Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Rhône begins at the Rhône Glacier in the Swiss canton of Valais, at an altitude of approximately 2,208 metres, and ends by discharging into the Mediterranean Sea at the Gulf of Lion. At Arles it divides into the Grand Rhône and the Petit Rhône, the two arms forming the Camargue delta.
The Rhône is classified as a Class V waterway for 325 kilometres from Lyon to Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône at the sea. An additional 149-kilometre section upstream from Lyon was made navigable for small ships as far as Seyssel.
The name Rhône derives from the Gaulish Rodonos or Rotonos, traced to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to run, roll." It passed into Latin as Rhodanus and Greek as Rhodanós before becoming the modern French Rhône.
The twelve hydroelectric plants built on the Rhône between 1964 and 1980 produce 13 GWh of electricity annually, covering 16% of France's total hydroelectric output. Adding the Upper Rhône schemes raises that share to 20%.
Regular steam passenger services on the Rhône began in 1829 and continued until 1952. The first experimental steamboat had been built at Lyon by Jouffroy d'Abbans as early as 1783.
The Compagnie Nationale du Rhône, or CNR, was established in 1933 to improve navigation on the river, generate hydroelectric power, develop irrigated agriculture, and protect riverside towns from flooding. It built the major dam and lock infrastructure along the Rhône through the latter half of the twentieth century.