a waterway over 1,200 miles long, that starts in southwestern Canada, flows through Washington and Oregon in the northwestern United States and then empties into the Pacific Ocean. The river has various falls on and around it, including Multnomah Falls (located in northwestern Oregon), which starts in a snow-fed stream that flows in a series of rapids and then plunges over a cliff, falling 850 feet into a pool which drains into the Columbia River. —PDC Volume 4 Approved Glossary