When first encountered by Lewis and Clark and early settlers, yet Columbia River of the Pacific Northwest was enormous, wild, and seemingly uncontrollable. Yet for all its enormous flows, the river was nearly unusable in its native state as a source of irrigation water. Early settlers found that agriculture was nearly impossible in most of the hot, arid and Columbia Plateau.
When first encountered by Lewis and Clark and early settlers, yet Columbia River of the Pacific Northwest was enormous, wild, and seemingly uncontroll...
