The Bull Run River is a 21.9-mile (35.2 km) tributary of the Sandy River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Beginning at the lower end of Bull Run Lake in the Cascade Range, it flows generally west through the Bull Run Watershed Management Unit, an area restricting potential sources of contamination. Native Americans living along the Columbia River as early as 10,000 years ago likely visited the watershed in search of food, and more recently created trails near the upper part of it over the Cascade Range and around Mount Hood. By the mid-19th century, pioneers used these trails to cross the mountains to reach the fertile Willamette Valley. The river, impounded by two artificial storage reservoirs as well as the lake, has been the primary source of drinking water for the city of Portland, Oregon, since 1895. Despite legal protections, about 22 percent of the protected zone was logged during the second half of the 20th century, and erosion increased, forcing Portland to shut down the water supply from the river one time in 1996. A law passed later that year prohibited most logging in or near the watershed. Trees more than 500 years old cover about half of the watershed, and more than 250 wildlife species, including the protected northern spotted owl, inhabit this forest.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bull_Run_River_(Oregon)

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1542:

Catherine Howard (pictured), the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, was executed for adultery. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Howard

1867:

Work began on the covering of the Senne, burying the polluted main waterway in Brussels to allow urban renewal in the centre of the city. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covering_of_the_Senne

1945:

World War II: The Allies began their strategic bombing of Dresden, Saxony, Germany, resulting in a lethal firestorm that killed tens of thousands of civilians. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II

1978:

A bomb exploded outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, the site of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, killing three people and injuring eleven others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Hilton_Hotel_bombing

1981:

Sewer explosions caused by the ignition of hexane vapors destroyed more than two miles (3 km) of streets in Louisville, Kentucky, US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisville_sewer_explosions

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

luck out: 1. (US) To be lucky; to experience great fortune: I lucked out and got the last two tickets to the show. 2. (UK) To run out of luck: I lucked out and wasn't able to get any tickets to the show. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/luck_out

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

No love-story has ever been told twice. I never heard any tale of lovers that did not seem to me as new as the world on its first morning.   --Eleanor Farjeon https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eleanor_Farjeon