Pend Oreille River
| Pend Oreille Pend-d'Oreille, Clark Fork | |
|---|---|
Albeni Falls Dam on the Pend Oreille River | |
Map of the Pend Oreille River and its main tributaries. | |
| Location | |
| Country | United States, Canada |
| State | Washington, Idaho |
| Province | British Columbia |
| City | Sandpoint, ID |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | Lake Pend Oreille |
| • location | Idaho |
| • coordinates | 48°14′20″N 116°36′25″W / 48.23889°N 116.60694°W |
| • elevation | 2,064 ft (629 m) |
| Mouth | Columbia River |
• location | British Columbia |
• coordinates | 49°0′13″N 117°37′13″W / 49.00361°N 117.62028°W |
• elevation | 1,371 ft (418 m) |
| Length | 130 mi (210 km) |
| Basin size | 25,792 sq mi (66,800 km2) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | below Box Canyon Dam, 34.3 miles (55.2 km) from the mouth |
| • average | 26,320 cu ft/s (745 m3/s) |
| • minimum | 82 cu ft/s (2.3 m3/s) |
| • maximum | 167,000 cu ft/s (4,700 m3/s) |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • right | Clark Fork, Pack River, Priest River, Salmo River |
The Pend Oreille River (/ˌpɒndəˈreɪ/ POND-ə-RAY) is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately 130 miles (209 km) long, in northern Idaho and northeastern Washington in the United States, as well as southeastern British Columbia in Canada. In its passage through British Columbia its name is spelled Pend-d'Oreille River. It drains a scenic area of the Rocky Mountains along the U.S.-Canada border on the east side of the Columbia. The river is sometimes defined as the lower part of the Clark Fork, which rises in western Montana. The river drains an area of 66,800 square kilometres (25,792 sq mi), mostly through the Clark Fork and its tributaries in western Montana and including a portion of the Flathead River in southeastern British Columbia. The full drainage basin of the river and its tributaries accounts for 43% of the entire Columbia River Basin above the confluence with the Columbia. The total area of the Pend Oreille basin is just under 10% of the entire 258,000-square-mile (670,000 km2) Columbia Basin. Box Canyon Dam is currently underway on a multimillion-dollar project for a fish ladder.