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Kalama River looking towards its confluence with the Columbia.
Image taken November 9, 2003.
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Kalama River ...
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The Kalama River begins on the southwest slope of
Mount St. Helens and flows nearly 45 miles west-southwest and enters the
Columbia River at River Mile (RM) 73, just downstream of the town of Kalama.
The Lewis River is located 14 miles upstream and the Cowlitz River is located 7 miles downstream. Across from the mouth of the Kalama River on the Oregon shore is
located the Trojan Nuclear Facility, and Prescott Beach, the location of Lewis and Clark's campsite of November 5, 1805.
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Kalama River Drainage ...
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According to the Columbia Basin Fish and Wildlife Authority website (2004),
the head of the Kalama River begins on the flanks of Mount St. Helens and drains an area of 205 square miles before entering the Columbia River at River Mile (RM) 73.
Much of the landscape of the Kalama River drainage was formed during the last 20,000 years as a result of volcanic activity of Mount St. Helens.
Lahars (mudflows) from the volcano traveled down many of the Kalama Basin drainages, leaving unconsolidated volcanic deposits that have a tendency to erode on steep slopes.
The lower 8 miles of the Kalama River is flat to moderate. A shallow bar exists at the river's mouth and extends well into the Columbia River.
Tidal influences extend up to approximately Modrow Bridge at RM 2.8. At RM 10, the lower Kalama Falls blocked most anadromous fish passage other than summer steelhead. The Falls was laddered in 1936 and then improved in the 1950s. At RM 35 an impassable falls blocks all anadromous passage. Many of the tributaries to the Kalama have steep gradients, with only the lower portions of the streams accessible to anadromous fish.
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Kalama, Washington (the City) ...
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Kalama City Hall, Kalama, Washington.
Image taken May 30, 2006
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The Name ...
The name "Kalama" is an Indian name meaning "beautiful", "stone", or "pretty maiden". The name "Kalama" was first mentioned in 1806 in the Lewis and Clark Journals ("Cath la haws Creek", "Calams River", and "Calamas"), and then in 1811 by Gabriel Franchere ("Thlakalamah") in his "Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of American, 1811-1814". The name has no connection to the often stated belief the name came from a Hudson's Bay Company employee John Kalama, a native Hawaiian who arrived in 1837 and worked at Fort Nez Perce, Fort Nisqually, Fort Vancouver, and at the Cowlitz Farm, and settled in the Nisqually area in the late 1800s.
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Lewis and Clark and the Kalama River ...
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Lewis and Clark did not give a name to the Kalama River when they passed by it on November 5, 1805.
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"... we landed on the Lard. Side & camped a little below the mouth of a creek on the Stard. Side a little below the mouth of which is an Old Village which is now abandaned ..."
[Clark, November 5, 1805]
Captain Clark's winter of 1805-1806 "Estimated Distances in Miles ..." chart however has the name "Cath-la-haws", the name of the Kalama River, on a river which was the Lewis River.
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"... to the Mouth of Cath-la-haws V Creek Std ... 9 miles ... I thought was a Id. ..."
[Clark, winter 1805-06]
According to Moulton (1990, vol.6), the Voorhis No.4 publication has this entry as "To the enterance of Chah wah na hiook river on the Stard Side.", correcting the entry location to the Lewis River. To back this up, the next entry below Clark's "Mouth of Cath-la-haws V Creek" mentions the lower point of Deer Island which makes the Lewis River fit the geography.
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"... to the lower point of E-lar-lar or Deer Island near the Lard. ... 6 miles ... Indian names I saw 16 snakes ..."
[Clark, winter 1805-06]
On the draft map [Moulton, vol.1, map#89], the Kalama drainage is not named. The Village slightly inland and on the left bank is labeled "Village of Cath-la-haws Indians", and the abandoned village at the mouth and just downstream of the Kalama is labeled "Old Village". On the route map [Moulton, vol.1, map#80], the Kalama River is labeled simply "20 yards". The village on the Kalama's left bank is labeled "Cath-la-haws Village".
Lewis and Clark once again passed the "creek" on March 27, 1806, on their return. However, in their respective journals they make no mention of the river itself.
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"... late in the evening we passed the place we Camped the 5th of Novr. and Encamped about 4 miles above at the Commencement of the Columbian Vally on the Stard. Side below Deer Island ..."
[Clark, March 27, 1806]
Ordway and Whitehouse mention the Kalama River however and Ordway calls it "Calams" and Whitehouse calls it "Calamas" in their respective journals.
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"... we proceed on to the mo of a River named Calams River and Camped on the South Side little above Said River ..."
[Ordway, March 27, 1806]
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"... We continued on & passed the Mouth of a River called by the Natives Calamus, & encamped on the South side of the River a small distance above the said River. Our officers sent 6 of our hunters in Canoes to go on a head, to an Island called Deer Island, in order to hunt, untill we came up with them
..."
[Whitehouse, March 27, 1806]
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Early Kalama River ...
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In the Lewis and Clark journals Lewis and Clark refer to the river as "Cath la haws Creek", while Ordway calls the river "Calams" and Whitehouse calls the river "Calamus".
Wilkes, in 1841 called the Kalama River "Mitlait Creek".
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"... On the north shore there is a fine salmon fishery, near the Mitlait Creek, which is just opposite to Coffin Rock, where the Columbia is 30 fathoms deep. ..."
[Wilkes, 1841, Chapter XVII]
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Kalama River in 1942 ...
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From the 1942 NOAA "Coast Pilot":
"Carroll (formerly Charlton) Channel, between Cottonwood Island and the Washington shore, is used for log storage and fishing boats. In 1938, 13 feet could be carried through the channel. Kalama River is used chiefly at its mouth by smelt fishermen. Kalama, on the eastern bank, is an occasional stop for ocean-going vessels to pick up lumber. There is a ferry between Kalama, and Goble on the western bank. Thie channel on the western and southern sides of Sandy Island was good for 14-foot draft in 1938, and was used by tow boats with log rafts and barges."
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Views ...
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Kalama River looking upstream from near mouth.
Image taken November 9, 2003.
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Kalama River with the Trojan Cooling Tower.
View from bridge crossing the Kalama River, Kalama, Washington.
Image taken April 19, 2006.
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Kalama River looking downstream at fishermen.
Image taken April 19, 2006
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Click image to enlarge
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Kalama River looking upstream at fishermen.
Image taken April 19, 2006
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Kalama River Sandbar ...
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In the spring, gulls follow the Smelt run up the Columbia River. The sandbar at the mouth of the Kalama River provides a resting place.
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Columbia River at the mouth of the Kalama River, view downstream.
Nice spring day.
Gulls follow the smelt run upstream.
Approximately 1,000 gulls in view.
Image taken March 6, 2015.
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Click image to enlarge
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Gulls following the smelt run, resting on sandbar in the Columbia River at the mouth of the Kalama River.
Nice spring day.
Gulls follow the smelt run upstream.
Approximately 1,000 gulls in view.
Image taken March 6, 2015.
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From the Journals of Lewis and Clark ...
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Clark, November 5, 1805, first draft ...
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N. 40° W. 5 miles to a point of high piney land on the Lard Side [near Prescott Beach, Oregon]
the
Stard. Shore bold and rockey
passed a Creek at 2 miles [Kalama River] on
the Stard Side, below which is an old village.
rained all the evening and Some fine rain at intervals all day
river wide
& Deep
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we Came too and Encamped on the Lard. Side under a high ridgey land, [near Prescott Beach, Oregon] the high land come to the river on each Side. the river about 1½ mile wide. those high lands rise gradually from the river & bottoms
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Clark, November 5, 1805 ...
Ordway, March 27, 1806 ...
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rain commenced this morning and continued thro the day. we halted at a village of the Chilutes nation they treated us in a friendly manner Gave us Some wapa toes & anchoves to eat. Several Indians followed after us with Small canoes. our officers purchased a large Sturgeon from them we proceed on to the mo of a River named Calams River and Camped on the South Side little above Said River — Six of our hunters Sent on this afternoon to deer Island [Deer Island] with the Small canoes in order to hunt.
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Whitehouse, March 27, 1806 ...
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This morning early it commenced raining, which continued during the whole of this day. At 7 o'clock A. M. we proceeded on, & crossed over to an Island, which lay on the North side of the River, where we halted. We found on this Island, an Indian Village of the Chilutes Tribe it contained 7 Houses.— These Indians treated us in a friendly manner. At 10 o'Clock A. M. we left this Island and continued on & passed several Indian fishing Camps. A number of Indians followed us with small Canoes. Our Officers purchased from these Indians a large Sturgeon. We continued on & passed the Mouth of a River called by the Natives Calamus, & encamped on the South side of the River a small distance above the said River. Our officers sent 6 of our hunters in Canoes to go on a head, to an Island called Deer Island, in order to hunt, untill we came up with them— These hunters left us this afternoon. We have still hard rain this evening. We encamped on the South side of the River, where we found plenty of Oak & Ash wood to make our fires with.—
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