Yaquina River

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Template:Use American English Template:Infobox river

The Yaquina River (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell) is a stream, Template:Convert long, on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of Oregon.<ref name="Palmer"/> It drains an area of the Central Oregon Coast Range west of the Willamette Valley near Newport.<ref name="Benchmark Atlas">Template:Cite book</ref>

It rises in the mountains west of Corvallis along the county line between Benton and Lincoln counties.<ref name="Benchmark Atlas"/> It flows south, then generally west, in a highly serpentine course, past Eddyville, Chitwood, Toledo, and Elk City, and enters the Pacific in Yaquina Bay, a broad estuary at Newport.<ref name="Benchmark Atlas"/> When sea level was lower than today, the Yaquina River reached to Stonewall Bank, which is split by a rocky channel.<ref name="Living with Earthquakes in the Pacific Northwest">Template:Cite web</ref>

U.S. Route 20, the Corvallis–Newport highway, follows the river from Eddyville, at the confluence of the river with Little Elk Creek, to slightly downstream of Chitwood.<ref name="Benchmark Atlas"/> Near the mouth of Yaquina Bay, the river passes under Yaquina Bay Bridge, which carries U.S. Route 101.<ref name = "Sheehan">Template:Cite book</ref> Other bridges over the river include the Chitwood Covered Bridge at Chitwood.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Marine Center and the Hatfield Marine Science Center are both along Yaquina Bay.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Adjacent to the Hatfield Center is the Oregon Coast Aquarium.<ref name="open">Template:Cite news</ref> The Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, contained within the Yaquina Bay State Recreation Site, is on the coast near the mouth of the river.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Fishing

A large charter fishing fleet operates out of Newport in search of halibut, salmon, and other fish found in the nearby ocean.<ref name="Sheehan"/> Species within the bay include cabezon, striped perch, rockfish, greenling, salmon, sturgeon, herring, and crabs. The river upstream of the bay supports populations of salmon, steelhead, and cutthroat trout.<ref name="Sheehan"/> The river and bay are also fished from the banks in places and from small boats. Boat-launching ramps are available along the lower river and the bay.<ref name="Sheehan"/>

Tributaries

Named tributaries of the Yaquina River from source to mouth begin with Bailey Creek and the Little Yaquina River followed by Splide, Humphrey, Young, Felton, Davis, Randall, Stony, Bryant, and Buttermilk creeks. Then come Bales, Trout, Little Elk, Eddy, Peterson, Hayes, Whitney, Crystal, Cougar, and Thornton creeks.<ref name="topo map">Template:Cite web</ref>

Then Trapp, Simpson, Sloop, Martin, Bear, Little Carlisle, Carlisle, Big Elk, Blair, Abbey, and Mill creeks. Along the lower reaches of the river are Olalla and Depot sloughs; Babcock and Montgomery creeks, and Nute, Boone, Blind, Flesher, Johnson, Poole, McCaffery, Parker, King, and Sallys sloughs.<ref name="topo map"/>

See also

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References

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