Jordan Creek is a tributary of the
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.Owyhee Rive accessed November 3, 2019
The river's drainage basin is in area, one of the l ...
in the northwestern United States.
It generally flows west from near
Silver City, Idaho
Silver City is a ghost town in northwestern Owyhee County, Idaho, United States, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). At its height in the 1880s, it was a gold and silver mining town with a population of around 2,500 ...
, in the
Owyhee Mountains
The Owyhee Mountains are a mountain range in Owyhee County, Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon.
Mahogany Mountain and the associated volcanic craters of the Lake Owyhee volcanic field are in the Owyhee Mountains of Oregon just east of the Owyhee R ...
to near
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
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.
[NRCS, p. 10] 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 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.
[Idaho DEQ, pp. 31–32] Much of the population in the 21st century lives on small homesteads, ranches, and farms scattered throughout the watershed.
Jordan 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 lies along Jordan Creek, a tributary of the Owyhee River; the creek is named for a 19th-century pr ...
, is the basin's only population center that has permanent, year-round residents, while Silver City has mostly part-time or weekend residents.
[Idaho DEQ, p. xviii]
Land use in the watershed is divided among irrigated agriculture, range land, forests, mining, and
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 terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks ar ...
s.
The primary uses are
cow-calf
In rail transport, a cow-calf (also cow and calf) locomotive is a set of switcher-type diesel locomotives. The set usually is a pair; some 3-unit sets (with two calves, also known as herds) were built, but this was rare. A cow is equipped with a ...
grazing in the uplands and hay production in the irrigated lowlands.
Average precipitation varies from about a year in the mountains of Idaho to about in the plateaus of eastern Oregon.
[Idaho DEQ, p. 1] To control water flow for irrigation, most of the watershed's
hydrology
Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is calle ...
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 upstream of the Oregon–Idaho border, is .
The lowest recorded discharge was in September 1962, and the highest was on December 31, 1965.
This flow came from slightly less than 46 percent of the total watershed.
See also
*
List of rivers of Oregon
This is a partial listing of rivers in the state of Oregon, United States. This list of Oregon rivers is organized alphabetically and by tributary structure. The list may also include streams known as creeks, brooks, forks, branches and prongs, a ...
*
List of longest streams of Oregon
Seventy-seven rivers and creeks of at least 50 miles (80 km) in total length are the longest streams of the U.S. state of Oregon. All of these streams originate in the United States except the longest, the Columbia, which begins in the ...
*
List of rivers of Idaho
This is a list of rivers in the U.S. state of Idaho.
By drainage basin
This list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries indented under each larger stream's name.
Pacific Ocean
*''Columbia River (WA)''
**Snake River
***Palouse ...
*
List of longest streams of Idaho
A total of seventy streams that are at least long flow through the U.S. state of Idaho. All of these streams originate in the United States except the Kootenai River (third-longest) and the Moyie River (thirty-first-longest), both of which beg ...
References
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)
928
Year 928 ( CMXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* King Rudolph I loses the support of Herbert II, count of Vermandois, who controls the pr ...
''Oregon Geographic Names'', 7th ed. Portland: Oregon Historical Society Press. .
* National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) (2010).
tp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/ID/technical/watersheds/jordan_revised.pdf Jordan – 17050108, 8 Digit Hydrologic Unit Profile(PDF). Retrieved September 10, 2010.
{{authority control
Rivers of Idaho
Rivers of Oregon
Owyhee River
Rivers of Malheur County, Oregon
Rivers of Owyhee County, Idaho