Western Physical Geography

Elsener US History 1 Western Physical Geography

1

• This body of water lies east of Port Angeles, Washington, through which ocean waters reach inland some 50 miles from the Pacific Coast to provide all-weather ports for ocean-going ships at Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia. The waterway is a complex and intricate system of channels, inlets, estuaries, and islands.

Puget Sound

2

• This body of water is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and other rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean.

San Francisco, Bay

3

• This river is a major tributary of the Columbia River in the states of Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

Snake River

4

• The natural course of the river flows from Grand Lake, Colorado into the Gulf of California, but the heavy use of the river as an irrigation source often dries up the river before it gets to the Gulf of California

Colorado River

5

• Measured by the volume of its flow, this river in the northwest is the largest river flowing into the Pacific from North America and is the fourth-largest river in the U.S. The river's heavy flow, and its large elevation drop over a relatively short distance, give it tremendous potential for the generation of electricity.

Columbia River

6

• This river, prior to its modification by man, was known for its shifting channels, high turbidity , and periodic floods. This river, commonly referred to as the "Big Muddy," served as a travelway and thread of life for people and wildlife, alike. The floods that used to occur, often with destructive force, were viewed with awe and dismay by many white settlers.

Missouri River

7

• This river begins in north Colorado winding through Wyoming and the Nebraska Panhandle, joining with the South Platte just east of North Platte, Nebraska to form the Platte River . Red Cloud, the famous Sioux Chief, was born at this confluence of rivers in 1822.

North Platte River

8

• This river beginning in Colorado and ending in Nebraska is historically known as the Rio Jesus Maria, and is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River and itself a major river of the American West.

South Platte River

9

• This river is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It flows to the east and southeast and traverses through Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.

Arkansas River

10

• Known in Mexico as the Río Bravo, this river forms part of the border between the United States and Mexico. At 1,885 miles long, it is the fourth-longest river system in the United States.

Rio Grande River

11

• This river originates at the confluence of the Bois de Sioux and Otter Tail rivers and flows northward to form the border between the Minnesota and North Dakota before continuing into Manitoba, Canada.

Red River

12

• Considered the principal tributary of the upper Missouri, the river and its tributaries drain a wide area stretching from the Rocky Mountains in the vicinity of the Yellowstone National Park across the mountains and high plains of southern Montana and northern Wyoming. It is the longest undammed river in the lower 48 states.

Yellowstone River

13

• This mountain range stretches about 160 miles from the Utah-Idaho border, south through central Utah in the western United States. It is generally considered the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the Great Basin region.

Wasatch Mountains

14

• These mountains are a high chain of in northeastern Utah and extreme northwestern Colorado. A sub-range of the Rocky Mountains, they are unusual for being the highest range in the contiguous United States running east to west.

Uinta Mountains

15

• This mountain range is located in California. In a few places, it overlaps into neighboring Nevada. The range in Spanish is “Snowy Mountain Range.” It is bounded on the west by California's Central Valley, and on the east by the Great Basin.

Sierra Nevada

16

• This major mountain range extends from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California.

Cascade Mountains

17

• This mountain range is in northern Wyoming and southern Montana, forming a northwest-trending spur of the Rocky Mountains extending approximately 200 miles northward on the Great Plains. These Mountains are eat of Yellowstone.

Bighorn Mountains

18

• Pahá Sápa in Lakota, this small, isolated mountain range rises from the Great Plains in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming. Set off from the main body of the Rocky Mountains, the region is something of a geological anomaly—accurately described as an "island of trees in a sea of grass".

Black Hills

19

• This is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains that is located in the north-central portion of the State of Colorado extending north to southern Wyoming. Moving west along the 40th parallel north across the Great Plains of North America, it is the first mountain range encountered.

Front Range

20

• This mountain range of the Rocky Mountains run north-south along the Wyoming border with Idaho, just south of Yellowstone National Park. Early French voyageurs gave the name "les Trois Tétons" .

Teton Mountains

21

• This valley is a large, flat valley that dominates the central portion of California. It is home to many of California's most productive agricultural efforts. The valley stretches approximately 400 miles from north to south. Its northern half is referred to as the Sacramento Valley, and its southern half as the San Joaquin Valley

Central Valley

22

• This lake was a prehistoric pluvial lake that covered much of North America's Great Basin region. Most of the territory it covered was in present-day Utah, though parts of the lake extended into present-day Idaho and Nevada. Formed about 32,000 years ago, it existed until about 16,800 years ago, when a large portion of the lake was released through the Red Rock Pass in Idaho.

Lake Bonneville

23

• This feature is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada mountains. It is located along the border between California and Nevada, west of Carson City, Nevada.

Lake Tahoe

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• Western most mountains in the United States.

Coastal Mountains

25

• These mountains stretch from Poncha Pass, Colorado, in the north to Glorieta Pass, New Mexico, in the south. There are ten peaks over 14,000' high in the range, more than two-dozen over 13,000'.

Sangre De Cristo Mountains

26• These mountains are a rugged range in

the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado. The area is highly mineralized (the Colorado Mineral Belt) and figured in the gold and silver mining industry of early Colorado. Large scale mining is now uneconomical in the region, although independent prospectors still work claims throughout the range.

San Juan Mountains

27

• This river runs through northern Nevada. At approximately 300 miles long, it is the longest river in the arid Great Basin. It has no outlet to the ocean, but instead empties into the Humboldt Sink. It is the largest river in the United States, in terms of discharge, that does not ultimately reach the ocean.

Humboldt River

28

• This mountain range is part of the Rocky Mountains, and is located in the panhandle of Idaho and westernmost Montana in the Western United States.

Bitterroot Mountains

29

• This River and its valley was the intended destination point for most of those traveling on the Oregon Trail. The mouth of this river is where it drains into the Columbia River at Portland, Oregon.

Willamette River

Humboldt River