Deschutes River (Oregon)
Benham Falls of the Deschutes River
Template: Infobox River / Obsolete
The Deschutes River is a river in the U.S. state of Oregon. The river's name comes from French-Canadian fur traders, the river in the 19th century in French Rivière des Chutes translated as " river of the falls ," called.
Origin of the river is the 1447 meter high lava lake in the eastern foothills of the Cascade Mountains. The Deschutes River flows northward until it joins at Biggs Junction in the Columbia River. The river is 406 km long and has a catchment area of 27.2 thousand km. In its course it flows through narrow canyons and numerous rapids and waterfalls valley 1397 meters of altitude. As the largest waterfalls the Benham Falls rapids, where the river flows down 29 meters of altitude, including eight meters as a waterfall apply south of Bend. Another unusual feature is its constant water supply, due to the porous rock of the lava fields, through which it flows south and west of Bend. The lava fields suck the melt water in spring to sponge-like and give it to the year evenly.
The Deschutes is an important habitat for chinook salmon, rainbow trout, bull trout and lamprey. For the Native Americans he was therefore an important source of food, today the river for fishing and tourism is significant. The water of the Deschutes River is also used for agricultural irrigation. The three 1957-1964 built dams of the Pelton Round Butte dam project on the river to Lake Billy Chinook and Lake Simtustus. The dams are used mainly for power generation, the power plants of the three dams together produce about 1.5 billion kWh of electricity annually. On the shores of Lake Billy Chinook is the The Cove Palisades State Park, one of the most visited state parks Oregon. The Deschutes River Conservancy is a nonprofit organization founded in 1996 whose mission is to restore the natural river course and the improvement of water quality in the Deschutes River.
Two sections of rivers with a total length of 274 km are awarded as National Wild and Scenic River. In the middle reaches of the valley of the river is designated as Crooked River National Grassland.