Willow Creek is a long 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, C ...

, located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

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 ...

. It drains of

Morrow Morrow is a word meaning "the next day" in literary English. It also means "morning" in archaic English Morrow may also refer to: Places in the United States and Canada United States * Morrow, Arkansas *Morrow, Georgia * Morrow, Louisiana *Morr ...

and Gilliam counties. Arising in the Blue Mountains, it flows generally northwest to its confluence with the Columbia River upstream of Arlington.

Course

Willow Creek's

headwaters The headwaters of a river or stream is the farthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or downstream confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river. It is also known as a river's source. Definition The ...

are located near Arbuckle Mountain in the Blue Mountains, southeast of Heppner. It flows north, then west, receiving the North Fork on the

right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of Liberty, freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convent ...

and Skinners Fork on the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * L ...

. Willow Creek Lake is formed by the tall Willow Creek Dam just upstream of Heppner at

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 roa ...

(RM) 52.4, or river kilometer (RK) 84.3. Willow Creek flows northwest through Heppner, receiving Hinton Creek on the right. About later, the creek travels through Lexington. Soon after, Rhea Creek enters on the left, and Willow Creek passes through the communities of Ione and Morgan. Turning north, it crosses into Gilliam County, flowing beneath Highway 74 and Interstate 84/

Highway 30 The following highways are numbered 30: International * Asian Highway 30 * European route E30 Australia * Albany Highway (State Route 30, Western Australia) Brazil * BR-030 Canada * Alberta Highway 30 (defunct) * British Columbia Highway 30 ...

just before its mouth. Willow Creek flows into the Columbia River approximately above its confluence with the Pacific Ocean.

Discharge

Watershed

Willow Creek drains of the

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 ...

region of Oregon. Ninety percent is privately owned, nine percent is owned by

U.S. federal agencies Legislative definitions of a federal Government agency, agency are varied, and even contradictory. The official ''United States Government Manual'' offers no definition. While the Administrative Procedure Act (United States), Administrative Proce ...

such as the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...

, and

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...

, and one percent is owned by the state of Oregon. About 60 percent of the watershed is either forested,

rangeland Rangelands are grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts that are grazed by domestic livestock or wild animals. Types of rangelands include tallgrass and shortgrass prairies, desert grasslands and shrublands, woodlands, savannas ...

, or

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...

, 39 percent is

cropland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bot ...

, and 1 percent is

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

. The highest elevation in the watershed is near Willow Creek's headwaters, while the lowest is at its mouth. Temperatures range from below to over , while the average is about . The average

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

ranges from in the lower regions to in the mountains.

Fish

anadromous fish Fish migration is mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few metres to thousan ...

are known to inhabit streams in the Willow Creek watershed.

Small Small may refer to: Science and technology * SMALL, an ALGOL-like programming language * Small (anatomy), the lumbar region of the back * ''Small'' (journal), a nano-science publication * <small>, an HTML element that defines smaller text ...

and

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but ...

, black crappie,

brown bullhead The brown bullhead (''Ameiurus nebulosus'') is a fish of the family Ictaluridae that is widely distributed in North America. It is a species of bullhead catfish and is similar to the black bullhead (''Ameiurus melas'') and yellow bullhead (''Am ...

bluegill The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or "copper nose" as is common in Texas, is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and ...

, and

pumpkinseed The pumpkinseed (''Lepomis gibbosus''), also referred to as pond perch, common sunfish, punkie, sunfish, sunny, and kivver, is a small/medium-sized North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Lepomis'' (true sunfishes), from family Centrarchi ...

live in Willow Creek Lake.

History

Strong thunderstorms moved over the Heppner area on June 14, 1903, causing heavy rain and hail. Within fifteen minutes, a wall of water swept down Willow Creek. The

flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing o ...

washed away one-third of the town's structures, killing 247 people in the "most deadly natural disaster in Oregon's recorded history." One hundred and fifty homes were destroyed in the city of Ione, downstream; residents were able to evacuate because of advanced telephone warnings. In 1983, the Willow Creek Dam was constructed just upstream of Heppner. The resulting Willow Creek Lake's primary use is flood control.

Notes

References

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