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:''This article is about the river. For the tribe called "Kootenai" in the United States, see Ktunaxa. For other uses, see Kootenay (disambiguation).'' The Kootenay (Kootenai in the U.S. and historically called the Flatbow) is a major river in southeastern British Columbia, Canada and northern parts of the U.S. states of Montana and Idaho. It is one of the uppermost major tributaries of the Columbia River, which is the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Kootenay River runs from its headwaters in the Kootenay Ranges of the Canadian Rockies, flowing from British Columbia's East Kootenay region into northwestern Montana, thence into northernmost Idaho Panhandle and returning to British Columbia in the West Kootenay region, where it joins the Columbia at Castlegar. Born in glaciers and flowing through a rugged landscape of mountains and valleys, the river drains an isolated and sparsely populated region of the Pacific Northwest. From its highest headwaters to its confluence with the Columbia River, the Kootenay falls more than two kilometers in elevation. Although comparable in length, watershed and discharge to the Columbia above the conflence, the Kootenay is of a notably different character; its much steeper gradient results in the formation of many rapids. People of the Ktunaxa (Kootenai) tribe were the first to live along its banks, and for hundreds of years, they hunted and fished on the river, quite isolated from neighboring indigenous groups . In the 19th century, a Canadian explorer, David Thompson, became the first recorded European to reach the Kootenay and established trading posts throughout the region. A gold rush on the Kootenay and later silver and galena strikes in its western basins in the late 19th century drew thousands of miners and settlers to the region, who soon were followed by the arrival of railroads and steamboats. The Doukhobors, a Russian religious sect, immigrated and established a short-lived colony, Brilliant, at the Kootenay's mouth; subsequently dispersing into many settlements, they contributed to the region's lumber and agricultural industries. As with many Pacific Northwest rivers, dams were built on the Kootenay in the 20th century to generate hydroelectricity, and protect against floods and droughts. Today, over of the river have been impounded behind five dams — and a sixth to raise the level of Kootenay Lake, the largest natural lake formed by the Kootenay, and one of the largest in British Columbia. ==Name== The river was described with slightly different names by two groups of the local Ktunaxa (Kootenai) Indian tribes. These indigenous people who lived along the upper river knew it as ''aqkinmiluk'', simply meaning "river". The people along the lower river called it ''aqkoktlaqatl'', a name whose meaning is not certain. The name "Flatbow River" comes from the name the Blackfeet used to call the Ktunaxa, for their "powerful, stylish bows",〔Jenish, p. 139〕 and was later recorded by French-Canadian fur traders.〔 While searching for the ultimate source of the Columbia River, explorer David Thompson encountered Columbia Lake, where the Columbia River starts north as a small stream and the Kootenay rushes south, already a powerful river. Already knowing from earlier maps that the region included two rivers called the Columbia and the Kootenay, Thompson thought that what is now called the Columbia was the Kootenay, and he thought that he had not yet found the real Kootenay. Thence he applied the name "McGillivray’s River" to the real Kootenay in honor of his trading partners William and Duncan McGillivray.〔Jenish, p. 133〕 In his writings, the Columbia from Columbia Lake to the Big Bend was actually called the ''Kootenae''.〔Burpee, p. lix〕 The name "Kootenai" was also used by French Canadians to refer to the Ktunaxa in the 19th century. "Kootenai" is thought to be a word meaning "water people" in an Algonquian language.〔〔Landers et al, p. 28〕 The river is still referred to as ''Kootenai'' in the United States,〔 while in Canada, where two-thirds of its length and 70 percent of its drainage basin lies, the river is spelled slightly different into ''Kootenay''. Comparisons of various U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) topographic maps from the 20th century show many misinterpretations or alternative names being applied to the segment of the river within the United States. These include "Kootanie", "Kootenie", and "Kootienay".〔 The Geographic Names Information System of the USGS lists "Swan River" as an alternate name although the origin of this name is uncertain.〔 (There, however, is a Swan River further southeast in Montana.) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kootenay River」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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