The South Fork Humboldt River is a river in
Elko 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 the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
, United States.
Description
left, South Fork Canyon, looking south
The river originates in a fan-shaped group of canyons draining the western slopes of the
Ruby Mountains
The Ruby Mountains are a mountain range, primarily located within Elko County with a small extension into White Pine County, in Nevada, United States. Most of the range is included within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. The range reache ...
in northeastern Nevada. These headwaters run from
Ruby Dome
Ruby Dome is the highest mountain in both the Ruby Mountains and Elko County, in 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 ...
south to
King Peak and include Echo, Box, Kleckner, North Furlong, Long, Segunda, Drown, and Rattlesnake Canyons. Streams draining these canyons exit the mountains and converge at an elevation of , near the town of
Lee and within the tribal lands of the
Te-Moak tribe of the South Fork Band of the Western
Shoshone.
Continuing its northwest course, the river merges with the flow of Huntington Creek, passes through the historic area of Twin Bridges, and then enters the more recent South Fork Reservoir,
State Park, and
South Fork Dam
The South Fork Dam was an earthenwork dam forming Lake Conemaugh (formerly Western Reservoir, also known as the Old Reservoir and Three Mile Dam, a misnomer), an artificial body of water near South Fork, Pennsylvania, United States. On May 31, 1 ...
dating from 1988. It then passes through South Fork Canyon, which merges with Tenmile and Dixie creeks' flows. It was here that, on September 25, 1846, the
Donner Party
The Donner Party, sometimes called the Donner–Reed Party, was a group of American pioneers who migrated to California in a wagon train from the Midwest. Delayed by a multitude of mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–1847 snowbound in th ...
wagon train completed the segment of their journey on the
Hastings Cutoff
The Hastings Cutoff was an alternative route for westward emigrants to travel to California, as proposed by Lansford Hastings in ''The Emigrant's Guide to Oregon and California''. The ill-fated Donner Party infamously took the route in 1846.
De ...
, and rejoined the original
California Trail.
After an estimated total of , the South Fork flows into the main branch of the
Humboldt River
The Humboldt River is an extensive river drainage system located in north-central Nevada. It extends in a general east-to-west direction from its headwaters in the Jarbidge, Independence, and Ruby Mountains in Elko County, to its terminus in th ...
at approximately and at an elevation of , about southwest of the city of
Elko.
See also
*
List of rivers in Nevada
References
External links
Tributaries of the Humboldt River
Rivers of Elko County, Nevada
Rivers of Nevada
Rivers of the Great Basin
{{Nevada-river-stub
