The Bone River is a short river in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
. It is about long.
[Calculated in ]Google Earth
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Course
The Bone River originates in the hills of the southwestern part of Washington, close to the source of the
North Fork Palix River. It flows generally west, emptying into
Willapa Bay near
Bay Center just north of the
Niawiakum River. The river's entire length is only a few miles. Most of the Bone River is marshy. It empties into an
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 environm ...
and tidal marshland on Willapa Bay.
U.S. Route 101
U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, on the West Coast of the United States. It is also known as (The Royal Roa ...
crosses the river near its mouth.
History
A
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
epidemic swept through the
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Thou ...
in 1853. One of the first documented cases occurred at the mouth of the Bone River. A homesteader named James Swan witnessed the disease breaking out among the
Chinook Indians after several ships had wrecked off the mouth of the nearby
Columbia River
The Columbia River ( Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia ...
. Swan's is the only first-hand account of the epidemic among the Chinook. Within a year the Chinookan population had been reduced by perhaps half and the disease had spread far up the Columbia River, all along the coasts of Washington and Oregon, to
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest by ...
, the
Skagit River
The Skagit River ( ) is a river in southwestern British Columbia in Canada and northwestern Washington in the United States, approximately 150 mi (240 km) long. The river and its tributaries drain an area of 1.7 million acres (690,000& ...
and the
Nooksack River.
Natural history
Part of the river's drainage basin is a protected land preserve called the Bone River
Natural Area Preserve. Totaling , the preserve contains the finest salt marsh remaining in Willapa Bay and is a critically important waterfowl habitat.
There are ongoing efforts to protect more of the Bone River along with the nearby
Niawiakum River estuary.
See also
*
List of rivers of Washington
This is a list of rivers in the U.S. state of Washington.
By drainage basin
This list is arranged by drainage basin. Respective tributaries are indented under each larger stream's name and are ordered downstream to upstream.
Fraser River (Britis ...
References
{{authority control
Rivers of Washington (state)
Protected areas of Pacific County, Washington
Washington Natural Areas Program
Rivers of Pacific County, Washington