Puyallup River

	Puyallup River
	View of the Puyallup River between River Road and North Levee Road (the river separates Fife from Tacoma)
	Data
location	Pierce County , Washington , USA
River system	Puyallup River
source	Mount Rainier ; 46 ° 51 ′ 50 ″ N , 121 ° 57 ′ 4 ″ W.
Source height	695 m
muzzle	Commencement Bay ( Puget Sound ) Coordinates: 47 ° 16 ′ 10 " N , 122 ° 25 ′ 42" W 47 ° 16 ′ 10 " N , 122 ° 25 ′ 42" W;
Mouth height	0 m
Height difference	695 m
Bottom slope	9.6 ‰
length	72.4 km
Catchment area	2,455.31 km²
Right tributaries	Mowich River, Carbon River, White River
Big cities	Tacoma
Medium-sized cities	Puyallup
Small towns	Orting
	Map of the catchment area of the Puyallup River

The Puyallup River ( pjuːˈæləp ) is a river in Pierce County , Washington state . About 72 km long, it has its source on some glaciers on the west side of Mount Rainier . It flows generally northwest and flows into the Puget Sound at Commencement Bay . The river and its tributaries drain an area of approximately 2,455 km² in Pierce County and southern King County .

The river's drainage basin is geologically the youngest in the Puget Sound region; it was created by a series of lahars about 5,600 years ago. The approximately 150,000 inhabitants of the valley will continue to be threatened by lahars. For this reason the United States Geological Survey has installed an early warning system.

course

The Puyallup River arises from two headwaters, the North Puyallup River and the South Puyallup River . Both arise from glaciers of Mount Rainier. The North Puyallup River originates from the base of the Puyallup Glacier , while the South Puyallup River originates from the Tahoma Glacier . The two drains flow through the western portion of Mount Rainier National Park and join just outside the park's boundaries to form the actual Puyallup River.

The main stream of the Puyallup River flows north and northwest of Mount Rainier. A tributary, the Mowich River , which also comes from glaciers on Mount Rainier, flows to the Puyallup from the east. Below the Mowich tributary, the Puyallup River flows through a rugged region of mountains and their foothills. The river is dammed by the Electron Diversion Dam just below the Mowich tributary. The dam leads part of the Puyallup River into a long gully that runs several miles to Electron , where the water is directed through turbines of a hydroelectric power station before the water is returned to the river. The Puyallup River passes through a deep and narrow gorge between the Electron Dam and the power plant's machine house.

Below Electron, the river turns north to Orting , where the river is reached by the Carbon River from the east. Like the Mowich, the Carbon River comes from a glacier on Mount Rainier (the Carbon Glacier ). The Puyallup continues its north course below Orting. In Sumner , the Puyallup River is joined by the White River , another glacier-fed river. At the confluence with the White River, the Puyallup River turns northwest and flows to the cities of Puyallup and Fife and through the Puyallup Indian Reservation , before flowing into Commencement Bay at the port of Tacoma , part of the city of Tacoma .

The following discharge values were measured at Puyallup :

Average: 94 m³ / s
Maximum: 1,614 m³ / s
Minimum: 11 m³ / s

nature

The Puyallup River and its main tributaries originate from the glaciers of Mount Rainier. These glaciers continue to feed sediments such as mud and gravel into the rivers, forming sand and gravel banks. The thick sediment deposits in the river beds reduce the water capacity, which "causes" the river to meander and flood during flood runoff. The Puyallup River becomes an interwoven river . During the summer, the meltwater from the glaciers dominates the runoff and tarnishes the river. In addition, the glaciers delay the onset of surface runoff in spring / summer compared to non-glaciated catchment areas.

In historical times, these factors led to occasional floods and extensive wetlands in the floodplains, which created diverse and complex habitats for fish and other animals. In addition, the mouth of the river formed an extensive tidal flat estuary with its wetlands. Urbanization and an extensive flood protection system with dams, levees and culverts have radically changed most of the Puyallup River and its tributaries. The estuary at the mouth of the Puyallup River is almost completely covered by the facilities of the port of Tacoma; only less than five percent of the estuarine habitats remain.

The king salmon migrate in the river in autumn . Silver , ketamine and humpback salmon are also found in the river, along with Steelhead , the anadromous coastal cutthroat trout and the endangered bull trout . Sockeye salmon are considered native but are rarely found today.

Flow regulations

Bridge over the river at McMillin

The Puyallup River and its main tributary, the White River, were changed significantly by regulations in the 20th century. The Puyallup River was straightened between Sumner and its mouth at Tacoma . A dam to divert river water was built in Game Farm Park in 1914 to prevent the White River from flowing through its natural path over the Green River at Auburn; since then flows over the Puyallup River instead of the Green River. Flood protection facilities were built along many of the rivers in the catchment area; this also includes extensive dikes . A flood reservoir, Mud Mountain Lake , was created on the White River through the construction of the Mud Mountain Dam . As part of the flood protection efforts, the river courses and banks were generally kept free of debris such as gravel banks, large trees, trunks and other dead wood. These changes have radically changed the natural character of the rivers. The cross-sections of the rivers have generally been reduced. Nowadays the water fills almost the entire cross-section between the banks instead of flowing away in intertwined meanders and wetlands as in the past.

history

The river is named after the Puyallup tribe, who lived in the entire catchment area. Following the Medicine Creek Treaty and the Puget Sound War , the Puyallup were assigned a reservation on the lower Puyallup River. The Medicine Creek treaty recognized the ancestral fishing rights in the Puyallup River. These rights were ignored for decades until Bob Satiacum, a Puyallup leader, was jailed in the river in 1954 for illegal fishing. His legal battle lasted for years and only ended in 1974 in the so-called Boldt Decision , which in a legal battle between the United States and Washington State assigned half of all fishing rights in Washington to the indigenous tribes.

The Puyallup still maintain various buildings and facilities on the reservation near the estuary. They are concerned in many river-related matters, such as: B. the amount of water discharged at the Electron Diversion Dam .

The first known European to explore the Puyallup River Valley was William Fraser Tolmie , who made a trip to the Mount Rainier area in August 1833, taking advantage of the Puyallup and Mowich Rivers. Two Indian guides accompanied Tolmie, Lachalet, a Nisqually , and Nuckalkat, a Puyallup.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Google Earth altitude calculation for GNIS coordinates.

↑ Puyallup River ( Memento of the original from April 1, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , The Columbia Gazetteer of North America @1@ 2

^ ^A ^b Puyallup and White River Basins , Water Resource Data (Washington), 2005, USGS .

^ ^A ^b ^c David A. Knoblach: Flood Control along the Lower Puyallup River . 2000. Accessed on September 9, 2006. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2

^ ^A ^b ^c Salmon and the Puyallup / White and Chambers / Clover Creek Watersheds . Shared Strategy for Puget Sound. April 2006. Archived from the original on June 23, 2006. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved September 9, 2006. @1@ 2

^ General course info from Washington Road & Recreation Atlas . Benchmark Maps, 2000. and http://www.topozone.com/

^ Murray Morgan: Puget's Sound: A Narrative of Early Tacoma and the Southern Sound . University of Washington Press, 1979, ISBN 0-295-95842-1 .

Web links

Puyallup River Basin River Basin Data

Mount Rainier Volcano Lahar Warning System - early warning system on Mount Rainier (English)

US Corps of Engineers Water Management - water management by the US Army Corps of Engineers (English)

NW River Forecast Center Puyallup @ Orting - Flood forecast for Orting

NW River Forecast Center Puyallup @ Puyallup - Flood forecast for Puyallup (English)

NOAA Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service Puyallup Puyallup @ - Advanced hydrological forecast for Puyallup by the NOAA (English)

Trends in stream flow and Comparisons with instream flows in the Lower Puyallup River Basin (Washington) - Forecasts of the United States Geological Survey (English)

[GE-1] Google Earth altitude calculation for GNIS coordinates.