Nehalem River

Nehalem River
Nehalem Bay at the mouth of the Nehalem River on the Pacific Ocean
Name origin: Salish for "place where people live"
Country	United States
State	Oregon
County	Washington, Columbia, Clatsop and Tillamook
Source	Northern Oregon Coast Range
- location	Giveout Mountain, Tillamook County, Oregon
- elevation	2,424 ft (739 m)
- coordinates	45°43′53″N 123°25′26″W / 45.73139°N 123.42389°W / 45.73139; -123.42389
Mouth	Nehalem Bay
- location	near Nehalem, Tillamook County, Oregon
- elevation	0 ft (0 m)
- coordinates	45°39′29″N 123°56′04″W / 45.65806°N 123.93444°W / 45.65806; -123.93444Coordinates: 45°39′29″N 123°56′04″W / 45.65806°N 123.93444°W / 45.65806; -123.93444
Length	118.5 mi (190.7 km)
Basin	855 sq mi (2,214 km2)
Discharge	for near Foss, 13.5 miles (21.7 km) from mouth
- average	2,653 cu ft/s (75 m3/s)
- max	70,300 cu ft/s (1,991 m3/s)
- min	34 cu ft/s (1 m3/s)
Location of the mouth of the Nehalem River in Oregon

Clatsop and Tillamook

The Nehalem River is a river on the Pacific coast of northwest Oregon in the United States, approximately 119 miles (192 km) long. It drains part of the Northern Oregon Coast Range northwest of Portland, originating on the east side of the mountains and flowing in a loop around the north end of the range near the mouth of the Columbia River. Its watershed of 855 square miles (2,210 km²) includes an important timber-producing region of Oregon that was the site of the Tillamook Burn. In its upper reaches it flows through a long narrow valley of small mountain communities but is unpopulated along most of its lower reaches inland from the coast.

It rises in the northeast corner of Tillamook County, in the Tillamook State Forest. It initially flows northeast, across the northwest corner of Washington County and into western Columbia County, past Vernonia where it receives Rock Creek and Pittsburg. At Pittsburg, it looks to the northwest and west into Clatsop County, then flows southwest back into northern Tillamook County. It enters Nehalem Bay on the Pacific in an estuary at Nehalem, about 70 miles (110 km) west-northwest of Portland. Near its mouth on the Pacific, the river passes under U.S. Route 101.