and McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names, 7th ed. Portland: Oregon Historical Society Press. ISBN 0-87595-277-1.
- Shewey, John (2007). Complete Angler's Guide to Oregon. Belgrade, Montana: Wilderness Adventures Press. ISBN 978-1-932098-31-0.
External links
- Umatilla Watershed, "EPA Surf Your Watershed"
- Historic photos from the U.S. Forest Service