It begins in Canada and ends on the Oregon border, but make no mistake—the Columbia is Washington’s river. Once its salmon fed us; today its humming dams and silent windmills feed us power. Our farmland drinks its water, and we play on what’s left. Nuclear war was born on the same banks that welcomed Lewis and Clark and the Oregon Trail. The Columbia River is the backbone of Washington state, 1,243 miles of history and our future.