There are as many as 17 Salmon Rivers in the United States, but the most spectacular is, without no doubt, the one which flows for 684km through central Idaho, draining a rugged, thinly populated watershed and dropping more than 2,134m between its headwaters, near Galena Summit above the Sawtooth Valley, and its confluence with the Snake River. Known also as The River of No Return, it is one of the largest rivers in the continental United States without a single dam on its mainstem.
North of the town of Salmon, the river is joined by the North Fork, before turning west into over 320km of continuous canyons through the Clearwater Mountains, some of the most rugged and isolated terrain in the contiguous US. These canyons are some of the deepest in the US, surpassing the Grand Canyon and second only to the Snake River's Hells Canyon on the Idaho-Oregon border. The Salmon is a popular destination for whitewater kayaking, canoeing and rafting.
Much of the area was inhabited by several tribes of Native Americans, including the Nez Perce. The river was considered sacred ground and a rich source of food for the locals, who relied on the abundant salmon species and other wildlife. Redfish Lake and Little Redfish Lake , which flow into the river via Redfish Lake Creek, are the terminus of the Pacific sockeye salmon migration. In nowadays, the Salmon River basin contains up to 70% of the remaining salmon and steelhead habitat in the Columbia River Basin.
About the stamps
About the first stamp, which pays tribute to the majestic emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri), I wrote here. The following two stamps are part of the series Bonsai, about which I wrote here. The fourth stamp, depicting Mountain bluebird (Sialia currucoides) and Syringa (Philadelphus lewisii), the bird and the flower of the state of Idaho, is part of the series State Birds and Flowers, about which I wrote here. The last stamp is part of the series Progress in Electronics, about which I wrote here.
References
Salmon River (Idaho) - Wikipedia
Sender: Denise
Sent from Greenvale (New York / United States), on 25.01.2016
Photo: James Blank
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