The John Day River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately 281 miles (452 km) long, in northeastern Oregon in the United States. Undammed along its entire length, the river is the third longest free-flowing river in the conterminous United States. There is extensive use of its waters for irrigation. Its free-flowing course furnishes habitat for diverse species, including wild steelhead runs. However, the steelhead populations are under federal endangered species protections, and chinook salmon have been proposed for Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection.
The river was named for John Day, a member of the Astor Expedition, an overland expedition to the mouth of the Columbia River that left from St. Louis, Missouri, in 1810. Day wandered lost through this part of Oregon in the winter of 1811–12.
Read more about John Day River: Drainage Basin, Recreation and Ecosystem
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)