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DailyAstorian
Jonathan Williams
editor@coastweekend.com
Weathering and reveling in the tides of life
A meditation on rivers
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 2019 • B1
Story and photos by ED HUNT
For The Astorian
I
love that my daily run takes me across a
river.
I find that rivers are a reassuring reminder
that change is the one constant we can rely on.
Rivers are never the same. The water flow-
ing past is in constant movement. Whether it
is the slow waters of the Grays River, or the
urgent snowmelt driven rapids of the
salmon pink Dalles Bridge.
Klickitat River, there is unending move-
Crossing that bridge from Washing-
ment to the sea.
ton to Oregon, the dam on the left, the
This idea first spoke to me as a kid
dipnet platforms and nets with hundreds
paddling the waters of the Brandywine
of years of native tradition on the right,
River in Pennsylvania. As my older
reminded me of the changing perma-
nence of the river.
brother and sister paddled, I was free
Ed Hunt
The Celilo Falls area was the largest
to gaze over the side of the canoe at
Indian salmon fishery on the Columbia
the root beer colored river, its smooth
River prior to the construction of The Dalles
stones always in clear view.
Dam in the 1950s.
A few years and 3,000 miles later, I watched
The fishery had existed for seasons on a river
the mighty Dalles Dam release great torrents of
that was alive and churning with life before the
the shackled Columbia River as I crossed the
falls were flooded and changed forever.
Cycles of salmon,
water and life
Salmon do this thing that has always fasci-
nated me. They are hatched in smooth stone
shady creeks and are nourished by the aquatic
life of that freshwater nursery.
At a certain age, the salmon take themselves
out to the sea, which is much richer in experi-
ence and plentiful in nutritional forage.
See Rivers, Page B2