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Show Chapter 1 The Basin and Its Characteristics, Problems, and Potentialities1 The Columbia River Basin is an area endowed with great potentialities. The river, second only to the Mississippi in volume of flow, can produce power in abundance. Many of its lands await only water to become highly productive. Its mines and forests can provide basic materials for a large industrial development. The rapidly growing pop- ulation of the basin is testimony of the appreciation by many Americans of these interesting potentiali- ties of the region. The possibilities, however, have many associated problems, and the problems are directly associated with the characteristics of the region's land and water. The Land The Columbia River drains an area of 259,000 square miles in the northwestern corner of the United States and adjacent portions of Canada. Of this total, 219,500 squares miles lie within the 1 The original draft of this study was prepared during 1950 by the Committee on River Program Analysis of the Commission. The following persons served on the committee, participated in the planning or review of the report, and contributed data to it: George Adkins, Federal Power Commission James Bowman, Tennessee Valley Authority Raymond H. Davis, Soil Conservation Service, Depart- ment of Agriculture S. H. Gale, Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army Paul Haney, Public Health Service Carl F. Izzard, Bureau of Public Roads, Department of Commerce Maurice LeBosquet, Public Health Service E. N. Munns, Forest Service, Department of Agriculture Mark L. Nelson, Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army Victor Roterus, Department of Commerce R. F. Stellar, Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army borders of the United States and embrace nearly all of Idaho, most of Washington and Oregon, ex- cept small strips adjacent to the Pacific Coast; the western mountainous section of Montana; and small contiguous areas of Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada. Extending north-south, parallel to the Pacific Coast, and lying at various short distances inland is the Cascade Mountain Range. From 200 to 300 or more miles east of the Cascades is the main range of the northern Rockies; this range runs northwest-southeast. Between these two ranges is a huge plateau, very wide in the south and narrow- ing toward the north. It has comparatively low relief. The plateau is crossed by low mountain ranges and rolling hills, many of which lie roughly parallel to the main ranges. In numerous places the plateau is trenched by very deep and precip- itous canyons, which form formidable or impass- able barriers to land transportation. G. E. Tomlinson, Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior E. N. Torbert, Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior Frank L. Weaver, Federal Power Commission Wesley Calef, President's Water Resources Policy Com- mission, committee secretary Edward A. Ackerman, President's Water Resources Policy Commission, committee chairman The study is based on information available between May and October 1950 including special basin reports submitted to the Commission by interested Federal agen- cies. Following preparation of the original draft by the Committee on River Program Analysis, the study was edited and revised by Edward A. Ackerman, John C. Beebe, John. M. Carmody, Patricia Howse, Edward N. Munns, Evelyn S. Myers, and Jane G. Perry. Individual committee members or the agencies where they are em- ployed therefore may or may not be in agreement with particular conclusions here presented. 1 |
