The Meadow Valley Wash is a southern Nevada stream draining the Meadow Watershed that is bordered on three sides by the

Great Basin Divide The Great Basin Divide in the western United States is the ridgeline that separates the Great Basin from the Pacific Ocean watershed, which completely surrounds it. The Great Basin is the largest set of contiguous endorheic watersheds of N ...

. The wash's Lincoln County head point is in the

Wilson Creek Range The Wilson Creek Range is a mountain range in Lincoln County, Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to t ...

, and the wash includes two upper confluences (e.g., the

Patterson Wash Patterson may refer to: People * Patterson (surname) Places ;Canada *Pattersons Corners, Ontario *Patterson Township, Ontario *Patterson, Calgary a neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta. ;United States of America *Patterson, Arkansas *Patterson, Cal ...

Panaca Panaca may refer to: ;In the United States * Panaca, Nevada, an unincorporated town in Lincoln County ** Panaca Summit Archeological District, near the above community * Panaca Formation, a geologic formation in Nevada ;Elsewhere * PANACA, or (Spa ...

is along the upper wash, and downstream of Caliente is the wash's confluence with its east fork. Just before the junction with the Muddy River, the wash flows from Lincoln County into northeastern Clark County. It flows into the Muddy in the

Moapa Valley Moapa Valley is an unincorporated town in Clark County, Nevada, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 6,924. The valley in which the community lies, also named Moapa Valley, is about long and lies roughly northwest to sou ...

just west of

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia * Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre *Glendale, Queensland, ...

adjacent to

Interstate 15 Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexico–United States border, Mexican border i ...

approximately northwest of

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. In addition to the Wilson Creek Range, the watershed's drainage divide is in the

Delamar Mountains The Delamar Mountains are a mountain range in Lincoln County, Nevada, named after Captain Joseph Raphael De Lamar. The range extends for approximately in a NNE–SSW orientation with a width of about . Surrounding ranges include the Burnt Spring ...

(to the west) and the Meadow Valley Range (east). The northern tip of the watershed is a

triple watershed A triple divide or triple watershed is a point on the Earth's surface where three drainage basins meet. A triple divide results from the intersection of two drainage divides. Triple divides range from topographic prominence, prominent mountain ...

point with two

Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...

subregions: the Central Nevada Desert Basins and the Escalante-Sevier subregion.

History

William Andrews Clark's 1903–1910 railroad that linked

Pioche Pioche is an unincorporated town in Lincoln County, Nevada, United States, approximately northeast of Las Vegas. U.S. Route 93 is the main route to Pioche and bypasses the town center just to the east, with Nevada State Route 321 and Nevad ...

and

operated through the wash until washed out by flooding.

References

Rivers of Nevada Tributaries of the Colorado River in Nevada Rivers of Lincoln County, Nevada {{Nevada-river-stub