VOICE ONE:
This is Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Shirley Griffith with the VOA Special Englishprogram, EXPLORATIONS. Today we tell about the Columbia River thatflows through the American Northwest.
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VOICE ONE:
It is said by many that theColumbia River is the most beautiful river in North America. Itflows from the Canadian province of British Columbia into the UnitedStates through the northwestern state of Washington. It is thefourth largest river in North America, and the largest that emptiesinto the Pacific Ocean.
The Columbia begins its two-thousand kilometer trip to thePacific Ocean in Canada at Columbia Lake. That is just west of themain part of the Rocky Mountains in southeastern British Columbia.It flows mainly south into the northwestern United States until itmakes a big turn to begin flowing west. It is at this point that theSnake River enters the Columbia. As it flows west, the Columbiaforms much of the border between the states of Oregon and Washingtonbefore it reaches the Pacific Ocean.
VOICE TWO:
The great river flows through deep valleys and narrow placescalled canyons. It passes through two large series of mountains –the Cascades and the Coast mountains — and it crosses desert areasand flows through lands of great forests.
The Columbia and the rivers that flow into it gather water from ahuge area of more than six-hundred-seventy-thousand squarekilometers. That is about the size of France.
VOICE ONE:
Large ocean going ships can sail up the lower Columbia River, asfar as Vancouver, Washington. Smaller ships can continue up theriver about three-hundred kilometers from the Pacific Ocean.However, these ships must pass through devices known as locks. Lockscan change the level of the water. In a lock, a ship can be raisedor lowered to another level where it can sail on. Small boats cantravel another two-hundred-twenty kilometers up the river. There arelocks for river traffic along this part of the river too. Theselocks and the many dams on the river were built in the last centuryas part of development projects.
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VOICE TWO:
The first white explorer to see the Columbia River was anAmerican named Robert Gray. Seeking increased trade for the newUnited States, he sailed from the eastern city of Boston inSeventeen-Eighty-Seven to the Pacific Northwest. He found the riverin Seventeen-Ninety-Two.
Robert Gray named the river after his ship, the ColumbiaRediviva. On a second trip to the area, he explored the lower partsof the river. Gray’s exploration of the river helped the UnitedStates claim what became known later as the Oregon Territory.
VOICE ONE:
In Eighteen-Oh-Five, American explorers Meriwether Lewis andWilliam Clark reached the Columbia River area by traveling acrossland from the east. They were the first explorers to do this. Thetwo men had been sent to explore what was called the LouisianaTerritory. The United States had purchased the Louisiana Territoryfrom France in Eighteen-Oh-Three.
VOICE ONE(cont):
President Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to explore theterritory. He hoped that the explorers would find a river that couldprovide a direct waterway across the North American continent thatcould be used for trade and business. The two-year trip probably isthe most famous story of American exploration.
VOICE TWO:
When Lewis and Clark arrived at the mouth of the Columbia Riverat the Pacific Ocean in Eighteen-Oh-Five, Americans were alreadyliving there. Fur traders such as David Thompson had settled thereearlier. Thompson was with a company dealing especially in animalskins used in making clothes in the eastern United States and inEurope.
In Eighteen-Eleven, members of the Pacific Fur Company arrived inthe area to establish their business. The company was owned by JohnJacob Astor. They established Fort Astoria on the edge of theColumbia River in what later became the state of Oregon. The fortbecame the modern town of Astoria. It is the oldest Americansettlement west of the Rocky Mountains.
VOICE ONE:
The Columbia River was at the center of the new Americansettlement in Pacific Northwestern territory, then known as theOregon Territory. For many early settlers it was known as the OregonRiver or the River of the West. However, the name given to the riverin Seventeen-Ninety-Two became its final name – the Columbia.
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VOICE TWO:
Native Americans had lived in the Columbia River area for anestimated ten-thousand years. To them, the river represented thecenter of life for the surrounding land. The river provided thesefirst Americans with their most important food, fish known as thePacific Salmon.
Salmon can grow to weigh as much as twenty-five kilograms. Theyspend most of their lives in the salt waters of the northern oceans.But they are born in the fresh waters of rivers. When the huge fishare ready to reproduce, they swim hundreds of kilometers from theocean up the rivers to the places where they first knew life.
VOICE TWO(cont):
After laying their eggs at the end of this long trip, the salmondie, their circle of life completed. No one knows how many thousandsand thousands of years the salmon have been doing this.
VOICE ONE:
In Eighteen-Sixty-Six, the first salmon processing factory wasbuilt on the edge of the Columbia River. In less than twenty yearsabout thirty similar factories were supplying world markets withsalmon caught on the river in nets, traps, and wheels. InEighteen-Eighty-Three, almost twenty-million kilograms of salmonwere caught on the river. By the Nineteen-Sixties, only two-millionkilograms of Columbia River salmon was sent to markets.
The salmon population has been severely reduced because humanshave blocked the flow of the river. The salmon can no longer go backto the places of their birth on the Columbia and the other riversthat flow into it.
VOICE TWO:
In the Twentieth Century, huge dams were built on the Columbia.There are fourteen dams on the river. These dams serve at leastthree purposes. They provide electric power. They provide riverwater to grow crops. And they control flooding.
The largest of the dams on the Columbia is the Grand Coulee Dam.It is about halfway between the beginning and the end of the river.It was completed in Nineteen-Forty-One. Before then, abouttwenty-five-thousand salmon swam up the Columbia River into Canadato lay their eggs. Thousands of them would swim all the way toColumbia Lake, where the river begins. When the dam was completed,the salmon could no longer swim up the river.
VOICE ONE:
All the fourteen dams on the Columbia are not like the GrandCoulee Dam. Some of them were built with what are called fishladders. These ladders permit salmon to swim past the dams to go upthe river. Many of the two-hundred-fifty dams on the rivers thatflow into the Columbia also have such devices built into them. Yetthe dams have changed the Columbia from a free flowing river to aseries of lakes linked by the water that is permitted to flowthrough.
The dams produce great amounts of electricity. The result isenergy whose costs are lower for expanding development in thePacific Northwest. The lakes that remain behind the dams providewater for agriculture along the river. This is especially true inwhat once were dry, desert areas in central Washington State. So,the Columbia River and the dams are extremely important to theeconomy of the Pacific Northwest.
VOICE TWO:
There are many people who believe that dams are not good.Biologists, environmentalists, Indian tribes, and fishermen arguethat at least some of the dams should be removed or changed topermit water to flow as it once did. They say that there is nolonger a natural balance of the river. Opponents of the dams sayhumans should make an effort to live together with other life formson Earth. Supporters of the dams believe the river should becontrolled for human use even though other life forms may be harmed.
This argument is expected to last many years.
VOICE ONE:
Most of the great rivers of North America and the rest of theworld have great cities on them. But not the Columbia River. TheHudson River has New York City. The Mississippi River has a numberof great cities along it. The Seine has Paris. The Nile River hasCairo. Along the Columbia, however, the human population is spreadmore thinly. And, most of the people who live along the beautifulColumbia River would not want to live anywhere else.
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VOICE TWO:
This VOA Special English program was written by Oliver Chanlerand produced by Caty Weaver. This is Shirley Griffith.
VOICE ONE:
And this is Steve Ember. Join us again next week for anotherEXPLORATIONS program on the Voice of America.