River barge transporting logs and wheat grain on the Snake River winding in the canon below Lower Granite Dam in the distance with ripe wheat fields growing on rolling landscape Palouse hills in the foreground. - stock photo

About 9-million tons of commercial cargo, valued around $3 billion, is transported through the lock system each year on the Columbia-Snake navigation system ipart of a larger waterborne commerce system that is vital to the economic health of the Pacific Northwest. This import/export gateway allows river transport 465 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean to Lewiston, Idaho passing through several dam locks along the way. The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At 1,078 miles (1,735 km) long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean.[9] The Snake River rises in western Wyoming, then flows through the Snake River Plain of southern Idaho, the rugged Hells Canyon on the Oregon–Idaho border and the rolling Palouse Hills of Washington, emptying into the Columbia River at the Tri-Cities, Washington. The Palouse is a region in south eastern Washington characterized by gentle rolling hills covered with wheat fields. The hills were formed over tens of thousands of years from wind blown dust and silt, called "loess", from dry regions to the south west. In the spring they are lush shades of green when the wheat and barley are young, and in the summer they are dry shades of brown when the crops are ready for harvest.