Cartographer Daniel Huffman maintains a blog called somethingaboutmaps where he expounds on the cartographic craft and highlights interesting map work of his own and others.
Recently he created a series of maps of river systems in the style of Harry Beck‘s famous London Underground maps. One of the river systems he mapped is the Columbia River System, which is friggin cool! (see small version to the right).
Featuring the following rivers, creeks, forks, (etc.): Columbia, Cowlitz, Willamette, Deschutes, John Day, Yakima, Snake, Crab, Okanogan (I used the American spelling for this one), Kettle, Spokane & St. Joe, Pend Oreille / Clark / Silver Bow, Kootenay (Canadian spelling, this time), Crooked, Palouse, Clearwater & Selway, Grande Ronde, Salmon, Payette, Malheur, Boise, Owyhee, Bruneu, Big Wood, Similkameen, Duncan, Elk, Flathead, Blackfoot, Bitterroot
Read about Huffman’s methodology and considerations in his post On River Maps. You can buy prints of his maps too, and he will donate 10% of the profits to organizations that protect and restore some of the watersheds depicted on each map. The Columbia River System map is available on Zazzle in two sizes: 18″ x 24″ | 30″ x 40″ (make sure to read the re-sizing warnings here!).
Hat Tip spinnerin
Cool idea, but where’s the McKenzie River? The McKenzie provides the Willamette River with up to two-thirds of its summertime flow, so it would be categorized as the largest tributary of the Willamette.