The White River is a small and discontinuous river located in southeastern

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, ...

notable for several endemic species of

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% ...

. The river was named for F. A. White, a 19th-century explorer.

Course

The White River begins at the Great Basin Divide in the White Pine Range near

Ely Ely or ELY may refer to: Places Ireland * Éile, a medieval kingdom commonly anglicised Ely * Ely Place, Dublin, a street United Kingdom * Ely, Cambridgeshire, a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England ** Ely Cathedral ** Ely Rural District, a ...

, where it is fed by snowmelt and springs from

Currant Mountain Currant Mountain is the highest mountain in the White Pine Range in White Pine County, Nevada, United States. It is the twenty-first-highest mountain in the state, and also ranks as the sixteenth-most topographically prominent peak in the state. ...

. It passes by the towns of

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

and Lund, flowing south through the White River Valley more or less continuously for about . Along the way it receives water from various springs on the slopes of the Grant Range to the west and the Egan Range to the east. It provides the water for a string of reservoirs along its course in the Sunnyside area, the largest being Adams-McGill Reservoir. State Route 318 runs mostly parallel to the river. The river channel is dry for some distance, then the water flows again in the

Pahranagat Valley The Pahranagat Valley is a Tonopah Basin landform in Lincoln County, Nevada. The more fertile part of Pahranagat Valley is a narrow ribbon of green (no more than wide) like an oasis in the vast Nevada desert. It is approximately long running n ...

for about , from the vicinity of

Hiko Hiko may refer to: * Hiko, Nevada * the male or gender neutral version of Hime * Hiko (juggling), juggling in Tongan dance, see Ula (dance) * Mount Hiko in Japan {{disambiguation ...

and Crystal Springs, passing close by

Alamo The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna reclaimed the Alamo Mission near San An ...

, feeding

Upper Pahranagat Lake Upper may refer to: * Shoe upper or ''vamp'', the part of a shoe on the top of the foot * Stimulant, drugs which induce temporary improvements in either mental or physical function or both * ''Upper'', the original film title for the 2013 found fo ...

and the marshes between it and the lower lake (which collectively form the Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge). The channel continues into

Coyote Springs Valley Coyote Springs, Nevada, is a master-planned community being developed in Lincoln County and Clark County, Nevada. The community was initially planned by developer and attorney-lobbyist Harvey Whittemore and Pardee Homes. Thomas Seeno and Albe ...

(location of the planned community Coyote Springs), becoming the Pahranagat Wash, which in turn connects to the Muddy River and thence to

Lake Mead Lake Mead is a reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in the Southwestern United States. It is located in the states of Nevada and Arizona, east of Las Vegas. It is the largest reservoir in the US in terms of water capacity. ...

. Many of the springs supplying the river are now used for irrigation, and a number of the springs have temperatures over .

Fish

The White River system features several

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

fish species: *

White River Colorado gila White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

''Gila robusta jordani'' * White River speckled dace ''Rhinichthys osculus velifer'' * White River spinedace ''Lepidomeda albivallis''. Less than 50 of this endangered fish remained in 1993. * Pahranagat spinedace ''Lepidomeda altivelis'' *

White River springfish The White River springfish (''Crenichthys baileyi'') is a species of fish in the family Goodeidae, the splitfins. It is a rare species of the Great Basin of western United States, where it is endemism, endemic to isolated warm springs in the Whit ...

''Crenichthys baileyi'' Also named for the area is the White River mountainsucker (''Pantosteus intermedius'') subspecies.

References

External links

Web-book: ''White River Valley, Nevada -- Then and Now 1898 to 1980''
{{authority control Rivers of Nevada Tributaries of the Colorado River Rivers of Clark County, Nevada Rivers of White Pine County, Nevada Rivers of Nye County, Nevada Rivers of Lincoln County, Nevada

Course

Fish

See also

References

External links