Why There’s a Pacific Ocean Port in Idaho

[@JoeJaJoeJoe]

In Idaho, Lewiston is best known for smelling awful due to its paper mill. It's also the lowest elevation point in Idaho. Literally a hole.

[@CollinHeist20]

I was hoping he'd bring that up. Hard to forget that smell...

[@wyatt8770]

You get used to it; Some people can't smell it at all, also its usually worst in the morning.

[@kenetickups6146]

To be fair, all of idaho is a hole

[@UHaulShorts]

​@@kenetickups6146 Y?

[@connorbaniak]

​​@@UHaulShortsbeen there?

[@Golgiaparatus2]

Another fun fact: As of June 2023, there were exactly 2 uber drivers in all of Lewiston. I flew in for a couple days for work and got driven by both of them lmao.

[@mediocreman2]

As an Uber driver, I'll remind everyone that's not really how it works. They might have two full-time drivers. But there are often many drivers that are dormant. I don't go out unless the timing is right. Sometimes it's weeks at a time. People say the same thing in my smaller city that there are only three drivers. I laugh because when I'm on the app I see way more. Not only that, but my city connects to another city about an hour away. So we will often have less drivers, or even more drivers. Depending on if they are looking for rides back to where they started.

[@mikemiller1534]

I couldn't get an uber there just last week. Had to walk.

[@OrionLee-xr4dc]

They should have a faux beef with each other and constantly be trying to outdo one another.

[@Telephony954]

When I'm forced to go there, I usually just rent a 50.00 dollar budget car, then I can come n go as i choose.

[@frankmoldenhauer6558]

Midwesterners on Twitter were telling me being able to receive ocean going vessels made states like Illinois and Minnesota not landlocked by definition, so congrats Idaho

[@markpimlott2879]

Both of those states not only have major ports on the Mississippi River system but also ocean-going freighter ports (for bulk commodities as well as for containerized goods) on the GREAT LAKES /ST LAWRENCE SEAWAY, THE WORLD'S GREATEST and most commercially important INLAND WATERWAY for actual ocean-going international vessels! 'Certainly not landlocked like all of the other Great Lakes States, as well as the massive Province of Ontario! 🇨🇦 🍁 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 🌎 🇺🇲 🚢 ⚓️ 🛳 🔱 🚢 ⚓️ 🛳 🔱 🚢 ⚓️ 🇺🇸 🌎 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🍁 🇨🇦

[@markpimlott2879]

Since when are RIVER BARGES pushed by tugboats classed AS OCEAN-GOING VESSELS? 👎 👎 👎 👎 'Simply ship wannabes! 🚢 ⚓️ 🛳 🔱 🚢 ⚓️ 🛳 🔱 🚢 ⚓️ 🛳 🔱 🚢

[@frankmoldenhauer6558]

Damn feels like people haven’t been this touchy about ports since Russians got themselves a warm water port in Port Arthur lmao

[@MorningMeasure]

We cope how we can.

[@swliner]

@@markpimlott2879 did you not watch the video? They load ocean-going barges there, not just river barges

[@willbetts]

Fun facts: Walt Disney got married in Lewiston. If you pay attention to the modern Disney intro with the castle on a river that plays before movies, then look at pictures of Lewiston, you’ll notice something 🤷‍♂️

[@daelinblack6681]

Out on gun club road is one of their old houses, pretty sure his wife is from orofino Idaho just up the river

[@markmh835]

​@@daelinblack6681-- No, she came from Lapwai.

[@andyjay729]

@@markmh835 Didn't her parents work on the Nez Perce reservation? I have heard that she donated a good amount of money to schools there.

[@JP-th8sq]

@@daelinblack6681 No way he married a maniac

[@Jarekthegamingdragon]

The thing not mentioned in this video is how MASSIVE the columbia gorge is, making this even possible at all in the first place.

[@fredinit]

What's even more interesting is what CREATED the Columbia Gorge.

[@chicken_punk_pie]

@@fredinit Yeah God is super fascinating

[@CaptainCuttlefish74]

​@@fredinityeah the missoula floods were crazy Edit: I misremembered, the missoula floods were because of an ice dam that spanned the gorge failing. The gorge was already there.

[@Noremac023]

How massive is it and why does it make it possible?

[@atzuras]

I also call my big gorge "Columbia" because it is Massive.

[@Plutokta]

Well, actually France also moves a lot of its grain by river. Which caused quite bit of a problem when authorities decided, in late 2023, that the Seine river would be closed to the circulation in Paris during the duration of the Olympic games, which also happens to be harvest season. When farmers and cooperatives found out, they were, to say the least, pretty pissed. Negociations followed, during which (and I kidd you not, it really happened) a member of the Paris council asked: "Well, can't you just delay the harvest to after the Olympics?". In the end, it was agreed that river boats would be allowed to cross Paris at night, in convois. The alternative would have been tens of thousands of trucks (that don't exist), or hundreds of trains (that would have needed time tables to be agreed upon at least two years in advance).

[@jasonhurdlow6607]

Yeah, 'cause the whole world would be offended at seeing barges on the Seine... 🙄. News flash: we could care less!

[@Plutokta]

@@jasonhurdlow6607 It's mostly a security concern, since the opening ceremony and some swimming events wills occur in the river.

[@johnlacey3857]

Typical politician response.

[@johnlacey3857]

@@PlutoktaMaybe they should have thought twice about planning swimming events in a maritime highway. 🤦🏼‍♂️

[@Plutokta]

@@johnlacey3857 Right?

[@exiledlurs2961]

I live in Idaho and the fact that we have the most inland Western American Sea Port is my favorite fun fact to say about my state. :D

[@bossman4856]

Also we have the 5th deepest lake in the US

[@chimoshi3393]

I’m sorry that you live there.

[@vannyvanman1709]

@@chimoshi3393why?

[@jeron3966]

I’m pretty sure Salt Lake City or Ogden Utah is about to take that but there’s is an Inland so idk if it’s the same?

[@jeffe_77]

@@chimoshi3393it’s great living here.

[@Meirstein]

Fun fact about Lewiston, it is right across the river from Clarkston, WA.

[@roejogan292]

I was amazed this wasn't mentioned in the video.

[@StreetSteeze]

And they were both named after Lewis and Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition because they stayed there and traded with the Nez Perce during their Expedition.

[@marjieyoung9570]

Thank you! I live in Clarkston and although the map was labeled correctly I was still thinking, man, not even a shout out for the other half of the community. It's called the LC Valley for a reason. 😂 (By the way, for those who didn't know, Clarkston is the town directly across the Snake River from the one labeled Lewiston. Extra bonus, there's actually two rivers, the Snake River and the Clearwater River that join together and continue on as the Snake. So technically, if the river is in Idaho it's the Clearwater, not the Snake.)

[@staples138]

The perfect place to live if you love pot and permitless conceal carry

[@davidbranch2020]

New York is more dynamic and fun loving than both of them

[@GetThemLyrics]

I drive tow boats for a living. Most barges are 200x35. Not 195x35. I noticed the Tennessee River was missing from the map. Plus they push sometimes over 40 barges at once on the Mississippi. Not 15. Overall great video. Enjoyed it.

[@charlesmorgan602]

Not to mention the Cumberland River was gone as well

[@philbert006]

There's plenty of 195 ft barges too. And tank barges, which are 52 x 250 or so and in and around Memphis the corps of engineers operates work flats, crane barges, spud barges, and dredge barges of so many different sizes they don't even bother with the specs. In my admittedly limited experience working on a tug in the port of memphis, typically the box barges were 195 ft and the rake barges for leading the tows were 200 footers. And the tows dev get huge down here. Biggest one I can remember working on is 56 barges, but 35 to 40 is quite normal. Usually 15 barge tows were coal tows coming from the Ohio river or anywhere else north of Cairo cause that's max size to make a lock.

[@GetThemLyrics]

@@philbert006 Chemical barges are normally 297x54. That’s what I’m currently pushing. When I did dry cargo most of the time the 195’s went on the head because their lengths would mess up couples in the tow. Plus they were normally rakes.

[@Leyrann]

@@GetThemLyrics Huh. That probably _is_ the kind of job that leaves you with a lot of time to watch YT videos.

[@sirBrouwer]

wait you work with tow boats you can drive? like amphibious boats? sounds cool.

[@matthewbeasley7765]

While it is possible that an ocean going ship does go up the river that far, most don't. Nor does most cargo depart the Columbia in barges. The reality is that the barges are just an intermediate step. The cargo is transferred from the barges to bulk carriers on the lower Columbia and the grain crosses the pacific that way. Another cool tidbit left out is the fact that many of these barges are dual purpose. They have tanks down low and grain hoppers above. The barges sail down carrying grain, but return upriver hauling fuel.

[@zimmejoc]

that's just good logistics. Never move an empty platform if you can avoid it

[@Viroviy]

As long as they don't reuse fuel tanks for the grain

[@w8stral]

And rest of year, haul fuel.

[@simpledj509chromo7]

They also bring dry fertilizer up to the Palouse, as the area is a major grain producer in the lower 48. Fun fact: Washington state is also the leading producer of apples and hops in the US.

[@simpledj509chromo7]

@@Viroviy Barges get swept and cleaned between loads. They haul a massive variety of stuff. I used to work at an agricultural fertilizer company and one time the bossman's dumbass son bought a load of urea sweeps because it was cheap. The sweeps are what come out of a barge when transitioning products. That shit had glass, chicken feathers, feather meal, scrap metal shards, sawdust, and plenty of other shit we couldn't identify. The whole railcar was garbage and we had to put in in trucks and dispose of it. We couldn't sell it or spread it on a field given how much literal garbage was in it. The son didn't work for the company after that.

[@CamperoftheCentury]

Very intriguing and most interesting is the dairy queen

[@donjackson5522]

Until the Snake River floods and then you have the eastern most Dairy Queen in Washington

[@jerrylivasy1744]

Not true DQ in Seattle area

[@JusNoBS420]

That's not even close to being accurate lol. I live in Washington state and literally pass 2 DQ's between my house and work

[@JusNoBS420]

@@jerrylivasy1744and Oregon and I'm sure California. Probably Alaska and perhaps Hawaii as well

[@ElSantoLuchador]

@@jerrylivasy1744 Right, but Seattle isn't Lewiston, which is OP's point. He's making fun of Lewiston, not making a literal point about the geographic distributions of Dairy Queen's.

[@price.gaines]

I grew up in Vancouver WA, which is separated from Portland OR by the Columbia. I’ve seen the smiley face barge so many times and never known what it was until now!

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

Awesome, that's where I was born! I still have relatives who live in the area. I've lived most of my life in Oklahoma, though, and haven't visited Vancouver in 24 years.

[@dirtyjoe1317]

I missed the smiley face part? What was it? I live in washougal and was curious.

[@seanmcdirmid]

I was a toddler in West Richland, which is near where the Snake and Columbia meet.

[@darcypond8763]

@@dirtyjoe1317 at 4:44 the barge that falls into frame. It’s a reference to a Tidewater Barge that frequents the Columbia River

[@daelinblack6681]

Dude I literally lived the first 20 years of my life in lewi and never realized there's a face on the barge. I've spent days watching them from across the river as they fill it up, yet I've never noticed

[@PsRohrbaugh]

Shout-out to my idahos and idahomies

[@JoeJaJoeJoe]

🥔tater gang🥔

[@ZenCyius]

i SEE what you did there ya genius motherfucker

[@John-tx1wk]

You seem to be an Idaho native so you surely know best but wouldn't it be "my Idahos and Idabros"?

[@PsRohrbaugh]

@@John-tx1wk kzbin.info/www/bejne/g4imoayhYtdliKc

[@spacedvenus]

Used to be an Idahomo (I have a sticker on my car that I got from the downtown Boise flying M lol) but I escaped to Oregon late 2022

[@mainlookalike2247]

"And because the river refuses to follow the decree of man we have to do it are selves" has got to be the most human thing ive ever heard.

[@NoName-zn1sb]

do it ourselves

[@rasmis]

“.. is one of America's most unique features” is the most American thing I've heard all day. Sam has been to Europe. And crossed many rivers and canals. A feature isn't unique, when you've copied it from somewhere else.

[@ZakhadWOW]

actualyl I think coing the verb "To Riv" is up there for me.. and I'm multilingual and studied linguistics! LOL

[@uzhasair]

I competed in the national Geography Bee this year and 4 of the questions i answered correctly were due to this channel. For that I thank you and these strange but interesting locations.

[@kv4648]

I'm betting some people on the team were directly or indirectly influenced by his videos. Whenever some big fact explaining channel spreads something unknown, it does the rounds around the internet.

[@thekinginyellow1744]

Was one of the questions about the westernmost Dairy Queen in Idaho?

[@gaberomero1740]

I competed in the national geography bee when I was in middle school and I grew up right across the river from Lewiston

[@caseclosed9342]

Well, there’s Atlantic ports in Michigan and Wisconsin. I once met a guy who worked on a ship that went back and forth from Michigan’s upper peninsula to the Netherlands and back.

[@niggalini]

Was it iron ore shipping? That's the big thing for cargo coming from the upper great lakes (Minnesota Wisconsin UP Michigan)

[@evanneal4936]

That's because those states are on the great lakes, which have direct water access to the Atlantic Ocean via the St Lawrence River. Basically, they are no different than any other coastal city in the United States like San Francisco and New York, etc. Because the Great Lakes act as an extended version of the ocean...

[@PaulGuy]

​@@evanneal4936Does no one know about Niagara Falls?

[@ZakhadWOW]

the legendary Edmund FItzgerald was a major ship on the rountes from Duluth/Superior all the way out to TOldeo at upper end of Erie. SHe wasnt built for Sea so then cargo got trans shipped to an oceangoing vessel for traveling the lower Saint Lawrence seaway.

[@paule5195]

@@evanneal4936 Right but the work that went into making it navigable on the St Lawrence river was immense but the ship size is very restricted because the lock system cannot handle full size ocean going vessels.

[@scotchbingeington6761]

Very nice, but I'd argue Duluth is still the king of land locked state seaports being over 2,000 miles from the Atlantic. They get whole ass ships too, not just big barges.

[@JoelRipke]

But Lewiston is higher

[@CharliMorganMusic]

Facts

[@TSERJI]

@@JoelRipke lol

[@vincentm.2458]

Duluth doesn't contain Idaho's westernmost Dairy Queen

[@kefkja]

Duluth is ON the great lakes. Calling it “land locked” is cheating

[@daddoo5268]

The locals say it smells like money here as that fabulous smell comes from a huge paper mill. Don't forget that Lewiston is also home to some major ammunition manufacturing facilities.

[@Humuhumunukunukuapaa]

That 'fabulous smell' smells awful in reality.

[@TalenGryphon]

Like CCI Ammunition, who's cheap junk turns my Beretta into an expensive jamming machine

[@johnking6252]

2nd amendment freedom says you gotta have ammo !

[@MrMadsci7]

Ammunition manufacturing is probably very recession-resistant.

[@jordanabendroth6458]

The smell is way better nowadays than it was a decade ago, I go to Lewiston every couple of weeks and hardly ever smell it.

[@kayleighlehrman9566]

If we were France, it would be Louistonne and not Lewiston

[@augustuscaesar8287]

Yes, and we'd tell the people living there to "Va te faire foutre".

[@DjesonPV]

It would be Louis-sur-Serpent (as it's not a fortified city it could not be Louisbourg ; not Saint-Louis because no major church; and it's on the Snake river) ;

[@kishascape]

@@DjesonPVstop making us hate France even more.

[@Naugr]

Louisfert

[@Michael-pp8lz]

Lol, I like how its still technically pronounced the same way

[@RaquelFoster]

I'm super impressed that they made graphics and got relevant clips. I started avoiding these because I'm tired of everything being just a pile of stock clips. But this is really good!

[@Gnarledwallet]

They have multiple clips and photos of the actual barges that go up and down the river!

[@renderproductions1032]

Yeah. I sometimes just listen to it as a podcast, but this one was visually pretty good.

[@jeffbybee5207]

And our idiot government is set on getting rid of the dams on the lower snake river

[@jakebrod7]

Most of what services Lewiston are going to be river tugs, not ocean going ships. The river tugs will bring it to a port down river where it will get loaded onto a ship (or an oceangoing barge). Tugs CAN run out in open water, but are mostly used coastwise. Something like an international voyage would be a ship.

[@markpimlott2879]

' Right on, Mariner! 🚢 ⚓️ 🛳 🔱 🚢 ⚓️ 🛳 🔱 🚢 ⚓️ 🛳 🔱 🚢

[@luipaardprint]

In general though there are a lot of ocean going tugs, mostly for the oil industry.

[@jakebrod7]

@@luipaardprint yep mostly for towing huge objects like platforms. OSVs are kinda tugs but aren’t anything that would service an inland port

[@burtbacarach5034]

@@jakebrod7 OSV's are NOT tugs,unless it's an Anchor handling Tug/Supply.As far as servicing an inland port,Venice Intracoastal City Port Aransas and to a degree Port Fourchon.Depends on your definition of "Port to Port" trade.

[@pyropulseIXXI]

a ship is merely a vessel where its center of buoyancy is below its center of gravity. A boat is where its center of buoyancy is above its center of gravity

[@elijahsabo3846]

As someone who lives in Lewiston, I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life.

[@adityavardhanjain]

Damn I was just wondering why is there a Pacific Ocean port in Idaho.

[@General12th]

And I was just wondering where the westernmost Dairy Queen in Idaho was!

[@markpimlott2879]

Actually, there is a RIVER BARGE PORT in Idaho! 🥔 🍠 🥔

[@danielzhang1916]

that is misleading, there is a port that leads to the Pacific Ocean, not on the ocean

[@Seatownrandom]

ME TOO INWAS JUSS GHEREEEE

[@mikevanderwolf8575]

Love Lewiston, the whole area really

[@dariogonzalez553]

Barges are NOT ocean going vessels. That cargo is transferred at the actual oceanic port.

[@ryanjohnson4565]

Way to barge in with that correction.

[@Hahlen]

To be clear some barges are oceangoing, but not these ones

[@tonycoryell2566]

You sound... Vaccinated

[@JimboJette]

I spent time in the villages of Bristol bay and they are supplied by Barges from Seattle so barges can 100% be ocean going vessels. I’ve seen one in the middle of the gulf of alaska

[@fbi9009]

​@@tonycoryell2566what?

[@HelloHi-g2u]

This is honestly the first time in months I’ve learned some new in terms of geography/geopolitics. Epic topic man! Love it.

[@quantummotion]

As a Canuck, Im quite happy with the "habitable" dig. You see, its the cold that keeps the bugs small, the water fresh, and most of the US population south of the 49th parallel. Please keep making more digs, it keeps the defense spending down to a minimum ;). Lol.

[@Idahoguy10157]

Idaho is far enough north we happily don’t have fire ants. Which if you’ve ever been stung by them, you’d understand my meaning

[@daelinblack6681]

Lewiston is full of fire ants. I remember going on the jet boats down hells gate and getting into a hill on accident as a kid

[@Idahoguy10157]

@@daelinblack6681 … their terrible

[@okboomer1340]

Go Oilers!

[@graceneilitz7661]

Most of the Canadian population also lives south of the 49th Parallel. I’m in Central Wisconsin right now, and I’m north of over 50% of Canadians.

[@pegasustargaryen]

As a citizen of Hamburg in Germany, I'm all too familiar with these things! We receive the world's largest container ships 100 km from the North Sea and also have to constantly dig out the river every few years. While doing that, you have to manage the grievances of environmentalists and be careful not to hit the motorway tunnel underneath!

[@andyjay729]

Did some of those containers possibly originate from Lewiston, ID? I mean, you probably know Hamburg Sud is a huge shipping line; you see their containers all over the world.

[@DesertTOON]

I think Basel is similar to Lewiston. Lewiston doesn't actually have ocean going ships traveling to it just barges. Hamburg is like Tacoma.

[@TheDuckofDoom.]

@@DesertTOON Tacoma is in fiords more than 100km from the open ocean. However it is deep seawater and dredging is only done around the quays.

[@koenven7012]

In Europe you have more ports like that. Antwerp is one of the biggest ports in Europe (2nd or 3rd I think, Rotterdam is at 1) and it's also about 100km inland. It can receive ships too big to fit in the Panama and Suez canals and it's linked by road, rail and canal to ship stuff further along (stuff gets loaded onto those barges for further move and they bring stuff back to the port to then be shipped along).

[@davidcastle7212]

Lived in Winchester 30 minutes away 1st-3rd grades. Did our grocery shopping in Lewiston, can still remember the smell.

[@jasonhurdlow6607]

Nice. My fam likes to go stay in the yurts. Miss the wolf center, that was pretty cool.

[@rfirtfan2809]

A note about the railways: while Lewiston has a railway, it ships basically no grain by rail. The line from the Palouse is torn up and the Camas Prairie railroad is out of service and has a trestle burnt out. Most grain that moves by rail hits the river around the Tri Cities area or goes straight through to the Pacific.

[@NWer-c5u]

The rail has been ungraded to Lewiston to take 100ton grain hoppers in a 110 car unit shuttle train. Done partly in case a dam lock is out of service for work, whether planned or unplanned. All but 1-2 grain terminals on the lower Snake are track side so an up past, then load up downhill with a shuttle (and extra high speed loading gear) is feasible.

[@antaries93]

Yeah no. When I worked for the PNW farmer co-op, the majority of my job was loading grain into railcars Pause the video at 3:42 and in the top center of the screen is the rail terminal leased out to that co-op

[@comicus01]

I'm from LA but visited Lewiston 2 years ago. A friend and former coworker moved up there. (currently working, but will probably stay there when she retires). I saw the dock/port, drove right by it on my way from Montana. Someone I talked to there also mentioned the paper mill that is present, right next to it, so I don't think wheat is the only thing getting on a boat there. But yes, it very much has ocean access. And for anyone thinking of one day visiting the area, I took the drive over the Lolo Pass and it's very scenic. On the Idaho side you parallel the river for perhaps 100 miles.

[@marcvalliant8131]

Please don't tell your fellow Californians about idaho or Montana.

[@comicus01]

@@marcvalliant8131 I don't think you have much to worry about. Most people I know have no desire to move there, though I'm aware there's a fair amount of people from CA who have moved to Idaho when they retired. I also went in the summer, not the winter. So I can't speak to what it's like in the winter, but I'm sure a lot of people from CA would be afraid of the winter there. And things like dating and job opportunities are a lot less there. That's why I don't feel like moving to a rural state, as nice as they often are (and those are probably my friend's two biggest complaints).

[@shievapretty7463]

I live a couple hours out of Lewiston, but the view coming in from the north is amazing!

[@ZakhadWOW]

back in the Fall of 1982 I was doing roadtrip work for a small drama company and Eastern WA/OR and all of Idaho was our zone. I remember discovering the insane beauty of The La Palouse, and then that drive down the clifframp form the Columbia Plateau surface to Lewiston is amazeballs.. The drop from plateau down to Wenatchee is pretty dramatic also

[@matthewlebo1841]

And this is how Huntington, West Virginia, a town of less than 50,000 people eight hours from the ocean by car, is home to one of the 25 largest ports in America and the second largest inland port (formerly largest).

[@Kreiger19]

The follow up to the "most western Dairy Queen in Idaho" was perfect and made me laugh more than I should have 😂

[@Hawkeye2001]

I wrapped up a multi-day float trip down the Snake River at Lewiston, Idaho. I was unaware of the seaport and totally shocked to see an ocean going vessel in Idaho.

[@firehouse6226]

Outward Bound? From White Bird?

[@Hawkeye2001]

@@firehouse6226 I went with a small outfitter; "Hell’s River Canyon company" and we started near the small town of Cambridge. We put into the river at the base of the last dam.

[@jamiesuejeffery]

I am a 5th and 6th generation native Idahoan. I grew up in Boise. But pretty much every waterway in Idaho drains into the mighty Columbia River. That river is HUGE! The area around Leweston (guess where it got its name) is a breadbasket of the Pacific Northwest (PNW).

[@ZakhadWOW]

Only the SE corner, part of the Bear River drainage, has no real connection with the grater Columbia/Snake drainage.

[@jamiesuejeffery]

@@ZakhadWOW Yes, you are correct. I forgot about that little corner. :)

[@jimjim01938]

@@ZakhadWOWalso technically but not really, the lost rivers. They drain into the aquifer which eventually drains into the snake

[@IdahoTricia]

Good explanation, but you may want to add that the Snake River flows into the Columbia which flows to the Pacific. Part of the Columbia River divides Oregon and Washington and the dam/lock system is pretty interesting.

[@colinbodnaryk7518]

Funny thing your graphic for wheat was barley. Also Canada has its own west coast grain ports, infact several

[@jonjohnson3027]

Fun fact: eastern Washington state (the Palouse region) is some of the most productive farmland in the world, yielding more grain per acre than anywhere else.

[@ShimmyD-u7g]

I had read somewhere that they mostly produce white wheat in the Palouse, which is primarily exported to the Asian regions, where it is in high demand.

[@tannertaylor9432]

​@@ShimmyD-u7g yeah thats what we grow here. Soft white wheat that goes to Asia for Ramen noodle flour. We farm 3,000 acres of Palouse farm ground

[@seanmcdirmid]

I got stuck in Colfax once and that was pretty apparent.

[@concernedliberal4453]

The Palouse is gorgeous. Too bad Washington is no longer a livable state.

[@Lutherson1962]

Dry land farming does not yield more grain per acre.

[@lupinzar]

Hells Canyon, America's deepest river gorge is south of Lewiston and I didn't even know it existed until I drove between the Wallowas and Lewiston/Clarkston. It's amazing, but the Grand Canyon gets all the glory.

[@andyjay729]

And the Wallowas themselves are gorgeous. It's an underappreciated part of the country.

[@Somebody509-ot4kk]

Don’t tell anybody about Hells Canyon and the wallowa’s. Please please please.

[@GoatTheGoat]

2:46 You: And you do not want to be France. Me: Preach on my brother!

[@westrim]

Except France moves way more goods by truck than the US does. The EU as a whole moves 45% of freight by road, 37% of freight by water, and only 11% by rail. In major part, that's because they chose to focus on rail use for passengers, while the US focused on rail use for freight, something that people don't think about when doing comparisons.

[@ddegn]

You also don't want to be Canada. Worst of all, *French Canada.*

[@strindberg8764]

still you move wheat on river barges, just like France do on at least 2 different rivers that I am aware of. and probably did even before your country was even invented.

[@JamesOKeefe-US]

The writing on HAI is getting hilarious. Its always been witty, but the snark in this one is strong. Loving it.

[@CalCalCal6996]

Fun fact this is the same reason why the port of Thunder Bay in Canada is the largest grain shipping port in tbe country despite it being really faf inland.

[@johnharris6655]

I grew up in Stockton, California which is 80 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean. It has a natural channel and has been a major port on the west coast for years, starting with the Gold Rush. Now it is part of the short sea shipping network, where containers are offloaded in Oakland or San Francisco and then put on barges to Stockton and then put on Trucks on I-5. This takes a lot of trucks off the highways between the bay area and central valley.

[@parkerb4449]

3:40 "enough wheat to kill a small nation's worth of celiacs" had me ROLLING

[@nkmcquain]

pnw resident here, this video hits close to home for sure. this video is INCREDIBLY OP! good job

[@13Frostie]

As someone who’s from Vancouver, and have 3 grain export port terminals, this seems silly. Everything from AB and SK gets trained in and then put on to bulk ocean liners.

[@johnwalterc]

Before Grand Coulee dam was built a steam ship could travel from Astoria OR to Revelstoke BC. Revelstoke is @ 400 miles due north of Lewiston on the Columbia River. By the way there are a lot of Dairy Queens west of Lewiston ID.

[@TheCaptainObrian]

"Canada ... It's habitable" Never have I been more insulated by a more true statement

[@TheDroppedAnchor]

,eh?

[@zednotzach]

But which province we talking about tho

[@Andre_XX]

Habitable? ... only just.

[@NoName-zn1sb]

more insulted, maybe?

[@orppranator5230]

Well you certainly need lots of insulation up there

[@BuzzinVideography]

Idaho resident here! Lewiston is one of the best, and most overlooked, places on the west coast. It made a lot of the northwest possible

[@alexwasthere1]

ive sat on the cliff at exactly 4:11 the one on the left of the very center of the screen. Very tall drop over the highway 84 super scary. That spot is known as Rewana Crest, Super cool highly recommend going there the whole gorge is very pretty. Fall colors are also amazing there. Its 40 min East of Portland OR, not like anyone will read this comment

[@citizenx2369]

Neat.

[@benmcreynolds8581]

I was born in Oregon and it's fascinating to imagine what life would have been like when people had to take a boat from Portland to the coastal town of Bayocean

[@rosswebster7877]

I remember seeing this about the Port of Lewiston on an interactive map at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon.

[@General12th]

Hi Sam! Thanks to Amy for not being France. Therefore, she deserves a raise!

[@carlosbaldellou]

It's a cool video, but if you need content for another mistakes video, at 2:30 and 2:42, the images shown are not wheat. Those are pictures of barley.

[@2girls1up]

You woke up and chose violence with that Canada crack 😂❤🇨🇦

[@IOSARBX]

Half as Interesting, Your videos always make me happy, so I subscribed!

[@CalebGrahnert]

You missed a big part of this video. The barges take the grain to Vancouver, kalama, and Longview to be transferred onto an ocean going ship.

[@TheDroppedAnchor]

I've loaded 13,000 metric tons of Washington long grain twice in the Port of Kalama. Once for Indonesia and the other for Sudan. And once at the Dreyfus grain terminal in downtown Portland for Kenya.

[@CalebGrahnert]

@TheDroppedAnchor nice! I work for bnsf railway and we spot loaded grain trains at the port of kalama, Longview, and Vancouver

[@carnakthemagnificent336]

Good video. Thank you. About 10 years ago, during a season when the Columbia locks and waterway were undergoing maintenance, the company I worked for helped ship hundreds of empty containers to Lewiston by rail to be loaded with grain. Good business.

[@xerofetus]

Listen to Lock 8. Named after the proximity to that section of the Welland Canal, Port Colborne's Lock 8 was the way to the St. Lawrence. Oh yeah, there are 63 provinces.

[@explorewithme4707]

I drive alongside that river every time I go on a road trip to Washington, but I never really thought about it how it connects to the ocean

[@TheAmericanIdol]

Very cool and definitely fully fascinating, not half as fascinating but full on! TY for another solid video man!

[@ReedHarston]

Thanks for the shout out! It would have been fun if you had at least mentioned the Lewiston Grade when you mentioned the highways that meet up there. I'd love to know how much time and money actually went into making that massive grade possible, no doubt to make it easier to truck the wheat down from the Palouse (where I'm from) just north of Lewiston. (There is a small section about the grade on the Wikipedia article for Lewiston Hill. It doesn't say much, but having driven it many many times in my life I can say it is an impressive feat of engineering in its own right.)

[@Mattwell67]

Great video. Visited Lewiston/Clarkston a lot 2021-2022. Really cool town actually, and awesome that it plays such a big part in exporting given it's near land locked location. However the paper mill smell... not fun.

[@Jhardy64]

Smell sucks but driving through that mill is wild. It is absolutely massive.

[@cadian122]

I love learning geography titbits that I didnt know.. thank you.. had no idea that Idaho had a port that connected to the Pacific...

[@allankcrain]

🎶Oh say does that star spangled banner yet wave, o'er the land of the free and the home of Idaho's westernmost Dairy Queen 🎶

[@CollinOutdoorReviews]

Ah yes, youtube recommendations are really on point I see. I am from Idaho, I consume content like this on the daily and I love random state information. Good on ya youtube, good work.

[@SkylordDuck]

Now that really is half as interesting.

[@CRAFT7445]

I lived most of my life in the Quad Cities on the Mississippi. We have Lock&Damn 15, 16, and 17 in the neighborhood. These Locks also provide places where the river doesn’t completely freeze over in the winter, making it a great place to go Bald Eagle watching as they feed on fish and build their HUGE nests.

[@UncleOhRed]

We also make bullets and jet boats like that one from the James bond movie. Its alright here.

[@travisstraube4973]

Here in Canada we do consider the USA to be our southern most province. And are proud to see their steps forward in logistics.

[@davidcollins2993]

That's all right Wait in the USA consider Canada a communist nation now

[@YourConsole]

As a celic, that was a good joke 3:47

[@standdownrobots_ihaveoldglory]

0:19 Fun fact: out here, 35k is a big town, not a small one. 10-19k are medium, 20-40k is pretty big, 41+ is practically a city. Idaho is more populous than Montana, but Lewiston is def one of the bigger towns in the state. If you have more than one public high school or more than 1000 HS students, you can’t be a small town lol! The solo high school is the central social organizing point of a small town! lol ok that was a tangent

[@foxphire0093]

Being a native Tulsan, I immediately thought of the Port of Catoosa at the end of Highway M-40 when I saw this video's thumbnail.

[@chefzand6607]

I grew up in Pullman, WA just 45 mins north and I spent a lot of time in Lewiston growing up (mainly for sports). Very weird place, bad smell with the paper mill lol but there are some good parts of the area. Some cool nature and golfing there

[@JuliaBrighten]

I suspect this isnt that special. Port Cargill in a suburb of Minneapolis built actual ocean going ships and floated them down the Mississippi for WW2. This probably wasnt that abnormal during the war years.

[@TheDroppedAnchor]

The M/V Tustamena was built in Wisconsin I believe. But it came via the St. Lawrence. It is still active and the only way to transport goods out to Alaska's Aleutian Island chain. Except you know airplanes. Wisconsin and Minnesota built a shitload of wood-hulled tug boats in WWII and transported them in two parts to Seattle via railroad. edit -- M/V Tustamena is a ferry boat for the state of Alaska Marine Highway System.

[@jenniferrollins2160]

Good point Jarek, I have hiked there and the Columbia river gorge is MASSIVE! Like, the Willamette valley is big, but the gorge is way bigger, way, way bigger!

[@philbert006]

You'll see 15 barge tows on the upper Mississippi river. South of Cairo Illinois, they can be upwards of 50 barges.

[@TheAnnoyingBoss]

Crazy how much of our country has ocean access even 1000+ miles away

[@wgowshipping]

Exactly correct.

[@alexandergarfin422]

Just three weeks ago I happen to stop through Lewiston on a detour just to see Idaho going down the Pacific coast from Vancouver to Los Angeles. I thought it was an extremely random town and very interesting to the fact that the town opposite was called Clarkston given that it was on the Lewis and Clark trail. Now my favorite KZbin channel makes a video about how it was actually very interesting city after all. The government is watching.

[@TheCriminalViolin]

It's a great thing that Idaho has that port seeing as the Port of Portland no longer is conducting ANY container operations of any kind whatsoever indefinitely. According to them, it cost them far too much to have and run those operations, and the negotiations with the last company to do such ops fell through, while the State of Oregon apparently set the terms in a way that the Port HAD to succeed with those negotiations or else they'd receive no funding or support from the state. So only car ops essentially now at the Port of Portland. This directly impacts the Port of Astoria and Idaho negatively, as they need the operations in Portland in order to serve the logistics network properly. Now it's Tacoma, Seattle or SF.

[@GBR9794]

no wonder there isn't many ships whenever I commute through 84 highway.

[@jds1275]

Sounds like there are some regulatory issues causing increased prices that and or potentially the Portland port would need a redesign to increase efficiency.

[@GBR9794]

@@jds1275 Too many bridges are too old. Oregon and Washington state do have plans to rebuild them but it's going to take another decade at least.

[@PNWParksFan]

Grain doesn't get moved on container ships. Plenty of bulk carriers still get loaded in Portland, and Lewiston does not have any significant container operations.

[@TheCriminalViolin]

@@PNWParksFan I never suggested that grain got hauled on container ships or made any claims to know what resources are shipped out and through Lewiston, to be fair. But things like meats in example would require that, and, Idaho deceptively has a high output of tech hardware, which itself needs containers. Other things like paper need them too. Each of those things are goods that Idaho not only produces in high quantities, but surrounding states do as well. Essentially the bulk of things we ship (literally) require containers, so it's not too surprising if the Port of Lewiston does in fact have at least some container ops. I'd have to look into the operations of the Port in order to learn the details, which of course like most people, I didn't even have the thought of doing, nor what does or doesn't go through it.

[@LI.Agentio]

Thank You soooo much for creating this podcast. I did learn about the Marine Highway cause of it. And found the Port of Lewiston fascinating.

[@stellacollector]

When Sam mentioned "wheat" in the video, for a certain amount of time I thought it was "weed." English is not my first language, so my listening comprehension level may not be the same as the Americans, but I don't think that doesn't mean that I don't have problems.

[@UnexpectedPlay]

English is my first language and I heard the same

[@Puddingskin01]

Oh don't worry, Idaho exports that too.

[@jesseking9254]

Your English comprehension is probably still superior to half the American population

[@Trenz0]

Lmao. The way you worded it made it seem like you're saying Americans have the worst reading comprehension and while you struggle, you're at least better than an American. (As an American, this may not be far from the truth...) You may not be "fluent" but you're writing KZbin comments and watching English videos. That's pretty impressive in my book

[@UnexpectedPlay]

@@Trenz0 I agree, he's doing great!

[@walsterdoomit]

Ill be honest. I've never even heard of that river / canal system. So thumbs up for that! 👍

[@Kassandra-p6g]

The dams along a river is magnificent for which the flowing water can be precisely controlled and the whole river can serve logistics. By the way, this makes a river navigable.

[@robertcharpentier6852]

There is also a Pacific port in Stockton, California as it lies on the banks of the San Joaquin River, which runs from the Sierra Neveda Mountains down to the San Francisco Bay. I live in Stockton and see ocean going ships traveling up the San Joaquin River to the final docking port in Stockton, which is 100 miles from the Pacific Coast and yet is considered a Pacific port due to it's connection with the San Joaquin River StocktonRob

[@jimmyconway8025]

Drove thru Idaho to Portland. Colombia river gorge is massive This is badass!

[@riecruzer7106]

"Fortunately we ARE not France" might be my favorite HAI quote

[@zacharyelliott7161]

SAME!

[@CorsoandMastiffadventures]

I was in the Coast Guard and worked on the aids to navigation from the pacific to Lewiston. We worked the columbia and sanke river on CGC Bluebell out of Portland, OR. Best job I ever had.

[@samiraperi467]

A "tow" where a tug pushes barges. Makes total sense.

[@philbert006]

Tug boats do not push barges, they assist with port work, tow work, and docking boats. Line boats, or tow boats push a tow of barges.

[@neverbloom4717]

these locks are really cool. we have something like that going across the lower highlands in scotland

[@liamtahaney713]

My wife studies inland waterway transport and has celiac. Sam are your writers stalking her on linkedin 😐

[@TheDroppedAnchor]

Shout out to Marine Highway addicts!! My sympathy for the celiac.

[@nekajuii]

I usually skip the ads (sorry) but Ground News is legitimately such a good service that I use daily that I watched it all just to increase the screentime of that part lol

[@stuartwithers8755]

You know what would make that port and all other US ports more useful? Repealing the Jones Act.

[@z0phi3l]

Now we're talking, but that might also lower prices, and I don't think the government is interested in that

[@tlspud]

The vast majority of those barges are unloaded in Vancouver, WA (directly across from Portland) or Kalama, WA (20-ish miles north of Portland) and put onto giant grain carriers for their trip across the ocean. The Port of VanWA (as they call it) claims to be the county's largest exporter of grain.

[@andyjay729]

And you probably know they then have to be escorted by elite tugboat pilots across the Columbia Bar at the river's mouth, AKA the Graveyard of the Pacific.

[@tlspud]

@andyjay729 I sure do! I've watched them do their thing in the severe chop from a rooftop patio in Astoria, OR. Absolutely amazing to see them ramp those massive ships over those gigantic swells. I would barf. No way I'm crossing the bar in those conditions. There's also a tribute to the bar pilots in the maritime museum there. It's pretty cool.

[@zulta]

Wait, there's something interesting in my home state

[@1985toyotacamry]

I'm very surprised they have that.... That is half as interesting.

[@mt_xing]

Well, half as interesting. Not full interesting. That would be too interesting.

[@atticusrussell1225]

This video is more unhinged than usual and im so here for it

[@OttoMatieque]

I know Lewiston as a major ammunition production city!

[@VaraNiN]

I really appreciate these longer HAI videos

[@Respectable_Username]

Given all the work to keep dredging the river, freight trains do actually sound like a better option. And yes, you can have freight trains multiple kilometres long! It's actually even more efficient like that 😛

[@VileGecko]

Water transport is still the cleanest one emission-wise second only to pipelines. And while dredging does devastate ecosystems to a degree, after it's done for the first time there's not much deteriorating left to happen. Some ecosystems might even be dependent on certain waterways not silting over.

[@uhohhotdog]

Snake River. I heard of that from the Oregon trail

[@vickonator4998]

Yo, I live here! I live in the city next to it! I never thought anyone would talk about the LC Valley! :D

[@FutureSlyty]

Nerd