washington the opera columbia flows through deep gorges and over swith rapids here the river is put to work by the giant grand coulee dam from grand coulee the columbia flows through washington and a great curve called the big coast when the columbia m p s into the pacific it has gone more than twelve hundred miles from its source in the canadian rockies let's go back and travel down the columbia starting our journey at the in the upper river this dam has created a lake that reaches one hundred fifty miles upstream columbia water is stored for using irrigation to help prevent floods and to regulate the flow of the lower river know to hold back the tremendous force of the river the dam has to be built into the largest masonry structure in the world over the spillway more than a million cubic feet of water can flow every second this grand coulee along the big bend farmers use the water of the river to irrigate their crops small propping stations along the river for water up the banks to upland fields and orchards that's the mounds of wheat are this boat coming upstream nearly all of the barges coming up the river carry gasoline and other petroleum product in some places river is so dangerous that even shallow draft boats cannot navigate ten miles of canals were built around the great rapids it's a lot of balls to take the river barges around the rough water this  its barges passing through the canals and l only for their own food and they do catch many salmon and the powerhouse a navigational oxo built across the other one of the only improves navigation on the river but since the huge dam would stop all boats alok five hundred feet long was built to let them pass after a ship present at the lock the lower gates are closed and the lock is filled with water in about twenty minutes the water level is raised sixty six feet to the highest of the river above the dam operate gates open and the boat goes on up the river these lots a large enough to let ocean vessels pass through to the river abo in addition to barges and ships great numbers of salmon also travel the river they go up the columbia to lay their eggs in the cold mountain streams which form the head waters of the river but dam across the river would have stopped them and prevented the annual runs of salmon to their spawning grounds so a sort of winding stairway called a fish ladder was built around the dam to let the salmon pass from late spring to early autumn hundreds of thousands of salmon swim up the river through these letters the young fish catch in the upper river and then swim down stream to the ocean where they had spent most of their lives the salmon going upstream to lay their eggs it counted as they passed through the latter this fish is lifted out for inspection and then return to the river so that it may continue its journey bonneville dam is also used to generate electricity the nearby cities of portland and vancouver use most of bonneville the electric power between bonneville and portland there are many beautiful views of the river gorge this is one of the scenic parts of the columbia just little over one hundred miles from the ocean the columbia meets another of its major tributaries that will limit river a few miles up the well i am it is the city of portland a major sleepwalk of the pacific coast the size of the river of a low profile and makes it possible for ocean vessels to come in from the pacific at this thought they are loaded with products of the farms and forest for shipment to all parts of the world below the ju columbia and well emmett the river is wider and calmer and becomes an important one and highways log raft are told by a tugs to the lumber mills along the banks widens and the flow becomes just a floating dredges are used to keep the river deep enough for ocean going ships the dredges prompt mud from the river bottom along the ship channel and pipe it to the shallow water near the edge of the river near the mouth of the columbia is the part of the story this is the home of many fishing boats which make their catches in the most of the fresh salmon used in the united states comes from this part of the columbia large generators along the river bank pack additional for shipment to distant markets the the salmon fisheries and one of the great industries  here and then its mouth the river is about five miles wide to cross it automobiles and passengers must travel by ferry boat since a bridge has not been built across the wide general finally a few miles west of astoria the columbia empties into the pacific ocean ending its long journey from the mountains of canada so we have traced the course of the mighty columbia seeing how it helps the people who live near it and how the people have changed the river when it begins the columbia is a swift stream with great potential power dams and great reservoirs control and conserve this energy for us in front of shing electric power in irrigating up from lands of the northwest and then controlling the floods of the river great numbers of boats use the columbia as a highway shallow trogdon barges on the upper river and large ocean vessels on the lower rather as a source of fish and as an important path of transportation but