The Palouse River is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

of 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 ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

and

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Monta ...

, in the

northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each s ...

United States. It flows for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed May 3, 2011 southwestwards, primarily through the

Palouse The Palouse ( ) is a distinct geographic region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of north central Idaho, southeastern Washington, and, by some definitions, parts of northeast Oregon. It is a major agricultural area, primar ...

region of southeastern Washington. It is part of the

Columbia River Basin The Columbia River drainage basin is the drainage basin of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It covers . In common usage, the term often refers to a smaller area, generally the portion of the drainage basin t ...

, as the Snake River is a tributary of the

Columbia River The Columbia River ( Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia ...

. Its canyon was carved out by a fork in the catastrophic

Missoula Floods The Missoula floods (also known as the Spokane floods or the Bretz floods or Bretz's floods) were cataclysmic glacial lake outburst floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Gorge at the end of the las ...

of the previous

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

, which spilled over the northern

Columbia Plateau The Columbia Plateau is a geologic and geographic region that lies across parts of the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. It is a wide flood basalt plateau between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains, cut through by the Col ...

and flowed into the Snake River, eroding the river's present course in a few thousand years.

Course

The Palouse River flows from

northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a r ...

into southeast Washington through the

region, named for the river. The river originates in Idaho in northeastern

Latah County Latah County ( ) is a County (United States), county located in the North Central Idaho, north central region of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 39,517. The county seat and largest c ...

, in the

Hoodoo Mountains The Hoodoo Mountains are a mountain range in the northwest United States, in north central Idaho. They are part of the Clearwater Mountains and are the source of the Potlatch and Palouse rivers. Located in northeastern Latah County and south ...

in the

St. Joe National Forest The St. Joe National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in the Idaho panhandle and is one of three forests that are aggregated into the Idaho Panhandle National Forests (the other two are the Coeur d'Alene and Kaniksu National Forests). ...

. It flows westward, near State Highway 6, as it nears the state line. In Washington, the river flows in Whitman County to

and then to Colfax, where it meets its South Fork, which originates on the south slopes of Moscow Mountain of the Palouse Range, flows south of

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

and west to Pullman. (Paradise Creek parallels the South Fork, running through Moscow to Pullman, accompanied by the Bill Chipman Palouse Trail and State Route 270.) From Colfax, the river meanders west and ends up in the lower

southwest of Hooper, but not before dropping over

Palouse Falls Palouse Falls is a waterfall on the Palouse River, about upstream of the confluence with the Snake River in southeast Washington, United States. The falls are in height. The falls consist of an upper fall with a drop around , which lies north ...

. The Palouse River enters the Snake River below the

Little Goose Dam Little Goose Lock and Dam is a hydroelectric, concrete, run-of-the-river dam in the northwest United States, on the lower Snake River in southeast Washington. At the dam, the river is the border between Columbia and Whitman counties; it is ...

and above the

Lower Monumental Dam Lower Monumental Lock and Dam is a hydroelectric, concrete, run-of-the-river dam in the northwest United States. Located on the lower Snake River in southeast Washington, it bridges Franklin and Walla Walla counties; it is south of Kahl ...

Basin and discharge

The Palouse River's

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

is in area.Palouse Subbasin Plan
, Northwest Power and Conservation Council Its mean annual

discharge Discharge may refer to Expel or let go * Discharge, the act of firing a gun * Discharge, or termination of employment, the end of an employee's duration with an employer * Military discharge, the release of a member of the armed forces from ser ...

, as measured by

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

gage 13351000 at Hooper (

river mile A river mile is a measure of distance in miles along a river from its mouth. River mile numbers begin at zero and increase further upstream. The corresponding metric unit using kilometers is the river kilometer. They are analogous to vehicle ro ...

19.6), is , with a maximum daily recorded flow of , and a minimum of zero flow.

Geology

The

that swept periodically across eastern Washington and across the

Columbia River Plateau The Columbia Plateau is a geologic and geographic region that lies across parts of the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. It is a wide flood basalt plateau between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains, cut through by the Columbi ...

during the

Pleistocene epoch The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the '' Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed i ...

carved out the Palouse River Canyon, which is deep in places. The ancestral Palouse River flowed through the now-dry Washtucna

Coulee Coulee, or coulée ( or ) is a term applied rather loosely to different landforms, all of which refer to a kind of valley or drainage zone. The word ''coulee'' comes from the Canadian French ''coulée'', from French ''couler'' 'to flow'. The ...

directly into the

. The present-day canyon was created when the Missoula Floods overtopped the northern drainage divide of the ancestral Palouse River, diverting it to the current course to the Snake River by eroding a new, deeper channel. The area is characterized by interconnected and hanging flood-created coulees, cataracts, plunge pools, kolk created potholes, rock benches, buttes and pinnacles typical of scablands.

References

External links

* *
Palouse River Fishing

Soil Erosion in Palouse River Watershed
{{authority control Rivers of Idaho Rivers of Washington (state) Tributaries of the Snake River Rivers of Franklin County, Washington Rivers of Whitman County, Washington Rivers of Adams County, Washington Rivers of Latah County, Idaho

Course

Basin and discharge

Geology

See also

References

External links