Malheur River
Encyclopedia
The Malheur River is a 190 miles (306 km) tributary of the Snake River
in eastern Oregon
in the United States
. It drains a high desert
area, between the Harney Basin
and the Blue Mountains
and the Snake.
Despite the similarity of name, the river does not flow into nearby Malheur Lake
, which is located in the enclosed Harney Basin southwest of the watershed of the river.
of southern Grant County
, south of Strawberry Mountain in the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness
. It flows south through Malheur National Forest
, then southeast past Drewsey
and through Warm Springs Reservoir
. At Riverside
in eastern Malheur County
it receives the South Fork Malheur River from the south, then turns sharply back northward to Juntura
, where it receives the North Fork Malheur River
form the north. From Juntura it flows generally east past Vale
, joining the Snake from the west approximately 2 mi (3 km) north of Ontario, Oregon
. The mouth of the Malheur River is approximately at Snake river mile
(RM) 370 or river kilometer (RK) 600.
in the agricultural
potato
-growing in the Snake River Plain
along the Idaho-Oregon border.
There are approximately 370 miles (595.5 km) of irrigation-related canals and ditches in the lower basin of the Malheur River and its tributary Willow Creek. The streamflow of the Malheur and its tributaries is heavily influenced by a complex system of irrigation diversions, siphons, and canals, which begin near Malheur river mile 65, near Namorf and Harper, Oregon
. This irrigation system extends downstream to the mouth of the Malheur at Ontario, Oregon
. Irrigation is used on about 132000 acres (534.2 km²) within the Malheur River basin. The irrigation system is part of the Bureau of Reclamation's
Vale Project, which includes a number of water impoundments, the largest of which are Warm Springs Reservoir on the mainstem Malheur River, Beulah Reservoir on the North Fork Malheur, Bully Creek Reservoir
on Bully Creek, and Malheur Reservoir on Willow Creek. The project is operated and maintained by the Vale-Oregon Irrigation District.
Agricultural runoff has resulted in a phosphorus
pollution problem in its lower reaches.
for "misfortune." The name was attached to the river by French Canadian
voyageur
trappers working for the North West Company
on the Snake County Expeditions of Donald Mackenzie as early as 1818 for the unfortunate circumstance that some beaver furs they had cached there were discovered and stolen by Indians. The name first appears in the record in 1826 when Peter Skene Ogden
, a fur trapper
with the Hudson's Bay Company
, referred to it as "River au Malheur (unfortunate River)" and thereafter as "Unfortunate River."
The river lived up to its name a second time in 1845, when mountain man Stephen Meek
, seeking a faster route along the Oregon Trail
, led a migrant party up the river valley into the high desert along a route that has since become known as the Meek Cutoff. After leaving the river valley the party was unable to find a water supply and lost 23 people by the time they reached The Dalles
on the Columbia River
.
In 1853, 1854 and 1859 the river was used more successfully as the route of the Elliott Cutoff
. The emigrants followed the ruts of Stephen Meek until they reached Harney Basin
. From here they sought more direct routes to the Deschutes River, where they turned south until reaching the Free Emigrant Road. The road was built over the Cascades through Willamette Pass and brought emigrants into Central Oregon.
. In the early 20th century a number of dams on the Snake River blocked fish migration.
Snake River
The Snake is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean...
in eastern Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It drains a high desert
Great Basin Desert
The Great Basin Desert is an area of nearctic high deserts across parts of Nevada, California, and Utah that extends into the Colorado River watershed , but which is mostly a portion of the central Nevada desert basins of the Great Basin.It along with the Escalante Desert, Mohave Desert, the...
area, between the Harney Basin
Harney Basin
The Harney Basin is a structural basin in southeastern Oregon in the United States at the northwestern corner of the Great Basin. One of the least populated areas of the contiguous United States, it is located largely in northern Harney County, bounded on the north and east by the Columbia Plateau,...
and the Blue Mountains
Blue Mountains (Oregon)
The Blue Mountains are a mountain range in the western United States, located largely in northeastern Oregon and stretching into southeastern Washington...
and the Snake.
Despite the similarity of name, the river does not flow into nearby Malheur Lake
Malheur Lake
Malheur Lake is a lake in an arid region of eastern Oregon, United States near Burns, Oregon. The lake is fed by Donner und Blitzen River from the south and the Silvies River from the north. Malheur Lake has no outlet, though water escapes through ground seepage and by evaporation; widespread...
, which is located in the enclosed Harney Basin southwest of the watershed of the river.
Course
The Malheur River rises in the southern Blue MountainsBlue Mountains (Oregon)
The Blue Mountains are a mountain range in the western United States, located largely in northeastern Oregon and stretching into southeastern Washington...
of southern Grant County
Grant County, Oregon
Grant County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is included in the 8 county definition of Eastern Oregon. In 2010, its population was 7,445. It is named for President Ulysses S. Grant, who served as an army officer in the Oregon Territory, and at the time of the county's creation...
, south of Strawberry Mountain in the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness
Strawberry Mountain Wilderness
Strawberry Mountain Wilderness is a wilderness area of the Strawberry Mountain Range, within Malheur National Forest in the Blue Mountains of east Oregon. The area comprises , including mountain peaks and several lakes, and contains more than of hiking trails...
. It flows south through Malheur National Forest
Malheur National Forest
The Malheur National Forest is a National Forest in the U.S. state of Oregon. It contains 1.7 million acres in the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon. The forest include high desert grasslands, sage, juniper, pine, fir, and other tree species. Elevations vary from about 4000 feet to the 9038...
, then southeast past Drewsey
Drewsey, Oregon
Drewsey is an unincorporated community in Harney County, Oregon, United States. Before White settlement, the area was a favorite camping spot for the Paiute tribe of Native Americans. It is located on the middle fork of the Malheur River, about 45 miles east of Burns, off U.S...
and through Warm Springs Reservoir
Warm Springs Reservoir
Warm Springs Reservoir is a reservoir on the line between Harney and Malheur counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located southwest of Juntura at an elevation of...
. At Riverside
Riverside, Malheur County, Oregon
Riverside is an unincorporated community in Malheur County, Oregon, United States. It lies at an elevation of 3343 feet and is part of the Ontario, Oregon–Idaho Micropolitan Statistical Area. Riverside formerly had a post office, with a ZIP code of 97917, which was discontinued in...
in eastern Malheur County
Malheur County, Oregon
Malheur County is a county located in the southeast corner of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is included in the eight-county definition of Eastern Oregon. Most of the county observes the Mountain Time Zone, although the southern quarter of the county observes the Pacific Time Zone along with the...
it receives the South Fork Malheur River from the south, then turns sharply back northward to Juntura
Juntura, Oregon
Juntura is an unincorporated community in Malheur County, Oregon, United States on U.S. Route 20. The word juntura is Spanish for "juncture", and the community was named for its proximity to the confluence of the Malheur River with its north fork. The name was probably selected by local settler B. L...
, where it receives the North Fork Malheur River
North Fork Malheur River
The North Fork Malheur River is a tributary of the Malheur River in eastern Oregon in the United States. Rising in Big Cow Burn in the Blue Mountains, it flows generally south to join the larger river at Juntura. The upper of the river have been designated Wild and Scenic. This part of the river...
form the north. From Juntura it flows generally east past Vale
Vale, Oregon
Vale is a city in Malheur County, Oregon, United States, about west of the Idaho border. It is at the intersection of U.S. Routes 20 and 26, on the Malheur River.Vale was selected as Malheur's county seat in 1955, 68 years after the county was founded...
, joining the Snake from the west approximately 2 mi (3 km) north of Ontario, Oregon
Ontario, Oregon
Ontario is the largest city in Malheur County, Oregon, United States. It lies along the Snake River at the Idaho border. The population was 10,985 at the 2000 census, with an estimated population of 11,245 in 2006...
. The mouth of the Malheur River is approximately at Snake river mile
River mile
In the United States, a River mile is a measure of distance in miles along a river from its mouth. River mile numbers begin at zero and increase further upstream. The corresponding metric unit using kilometers is the River kilometer...
(RM) 370 or river kilometer (RK) 600.
River modifications
The lower Malheur River is used for irrigationIrrigation
Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
in the agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
-growing in the Snake River Plain
Snake River Plain
The Snake River Plain is a geologic feature located primarily within the state of Idaho in the United States of America. It stretches about westward from northwest of the state of Wyoming to the Idaho-Oregon border. The plain is a wide flat bow-shaped depression, and covers about a quarter of Idaho...
along the Idaho-Oregon border.
There are approximately 370 miles (595.5 km) of irrigation-related canals and ditches in the lower basin of the Malheur River and its tributary Willow Creek. The streamflow of the Malheur and its tributaries is heavily influenced by a complex system of irrigation diversions, siphons, and canals, which begin near Malheur river mile 65, near Namorf and Harper, Oregon
Harper, Oregon
Harper is an unincorporated community in Malheur County, Oregon, United States. Although it is unincorporated, it has a post office with a ZIP code of 97906. Harper lies off U.S. Route 20 southwest of Vale.-Transportation:...
. This irrigation system extends downstream to the mouth of the Malheur at Ontario, Oregon
Ontario, Oregon
Ontario is the largest city in Malheur County, Oregon, United States. It lies along the Snake River at the Idaho border. The population was 10,985 at the 2000 census, with an estimated population of 11,245 in 2006...
. Irrigation is used on about 132000 acres (534.2 km²) within the Malheur River basin. The irrigation system is part of the Bureau of Reclamation's
United States Bureau of Reclamation
The United States Bureau of Reclamation , and formerly the United States Reclamation Service , is an agency under the U.S...
Vale Project, which includes a number of water impoundments, the largest of which are Warm Springs Reservoir on the mainstem Malheur River, Beulah Reservoir on the North Fork Malheur, Bully Creek Reservoir
Bully Creek Reservoir
Bully Creek Reservoir is a reservoir in Malheur County of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is an impoundment of Bully Creek, a tributary of the Malheur River....
on Bully Creek, and Malheur Reservoir on Willow Creek. The project is operated and maintained by the Vale-Oregon Irrigation District.
Agricultural runoff has resulted in a phosphorus
Phosphorus
Phosphorus is the chemical element that has the symbol P and atomic number 15. A multivalent nonmetal of the nitrogen group, phosphorus as a mineral is almost always present in its maximally oxidized state, as inorganic phosphate rocks...
pollution problem in its lower reaches.
History
The name of the river is derived from the FrenchFrench language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
for "misfortune." The name was attached to the river by French Canadian
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
voyageur
Voyageurs
The Voyageurs were the persons who engaged in the transportation of furs by canoe during the fur trade era. Voyageur is a French word which literally translates to "traveler"...
trappers working for the North West Company
North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada...
on the Snake County Expeditions of Donald Mackenzie as early as 1818 for the unfortunate circumstance that some beaver furs they had cached there were discovered and stolen by Indians. The name first appears in the record in 1826 when Peter Skene Ogden
Peter Skene Ogden
Peter Skene Ogden , was a fur trader and a Canadian explorer of what is now British Columbia and the American West...
, a fur trapper
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
with the Hudson's Bay Company
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...
, referred to it as "River au Malheur (unfortunate River)" and thereafter as "Unfortunate River."
The river lived up to its name a second time in 1845, when mountain man Stephen Meek
Stephen Meek (guide)
Stephen Hall Meek was a fur trapper and guide in the American west, most notably a guide on a large wagon train known as St. Joseph's Company...
, seeking a faster route along the Oregon Trail
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between.After 1840 steam-powered riverboats and steamboats traversing up and down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers sped settlement and development in the flat...
, led a migrant party up the river valley into the high desert along a route that has since become known as the Meek Cutoff. After leaving the river valley the party was unable to find a water supply and lost 23 people by the time they reached The Dalles
The Dalles, Oregon
The Dalles is the largest city and county seat of Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The name of the city comes from the French word dalle The Dalles is the largest city and county seat of Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The name of the city comes from the French word dalle The Dalles is...
on the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
.
In 1853, 1854 and 1859 the river was used more successfully as the route of the Elliott Cutoff
Elliott Cutoff
The Elliott Cutoff was a covered wagon road that branched off the Oregon Trail at the Malheur River where present-day Vale, Oregon, U.S. is today. The first portion of the road was originally known as the Meek Cutoff after Stephen Meek, a former trapper who led over 1,000 emigrants into the Harney...
. The emigrants followed the ruts of Stephen Meek until they reached Harney Basin
Harney Basin
The Harney Basin is a structural basin in southeastern Oregon in the United States at the northwestern corner of the Great Basin. One of the least populated areas of the contiguous United States, it is located largely in northern Harney County, bounded on the north and east by the Columbia Plateau,...
. From here they sought more direct routes to the Deschutes River, where they turned south until reaching the Free Emigrant Road. The road was built over the Cascades through Willamette Pass and brought emigrants into Central Oregon.
Natural history
The Malheur River watershed was once a major spawning ground for anadromous fish such as salmonSalmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
. In the early 20th century a number of dams on the Snake River blocked fish migration.