Jordan Creek (Owyhee River)
Encyclopedia
Jordan Creek is a 99 miles (159.3 km) tributary of the Owyhee River
in the northwestern United States. It flows generally west from near Silver City, Idaho
, in the Owyhee Mountains
to near Rome
in the Oregon High Desert. Major tributaries are Big Boulder, Soda, Louse, Spring, Rock, Meadow, Combination, and Louisa creeks in Idaho and Cow Creek in Oregon. The creek is named for Michael M. Jordan, who led a party that discovered gold along the creek in 1863.
, is the basin's only population center that has permanent, year-round residents, while Silver City has mostly part-time or weekend residents.
Land use in the watershed is divided among irrigated agriculture, range land, forests, mining, and riparian zone
s. The primary uses are cow-calf grazing in the uplands and hay production in the irrigated lowlands. Average precipitation varies from about 21 inches (53.3 cm) a year in the mountains of Idaho to about 11 inches (27.9 cm) in the plateaus of eastern Oregon. To control water flow for irrigation, most of the watershed's hydrology
has been modified to some degree by large reservoirs in Oregon and in-stream diversions in Idaho.
Owyhee River
The Owyhee River is a tributary of the Snake River located in northern Nevada, southwestern Idaho and southeastern Oregon in the United States. It is long. The river's drainage basin is in area, one of the largest subbasins of the Columbia Basin...
in the northwestern United States. It flows generally west from near Silver City, Idaho
Silver City, Idaho
Silver City is a ghost town in Owyhee County, Idaho, United States. At its height in the 1880s it was a gold and silver mining town with a population of around 2,500 and approximately 75 businesses. Silver City served as county seat of Owyhee County from 1867 to 1934. Today, the town has about 70...
, in the Owyhee Mountains
Owyhee Mountains
The Owyhee Mountains are a mountain range in Owyhee County, Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon.- References :...
to near Rome
Rome, Oregon
Rome is an unincorporated community in Malheur County, Oregon, United States, part of the Ontario, OR–ID Micropolitan Statistical Area. In the sparsely populated high desert of southeastern Oregon, Rome is immediately west of the Owyhee River on US-95, approximately 12 miles northeast of...
in the Oregon High Desert. Major tributaries are Big Boulder, Soda, Louse, Spring, Rock, Meadow, Combination, and Louisa creeks in Idaho and Cow Creek in Oregon. The creek is named for Michael M. Jordan, who led a party that discovered gold along the creek in 1863.
Watershed
Jordan Creek's watershed of 1305 mi2 is almost evenly divided between the two states, 46 percent in Idaho and 54 percent in Oregon. Although the upper parts of the basin in the Silver City Mountain Range supported mining camps and towns in the late 19th century through the early 20th century, they were generally abandoned when the gold and silver played out. Much of the population in the 21st century lives on small homesteads, ranches, and farms scattered throughout the watershed. Jordan Valley, OregonJordan Valley, Oregon
Jordan Valley is a city in Malheur County, Oregon, United States. It is part of the Ontario, OR–ID Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city was named after Jordan Creek, a tributary of Owyhee River, which runs through the city; the creek is named for a 19th century prospector, Michael M. Jordan...
, is the basin's only population center that has permanent, year-round residents, while Silver City has mostly part-time or weekend residents.
Land use in the watershed is divided among irrigated agriculture, range land, forests, mining, and riparian zone
Riparian zone
A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the fifteen terrestrial biomes of the earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks are called riparian vegetation, characterized by...
s. The primary uses are cow-calf grazing in the uplands and hay production in the irrigated lowlands. Average precipitation varies from about 21 inches (53.3 cm) a year in the mountains of Idaho to about 11 inches (27.9 cm) in the plateaus of eastern Oregon. To control water flow for irrigation, most of the watershed's hydrology
Hydrology
Hydrology is the study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water on Earth and other planets, including the hydrologic cycle, water resources and environmental watershed sustainability...
has been modified to some degree by large reservoirs in Oregon and in-stream diversions in Idaho.
Discharge
Based on 28 years of record-keeping from 1946 to 1971 and from 2003 to 2004, the average discharge of Jordan Creek, measured about 4 miles (6 km) upstream of the Oregon–Idaho border, is 183 cuft/s. The lowest recorded discharge was 1.2 cuft/s in September 1962, and the highest was 7530 cuft/s on December 31, 1965. This flow came from slightly less than 46 percent of the total watershed.See also
- List of rivers of Oregon
- List of longest streams of Oregon
- List of rivers of Idaho
Works cited
- Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). (2009). Jordan Creek Subbasin Assessment and Total Maximum Daily Load (PDF). Retrieved September 12, 2010.
- McArthur, Lewis A., and McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names, 7th ed. Portland: Oregon Historical Society Press. ISBN 0-87595-277-1.
- National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) (2010). [ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/ID/technical/watersheds/jordan_revised.pdf Jordan – 17050108, 8 Digit Hydrologic Unit Profile] (PDF). Retrieved September 10, 2010.