The Willamette River is a major tributary of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest of North America. The Willamette's main stem is 187 miles (301 km) long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward between the Oregon Coast Range and the Cascade Range, the river and its tributaries form the Willamette Valley, which contains two-thirds of Oregon's population. The state's largest city, Portland, surrounds the Willamette's mouth at the Columbia. Due to prolific rainfall in the basin and sediments from the glacial Missoula Floods, the Willamette Valley is one of the most fertile agricultural regions in North America, and was thus the destination of many 19th- century pioneers traveling west along the Oregon Trail. Since 1900, more than 15 large dams and many smaller ones have been built in the Willamette's drainage basin. They are used primarily to produce hydroelectricity, to store water for irrigation, and to prevent flooding. The river and its tributaries support 60 fish species, including many species of salmon and trout; this is despite the dams, other alterations, and pollution (especially on the river's lower reaches).

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willamette_River

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1529:

Sancti Spiritu, the first European settlement in Argentina, was destroyed by local natives. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sancti_Spiritu_(Argentina)

1774:

Thomas Gage, royal governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, ordered soldiers to remove gunpowder from a magazine, causing Patriots to prepare for war. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powder_Alarm

1880:

The army of Mohammad Ayub Khan was routed by the British at the Battle of Kandahar, ending the Second Anglo-Afghan War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Anglo-Afghan_War

1923:

The Great Kantō earthquake, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, struck the Kantō region of Japan, devastating Tokyo and Yokohama, and killing over an estimated 100,000 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1923_Great_Kant%C5%8D_earthquake

1983:

Soviet jet interceptors shot down the civilian airliner Korean Air Lines Flight 007 (artist's rendition pictured) near Sakhalin Island in the North Pacific, killing all 246 passengers and 23 crew on board. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Lines_Flight_007

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

diaperhood: (informal) The period of time for which one wears a diaper as a child; babyhood. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/diaperhood

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Why is it when we talk to God we're said to be praying — but when God talks to us, we're said to be schizophrenic?   --Lily Tomlin https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lily_Tomlin