Coos Bay
Coos Bay is an estuary where the Coos River enters the Pacific Ocean, the estuary is approximately 12 miles long and up to two miles wide. It is the largest estuary completely within Oregon state lines. The Coos Bay watershed covers an area of abou ...
along the Pacific coast of southwest
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Formed by the confluence of its major tributaries, the
South Fork Coos River
The South Fork Coos River is a tributary, about long, of the Coos River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Formed by the confluence of the Williams River and Tioga Creek, it begins in eastern Coos County near the Douglas County line and flows general ...
and the
Millicoma River
__NOTOC__
The Millicoma River is a coast stream, about long, east of Coos Bay in the U.S. state of Oregon. Formed by the confluence of the East Fork Millicoma River and the West Fork Millicoma River at Allegany, it meanders across relatively fla ...
, it drains an important timber-producing region of the
Southern Oregon Coast Range
The Southern Oregon Coast Range is the southernmost section of the Oregon Coast Range, in the Pacific Coast Ranges, located in the southwest portion of the state of Oregon, United States, roughly between the Umpqua River and the Middle Fork Coquill ...
. The course of the main stem and the major tributaries is generally westward from the coastal forests to the eastern end of Coos Bay near the city of
Coos Bay
Coos Bay is an estuary where the Coos River enters the Pacific Ocean, the estuary is approximately 12 miles long and up to two miles wide. It is the largest estuary completely within Oregon state lines. The Coos Bay watershed covers an area of abou ...
.
The river is the largest tributary of Coos Bay, which at about is the largest
estuary
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...
that lies entirely within Oregon. The river enters the bay about from where the bay—curving east, north, and west of the cities of Coos Bay and North Bend and passing by the communities of Barview and
Charleston
Charleston most commonly refers to:
* Charleston, South Carolina
* Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital
* Charleston (dance)
Charleston may also refer to:
Places Australia
* Charleston, South Australia
Canada
* Charleston, Newfoundlan ...
—meets the ocean. About 30 other tributaries also enter the bay directly.
Most of the Coos River watershed of is in Coos County, but are in eastern Douglas County. Commercial forests cover about 85 percent of the basin.
The river supports populations of chinook and
coho
The coho salmon (''Oncorhynchus kisutch;'' Karuk: achvuun) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family and one of the five Pacific salmon species. Coho salmon are also known as silver salmon or "silvers". The scientific species name is ...
salmon,
Pacific lamprey
The Pacific lamprey (''Entosphenus tridentatus'') is an anadromous parasitic lamprey from the Pacific Coast of North America and Asia. It is a member of the Petromyzontidae family. The Pacific lamprey is also known as the three-tooth lamprey and ...
,Larsen, Erik. Lamprey in the Coos Estuary. Partnership for Coastal Watersheds, 23 Apr. 2014, www.partnershipforcoastalwatersheds.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/FINAL-Lamprey-Data-Summary-03122014.pdf. Pamphlet.
western brook lamprey
The Western brook lamprey (''Lampetra richardsoni'') is a small (<18 cm), widely distributed, non-parasitic species of
steelhead
Steelhead, or occasionally steelhead trout, is the common name of the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout or redband trout (O. m. gairdneri). Steelhead are native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific basin in Northeast Asia and N ...
, and
coastal cutthroat trout
The coastal cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii''), also known as the sea-run cutthroat trout, blue-back trout or harvest trout, is one of the several subspecies of cutthroat trout found in Western North America. The coastal cutthroa ...
. Since public river-bank access is limited, fishing is often done by boat.Sheehan, pp. 66–67
Course
Flowing west from the confluence of the South Fork Coos River and the Millicoma River, the Coos River is bordered by
Oregon Route 241
Oregon Route 241 (OR 241) is an Oregon state highway running from U.S. Route 101 (US 101) in Coos Bay to Nesika County Park in Coos County. OR 241 is known as the Coos River Highway No. 241 (see Oregon highways and routes). It is long and r ...
(Coos River Highway) on the
right
Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of Liberty, freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convent ...
and Coos River Road on the
left
Left may refer to:
Music
* ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006
* ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016
* "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996
Direction
* Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right
* L ...
. Downstream from its source, the river receives Noah Creek from the right from the river
mouth
In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...
. Curving south, the river receives Vogel Creek and then Lillian Creek, both from the left, before passing under Chandler Bridge, which carries Route 241 from the right bank to the left bank about from the mouth. The river then turns west and north as it enters the bay and splits into two
distributaries
A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. Distributaries are a common feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation. The opposite of a distributary ...
separated by a marsh. The Cooston Channel, which is on the right, continues north around the west side of the marsh for about to the mouth. The left-hand channel almost immediately merges with Catching Slough, which enters from the left and continues around the east side of the marsh to meet the Marshfield Channel of the bay.
Discharge
Estimates of the average discharge of the Coos River varies from in late summer to in February. Estimated extremes vary from a low of to a high of .
See also
*
List of rivers of Oregon
This is a partial listing of rivers in the state of Oregon, United States. This list of Oregon rivers is organized alphabetically and by tributary structure. The list may also include streams known as creeks, brooks, forks, branches and prongs, a ...
References
Works cited
*McArthur, Lewis A., and McArthur, Lewis L. (2003)
928
Year 928 ( CMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* King Rudolph I loses the support of Herbert II, count of Vermandois, who controls the pr ...