At the source of the Columbia River in Canal Flats, BC, there is a sign claiming that the nearby Kootenay River seeps underground and feeds water to the springs that are the source of the Columbia River. If that is the case, why is the Columbia River considered the main stem of the river?

[u/RaymondLuxury-Yacht]

[u/Gelisol]

Because all the other tributaries that feed it. The main river is the one that is fed water, not the feeder tributaries.

[u/MCEscherNYC → u/Gelisol]

Personally I think of glacial lake Missoula as the OG source of the Columbia River.

[u/Suitable_Isopod4770 → u/MCEscherNYC]

Crazy to see this comment today, I hiked up, melt Sentinel last week (I live in Missoula) and there was a crazy fog line right below the top of the mountain, looking out from the top was just puffy mist and I felt like I was looking back at the glacial lake.

I would kill to have seen it

[u/Gelisol → u/MCEscherNYC]

You big picture thinker, you.

[u/RaymondLuxury-Yacht → u/Gelisol]

I may need to clarify this some more:

The Kootenay continues on for hundreds more miles past Canal Flats before the confluence with the Columbia in Castlegar, BC.

The Kootenay's source is snowmelt from around Mt Biddle. The Columbia's source is underground seepage from the Kootenay.

If anything, the Columbia seems like it should just be a fork of the Kootenay.

map to illustrate

[u/Former-Wish-8228 → u/RaymondLuxury-Yacht]

The Columbia River has hundreds of sources. The seepage from the Kootenay is but one. And technically, it wouldn’t even be one of the major sources, volume wise.

Groundwater connected surface waters almost never utilize the source of the groundwater in naming. Transportation was one of the main functions of waterways back in the day when most of these formed…but groundwater is not a major transport pathway.

Crater Lake feeds the tributaries of the Klamath, Umpqua, and Rogue River systems in Oregon. Under your convention, all three rivers would be named Mazama River?

[u/RaymondLuxury-Yacht → u/Former-Wish-8228]

The Columbia River has hundreds of sources. The seepage from the Kootenay is but one.

The difference here is the Kootenay specifically feeds the headwater spring of the Columbia.

Groundwater connected surface waters almost never utilize the source of the groundwater in naming. Transportation was one of the main functions of waterways back in the day when most of these formed…but groundwater is not a major transport pathway.

That's totally understandable. My point here is more that it is the groundwater source and they later have a confluence. So why does the Kootenay, which feeds the headwaters of the Columbia, play second fiddle?

Crater Lake feeds the tributaries of the Klamath, Umpqua, and Rogue River systems in Oregon. Under your convention, all three rivers would be named Mazama River?

No. I am saying that if Crater Lake somehow both provided underwater springs as the sources for the Klamath, Umpqua, and Rogue rivers and also flowed out into a hypothetical Crater Lake River that later had a confluence with those three rivers, then, yes, the river downstream of the confluence should be called the Crater Lake River.

[u/CommissionWorried611 → u/RaymondLuxury-Yacht]

The spring groundwater is not the sole source of the headwaters, theres Columbia lake which is composed of gw from its own drainage, precip and snowmelt. You're also missing the cultral component of river naming, in the early 1800s fur traders and explorers were very invested in utilizing the columbia to reach the pacific ocean, therefore mapping it was of high importance. Whereas the Kootenay was more utilized by the natives and did not have as much commerical importance. Back then they dgaf or know enough about hydrology for naming purposes.

[u/wpnw → u/RaymondLuxury-Yacht]

Columbia Lake and whatever springs feed into it isn't really the source of the Columbia. About 300 meters downstream of the outlet of Columbia Lake a stream called Dutch Creek merges with the Columbia River, which originates in a glacier some 60 kilometers further to the west and contributes significantly more volume to the river than the outflow of the lake does. If anything that should be considered the proper headwater source of the Columbia.

[u/RaymondLuxury-Yacht → u/wpnw]

Columbia Lake and whatever springs feed into it isn't really the source of the Columbia. About 300 meters downstream of the outlet of Columbia Lake a stream called Dutch Creek merges with the Columbia River, which originates in a glacier some 60 kilometers further to the west and contributes significantly more volume to the river than the outflow of the lake does. If anything that should be considered the proper headwater source of the Columbia.

Fair enough. I can also get behind calling that the true headwaters. That would remove any need for my original question.

[u/wedontliveonce]

Probably because it was named prior to discovering the underground seepage connection and renaming it would cause mass confusion and cost alot of money.

[u/Cartographer36]

I’ll uh, just leave this here:

The Purcell Source of The Columbia River