The River Bend

[AlanLichty]

Right after the conjunction of the Columbia River and the Willamette the river turns towards the north before it turns west again up near Longview and heads out to the Pacific. This is a panorama view looking upstream towards the bend in the river. The mouth of the Willamette River is just barely visible just to the right of the last anchored freighter in this scene.

When Lewis and Clark first explored this region the river looked quite different than what is shown in this image and was much wider claiming a large part of the lands on both sides. Especially on the left side of the river in this view. The Port of Portland decided to dredge the river to make it deeper for larger ships starting in the late 1800's and continuing to this day with the main shipping channel now being at least 43' deep at low tide to handle Panamax class vessels from Portland's shipyards up the Willamette out to the mouth of the Columbia near Astoria. Both sides of the river have levies to open lands along the river to farming while making the channel more narrow and deep. Dredge spoils are used extensively to bolster the levies and raise the farmlands along the banks. Some of the fields on the Washington side of the river (left in this view) have been purchased for a state wildlife refuge and are now regularly flooded during the winter months for migratory birds.

This is a 3 shot panorama using a 24mm lens from an altitude just under 400' over the river during a January flight. Best viewed at full size on a wide monitor.

C&C always welcome.

 

[Trent Watts]

You are correct Alan... It does look much more impressive when I clicked on the image. A lot is going on and your explanation was very helpful to understand the impact we have on our environment. Thanks for the post.

 

[JimFox]

Wow, that's detailed! I really like what you captured. That's a really unique view.

 

[AlanLichty]

You are correct Alan... It does look much more impressive when I clicked on the image. A lot is going on and your explanation was very helpful to understand the impact we have on our environment. Thanks for the post.

Thanks Trent - it's pretty amazing how much we have done to make the river serve commerce in this area. I wish the river's wetlands were more intact for the wildlife but that would be a hard ask after we have altered the terrain.

 

[AlanLichty]

Wow, that's detailed! I really like what you captured. That's a really unique view.

Thanks Jim - I honestly didn't remember I shot this pano sequence until I was looking at the shots from this flight last night. It's a fun view of the river and the metro area in the distance.