Pend Oreille River
Catchment area of the Pend Oreille River and its tributaries
The Pend Oreille River is a 209 km long tributary of the Columbia River in northern Idaho, northeastern Washington in the United States and Pend d' Oreille River or as commuter d'Oreille River in southeastern British Columbia in Canada.
It drains an area of the Rocky Mountains to the east of the Columbia River on the border between the United States and Canada. The catchment area of the river covers an area of 66,874 km ², including the mainly contribute Clark Fork and its tributaries in western Montana. The river is referred to in some publications as the lower part of the Clark Fork River.
Run
The Pend Oreille River has its source in Lake Pend Oreille in Bonner County, Idaho. He leaves the lake at the western end near Sandpoint. The Clark Fork River is the largest tributary of the lake at the eastern end. The river flows to the west and takes away from the north on the Priest River and then reaches into the Newport Pend Oreille County in northeastern Washington. He then pivots to the north on the eastern flank of the Selkirk Mountains along. He follows it for about 80 km roughly a parallel to the state border with Idaho through the Colville National Forest, on Tiger and Metaline Falls over and eventually he passes over the international border in the southeastern part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. In a 25 km long arc he turns to the west and flows 8 km south of Montrose, just 3 km north of the border in the Columbia River.
Dams
At the Pend Oreille River are five dams:
- Dams in Canada Waneta Dam ( Teck Cominco )
- Seven Mile Dam (British Columbia Hydro)
- Boundary Dam ( Seattle City Light )
- Box Canyon Dam ( Pend Oreille County PUD)
- Albeni Falls Dam (United States Army Corps of Engineers)
At none of these dams, there is a fish ladder.
Different names
The Geographic Names Information System lists a number of different names for this river. Among them are:
- Bitter Root River, Bitterroot River
- Clark Fork, Fork Clarke, Clarke's Fork, Clarks Fork, Clark 's Fork
- Deer Lodge River
- Hellgate River
- Missoula River
- Pend d' Oreille River, Pend - d'Oreille River
- Silver Bow River
Hydrology
The United States Geological Survey operates since November 1908 on the border with Canada a level. The average annual runoff is there 750 m³ / s The highest ever observed value was 4860 m³ / s, measured on 13 June 1948, no measurable flow was due to water level regulation on several days in August and September 1988 and on 7 August 1994.