Willow Creek is a tributary of the

Malheur River The Malheur River (local pronunciation: "MAL-hyure") is a tributary of the Snake River in eastern Oregon in the United States. It drains a Great Basin Desert, high desert area, between the Harney Basin and the Blue Mountains (Oregon), Blue Moun ...

Malheur County Malheur County () is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the population was 31,571. Its county seat is Vale, and its largest city is Ontario. The county was named after the Malheur River, which runs thr ...

in the U.S. state of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. Reference states that Willow Creek is dammed from its mouth. The remaining distance is an estimate based on map scale and ruler. The creek, which forms at above sea level and ends at , flows generally southeast between Ironside and

Vale A vale is a type of valley. Vale may also refer to: Places Georgia * Vale, Georgia, a town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region Norway * Våle, a historic municipality Portugal * Vale (Santa Maria da Feira), a former civil parish in the municipali ...

. Willow Creek's watershed covers of relatively arid land. Willow Creek begins at the confluence of its Middle and South forks, slightly north of Ironside and

U.S. Route 26 U.S. Route 26 (US 26) is an east–west United States highway that runs from Seaside, Oregon to Ogallala, Nebraska. When the U.S. highway system was first defined, it was limited to Nebraska and Wyoming; by the 1950s, it continued into Idaho and ...

. It flows northeast away from Route 26 to Malheur Reservoir, then turns southeast by Huntington Junction before reaching Route 26 again at

Brogan Brogan or O'Brogan, is a surname originating in Ireland, anglicized from the original Ó Brógáin. The form McBrogan, is also present sharing the meaning of O'Brogan, essentially "son of Brogan." The name can be traced back to ancient King Breo ...

. The creek continues southeast, roughly parallel to the highway, through Jamieson and Willowcreek before reaching Vale. It enters the Malheur River about from the larger stream's confluence with the

Snake River The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snake ...

. Irrigated farming in the basin produces

sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wi ...

s, onions, potatoes, corn, mint, grain,

alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, and silage, as w ...

seed, vegetable seed, and hay. Between Brogan and Vale, the creek has been turned into a drainage and irrigation canal for farms. Above Brogan, as far as the Malheur Reservoir, from the mouth, the historic stream was dredged and placer-mined for gold and silver. Water flow for much of the creek is controlled by releases from the reservoir. The upper creek is also used for irrigation. Fishing on the main stem above Malheur Reservoir and along Middle and South Willow creeks is good for native

Great Basin redband trout The Great Basin redband trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss newberrii'') is one of three redband trout subspecies of the rainbow trout in the western United States. The Great Basin redband trout is native to drainages in south central Oregon east of th ...

and "hatchery trout escapees from the reservoir". The creeks also have a population of

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

; catches averaging are the norm. The Willow and its forks are not heavily fished.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Oregon Rivers of Morrow County, Oregon Rivers of Gilliam County, Oregon

See also

References