Smith River is a 90-mile (140 km) tributary of the Umpqua River in the U.S. state of Oregon. It drains 218 square miles (560 km2) of the Central Oregon Coast Range between the watershed of the Umpqua to the south and the Siuslaw River to the north.
Rising in northern Douglas County about 10 miles (16 km) north of Drain, the river flows generally west in a winding course through the mountains, passing through the Siuslaw National Forest for about 10 miles (16 km) in its lower course. It joins the Umpqua from the north across from Reedsport, about 6 miles (9.7 km) from the mouth of the Umpqua on the Pacific Ocean.
The river is named for Jedediah Smith, who in 1828 led a party of explorers from Utah overland to northern California and southern Oregon. From California, they traveled north to the Umpqua River, camping along its banks near the mouth of the Smith River on July 13. An attack by Native Americans (Indians) on July 14 killed 15 of Smith's party. One man escaped by heading north to Tillamook and then Fort Vancouver. Smith and two others who were not in camp at the time of the attack fled east toward the Willamette Valley and survived. Smith River in California is also named for Smith.
Famous quotes containing the words smith and/or river:
“The denunciation of the young is a necessary part of the hygiene of older people, and greatly assists the circulation of their blood.”
—Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946)
“Nature seemed to have adorned herself for our departure with a profusion of fringes and curls, mingled with the bright tints of flowers, reflected in the water. But we missed the white water-lily, which is the queen of river flowers, its reign being over for this season.... Many of this species inhabit our Concord water.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)