Exhibit 99.1 Press Release

                   Columbia Bancorp Announces CFO Departure

    THE DALLES, Ore., Oct. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Columbia Bancorp
(Nasdaq: CBBO) today announced that Greg Spear has resigned as Chief Financial
Officer (CFO) for Columbia River Bank and Columbia Bancorp. Spear is relocating
with his family to Bellingham, Washington where he accepted the CFO position at
Horizon Bank. Columbia River Bank's Chief Accounting Officer, Staci Coburn, will
assume the CFO duties.

    "Greg has served as an integral part of helping build Columbia Bancorp over
the past several years," says Columbia River Bank's President and CEO, Terry
Cochran. "We thank him for his contributions and wish him the best at Horizon
Bank."

    Staci Coburn, CPA, is a 10 year member of Columbia River Bank's finance team
and will continue to lead the bank's financial management team and corporate
business services. "We're fortunate to have Staci's remarkable financial
experience and banking insights during these extraordinary economic times,"
added Cochran.

    With the recent announcement of veteran banker Terry Cochran as President
and CEO, Columbia Bancorp and Columbia River Bank is committed to building a
solid leadership foundation as the bank returns to its roots, focused on
exceptionally servicing its valued community customers.

    ABOUT COLUMBIA BANCORP

    Columbia Bancorp (http://www.columbiabancorp.comis the financial holding
company for Columbia River Bank, which operates 22 branches located in The
Dalles (2), Hood River, Bend (3), Madras, Redmond (2), Pendleton, Hermiston,
McMinnville, Lake Oswego, Canby, and Newberg, Oregon, and in Goldendale, White
Salmon, Sunnyside, Yakima, Vancouver, Pasco and Richland, Washington. To
supplement its community banking services, Columbia River Bank also provides
brokerage services through CRB Financial Services Team.

    FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

    This press release contains various forward-looking statements about plans
and anticipated results of operations and financial condition relating to
Columbia Bancorp. These statements include statements about management's present
plans and intentions about our strategy, growth, and deployment of resources,
and about management's expectations for future financial performance. Readers
can sometimes identify forward-looking statements by the use of prospective
language and context, including words like "may", "will", "should", "expect",
"anticipate", "estimate", "continue", "plans", "intends", or other similar
terminology. Because forward-looking statements are, in part, an attempt to
project future events and explain management's current plans, they are subject
to various risks and uncertainties which could cause our actions and our
financial and operational results to differ materially from those set forth in
such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, our
ability to estimate accurately the collectability of our loans, economic and
other factors which affect the collectability of our loans, the impact of
banking laws and regulations, competition, and fluctuations in market interest
rates on Columbia's revenues and margins, management's ability to generate
growth from core operations in the face of the announced staffing reductions,
and other risks and uncertainties that we have in the past, or that we may from
time to time in the future, detail in our filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission ("SEC"). Information presented in this release is accurate
as of the date on which the release was issued, and we cannot undertake to
update our forward-looking statements or the factors that may cause us to
deviate from them, except as required by law.

CONTACT:  Terry  L. Cochran
          President and CEO
          +1-541-298-6633
          tcochran@columbiariverbank.com

          or

          Staci L. Coburn
          CVP and CAO
          +1-541-298-3169
          scoburn@columbiariverbank.com

both of Columbia Bancorp

Web site:  http://www.columbiabancorp.com