Skipanon River

The Skipanon River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately 7 miles (11 km) long, on the Pacific coast of northwest Oregon in the United States. It is the last tributary of the Columbia on the Oregon side, draining an area of coastal bottom land bordered by sand dunes and entering the river from the south at its mouth west of Astoria.

Skipanon River
Location of the mouth of Skipanon River in Oregon
Etymology	A Clatsop Indian word, Skippernawin referred to a point at the mouth of the stream[1]
Location
Country	United States
State	Oregon
County	Clatsop County
Physical characteristics
Source	N. Oregon coastal foothills & Cullaby Lake
• location	Clatsop County, Oregon
• coordinates	46°05′39″N 123°54′32″W[2]
• elevation	50 ft (15 m)[3]
Mouth	Columbia River
• location	Warrenton, Clatsop County, Oregon
• coordinates	46°10′9″N 123°55′37″W[2]
• elevation	.5 ft (0.15 m)[2]
Length	7 mi (11 km)

The Skipanon River issues from Cullaby Lake in western Clatsop County, northeast of Seaside and less than 3 miles (4.8 km) from the ocean. It flows north parallel to the coast and east of U.S. Route 101. It enters the northwest end of Youngs Bay at the mouth of the Columbia approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) northeast of Warrenton. The mouth of the river is at river mile 10.7 miles (17.2 km) of the Columbia upstream from its mouth.

The river's name comes from the Clatsop language, originally referring to a point at the river's mouth rather than the river itself. The charts of the Lewis and Clark Expedition show the stream as Skipanarwin Creek. Another variant spelling, Skeppernawin, was common on maps into the 20th century.^[1]

See also

• List of rivers of Oregon

References

1. McArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. p. 773. ISBN 978-0875952772.
2. "Skipanon River". Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). United States Geological Survey. November 28, 1980. Retrieved August 16, 2009.
3. Source elevation derived from Google Earth search using GNIS source coordinates.

External links

• Skipanon Watershed Assessment Report (August, 2000) (PDF)
• Skipanon River Watershed Council Archived 24 July 2005 at the Wayback Machine
• Bit of history: "We went up the Skipanon River frum Astoria, where father settled on a squatter's claim."