Roe River

History

A successful campaign to get the Roe River recognized by the Guinness World Records as the shortest river in the world originated in 1987 with fifth-grade students of teacher Susie Nardlinger at Lincoln Elementary School in Great Falls. The river was unnamed at the time, so the students first had to petition the United States Board on Geographic Names to accept their proposed name, Roe River, then submit their proposal to Guinness. The children's name likely came from the Giant Springs Trout Hatchery adjoining the springs and which receives 650 – of spring water per minute used in primarily raising rainbow trout from their own roe (eggs). In 1988 future NFL football player Dallas Neil, then a student at the school, put in an appearance on The Tonight Show as part of this effort.

Previously, Oregon's D River was listed in Guinness World Records as the world's shortest river at 440 ft. This title was contested in 1989 when Guinness named the Roe River as the world's shortest. Not to be deterred, the people of Lincoln City submitted a new measurement of the D River to Guinness of about 120 ft long, when marked at "extreme high tide".

At that time, Lincoln City's Chamber of Commerce described the Roe as a "drainage ditch surveyed for a school project". Nardlinger shot back that the D was merely an "ocean water backup", pointed out that there was an alternative fork to the Roe which was only 30 ft long, and suggested that a new survey be conducted.

Guinness apparently never ruled on the dispute, leaving the claim by the Roe stand, but instead chose to no longer list a shortest river, possibly as a result of this ongoing dispute.

References

References

1. {{GNIS. 767954
2. (2012-06-18). "What's the World's Shortest River?".
3. Finley, Carmel. (1988-05-04). "D River Reclaims 'Lost' Title". [[The Oregonian]].