The Columbia River in Canada, where three or more rivers and streams add their waters to the mighty Columbia, not far from the Columbia Icefields.

It is here that David Thompson and his crew, working then for Hudson's Bay Company, came down into the Columbia Valley. They were fleeing from hostile Indians on  the eastern side of the mountains. Since this was not a regular crossing to the upper Columbia  Valley from the high plains, the discovery of the site verified Thompson's tentative belief that this river really was the fabled Columbia River. This realization was because here the Columbia turns abruptly back south toward the United States border just around the corner to the left from this photo & plaque erected years later.  Before this, the birthplace of the Columbia River in the United States was unknown or often mis-identified.

And what a river! As described in the book by Caxton Press, the Columbia is one of he continent's greatest. It has carried explorers' canoes and makeshift steamers, hosted spawning salmon that fought upriver all the way from the Pacific Ocean, still today is a major waterway for barges, steamships, and ocean-going ships. Also, it is one of the most beautiful rivers in the world.  Enjoy it.