Photo ©2008 and Commentary ©2026 by Chuck Davis
Monday, January 26, 2026
In my September 22nd post of 2025, I shared a photo of the Columbia River entitled Looking Home. The view was from Cape Horn on Washington Highway 14 looking east towards Stevenson, my childhood home. Today’s image is a view of the Columbia making its way through the Cascade Mountains. The photo was captured from the flanks of Dog Mountain and looks down the river to the west and is again looking towards Stevenson.
Our home was situated on the hills above Stevenson at about the same elevation as this view from Dog Mountain. So, through the front windows of our home we had a remarkably similar view of the river. My father worked on the river as a sawyer at the Stevenson Co-Ply plywood mill.
As we became old enough, we all, my siblings and I, also worked at the plywood mill. The river, in a sense, became our life. We worked around it. Our days were filled with its views, and it was also our playground, where we swam and water skied and had picnics. The Columbia River generates over 40% of the United States’ hydroelectricity. It has the largest discharge by runoff volume (~275,000 cubic feet per second) to the Pacific Ocean.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations (Revelation 22:1-2 NIV).
Considering this passage of scripture, I am glad that the value and importance of a river will be with me through eternity. I am hoping that you will join me and my family on the banks of His River of Life. I look forward to swimming from one side to the other. Perhaps we will share a picnic under the limbs of the Tree of Life.