Coquille River (Oregon)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Coquille River is a stream, about long, in southwestern
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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
. It drains a mountainous area of 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 of the ...
into the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...
. Its watershed is between that of the
Coos River The Coos River flows for about into Coos Bay along the Pacific coast of southwest Oregon in the United States. Formed by the confluence of its major tributaries, the South Fork Coos River and the Millicoma River, it drains an important timber-p ...
to the north and the Rogue River to the south.


Course

The river, formed by the confluence of its north and south
forks In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from la, furca 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tines with which one can spear foods eit ...
, begins at Myrtle Point. The
North Fork Coquille River The North Fork Coquille River is a tributary of the Coquille River in the southern Oregon Coast Range in the U.S. state of Oregon. It begins at an elevation of about above sea level and drops to near Myrtle Point, where it joins the South Fork ...
, about long), rises in northern Coos County and flows southwest. The
East Fork Coquille River The East Fork Coquille River is a tributary, about long, of the North Fork Coquille River in the U.S. state of Oregon. It begins near Bennett Rock in Douglas County in the Southern Oregon Coast Range. The map includes mile markers along the mai ...
, about long, rises in eastern Coos County, and flows generally west to join the North Fork. The South Fork, about long, rises in southern Coos County, north of the Wild Rogue Wilderness Area, and flows generally north. It receives the
Middle Fork Coquille River The Middle Fork Coquille River is a tributary, about long, of the South Fork Coquille River in the U.S. state of Oregon. It begins near Camas Mountain in Douglas County in the Southern Oregon Coast Range. It flows generally south, bypassing th ...
, about long, then joins the North Fork from the south at Myrtle Point. The combined river meanders generally west, past Coquille. It enters the Pacific at Bandon, about north of Cape Blanco. Just before emptying in the Pacific, it is crossed by US Route 101 via a relatively small
drawbridge A drawbridge or draw-bridge is a type of moveable bridge typically at the entrance to a castle or tower surrounded by a moat. In some forms of English, including American English, the word ''drawbridge'' commonly refers to all types of movea ...
called
Bullards_Bridge The Bullards Bridge (or simply Bullards Bridge) is a vertical-lift bridge that spans the Coquille River near where the river empties into the Pacific Ocean, just north of Bandon, Oregon, United States. One of only two vertical-lift bridges o ...
.


Tributaries

Named tributaries of the Coquille River from source to mouth are the North Fork and South Fork followed by Grady, Hall, Gray, Fishtrap, Glen Aiken, Pulaski, Rink, Fat Elk, Calloway, and China creeks. Next come Beaver, Iowa, and Hatchet sloughs followed by Alder, Lampa, Lowe, and Bear creeks. Further downstream Offield Creek enters via Randolph Slough. Then come Sevenmile and Fahys creeks followed by Peterson Gulch. Below that are Spring, Simpson, and Ferry creeks. The map includes mile markers along the
main stem In hydrology, a mainstem (or trunk) is "the primary downstream segment of a river, as contrasted to its tributaries". Water enters the mainstem from the river's drainage basin, the land area through which the mainstem and its tributaries flow.. A ...
and each large Coquille River fork.


Tidal effect

The Coquille River is a tidal-effect river. During high tides at sea, the water at the mouth of the river acts like a dam, impeding the flow of the stream. More water always flows out into the ocean than enters with the tide; however, logs, sticks, and leaves on the surface can float upriver at certain times of day. There is a time lag between the high tide at sea and the effect pushing upstream. This varies according to the number of miles from the ocean. The tidal-effect is observed as far as Myrtle Point, some upriver. The
head of tide Head of tide, tidal limit or tidehead is the farthest point upstream where a river is affected by tidal fluctuations, or where the fluctuations are less than a certain amount. This applies to rivers which flow into tidal bodies such as oceans, ...
is upriver from the mouth at Bandon. But some salt water does enter across the bar. The salt water intrusion was once minor. Today, however, sometimes traces of salinity appear only a few miles below the town of Coquille. This phenomenon affects industry along the river, as mills and other sites need fresh water intakes on the river in order not to rust or damage equipment or affect production processes. On its main forks, the Coquille is also an alluvial river valley, meaning it was once a
drowned river valley A ria (; gl, ría) is a coastal inlet formed by the partial submergence of an unglaciated river valley. It is a drowned river valley that remains open to the sea. Definitions Typically rias have a dendritic, treelike outline although they c ...
—a lake, or perhaps a much wider river, with a sandy bottom. The soil in the valley is very fertile. However, the rise and fall of the water level, and flooding in winter, prevent ordinary types of farming. A lush grass grows in the valley lowlands which can survive either drought or inundation. Tide-gates along the river can bring in water when needed. On this sweeping stand of grass, in summer many cattle find pasture. Oregon Water Resources Department Watermaster District 19 covers the Coquille River system.


History

In its natural state, the Coquille River meandered widely at its mouth. Owing to storms, tides, or other conditions, the river could empty into the sea as far north as a beach now called Whiskey Run, or as far south as a rock formation called Table Rock—an overall distance of several miles. It is said that when early sailing vessels tried to cross the dangerous
bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...
to return to the port at Bandon, the main channel might have moved, or shoaled in, at the very place the ships had crossed safely on the outgoing journey. Captain Judah Parker, a sea captain, built a
jetty A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying somet ...
of bunches of cedar branches wrapped in burlap, sunken into the mud. Rocks were added. In the late 1890s, the government built jetties to force the channel to stay put. Huge boulders for the South Jetty, at Bandon, came from the blasting of a nearby mound of rock called Tupper Rock. The North Jetty is across the river, and clearly visible from the south jetty. The Coquille River Lighthouse,http://www.lighthousefriends.com/light.asp?ID=127
''lighthousefriends.com''
commissioned in 1896, guided mariners to find the dangerous bar at the mouth of the Coquille. The lighthouse was built on or near Rackleff Rock, a rocky obstacle in the channel. The rock became part of the bulwark of the North Jetty area. The lighthouse was decommissioned in 1939, following the last of improvements to the river channel. The pioneer Hamblock and Bullards families had ranches in that region. But eventually their lands became part of the present Bullards Beach State Park. The old lighthouse building still stands. It is now a tourist attraction.


Literary setting

In his early science fiction book ''
The Begum's Millions ''The Begum's Fortune'' (french: Les Cinq cents millions de la Bégum, literally "the 500 millions of the begum"), also published as ''The Begum's Millions'', is an 1879 novel by Jules Verne, with some utopian elements and other elements that se ...
'',
Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
depicted a fictional
Utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', describing a fictional island society ...
community named Ville-France being created in 1872 at the Coquille River's confluence with the Pacific, slightly south-west of the actual site of Bandon.


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 ...
*
List of longest streams of Oregon Seventy-seven rivers and creeks of at least 50 miles (80 km) in total length are the longest streams of the U.S. state of Oregon. All of these streams originate in the United States except the longest, the Columbia, which begins in the ...
* Menai Strait#Tidal effects *
Firth Firth is a word in the English and Scots languages used to denote various coastal waters in the United Kingdom, predominantly within Scotland. In the Northern Isles, it more usually refers to a smaller inlet. It is linguistically cognate to ''fj ...
(tidal effects) * Steamboats of the Coquille River


References


External links

*
Coquille Watershed Association

Oregon Coastal Atlas: Coquille River Estuary
{{authority control Rivers of Oregon Rivers of Coos County, Oregon