Salmon River (Idaho)
The Salmon River is located in Idaho in the northwestern United States. The Salmon is also known as "The River of No Return". It flows for through central Idaho, draining a rugged, thinly populated watershed of and dropping more than between its headwaters, near Galena Summit above the Sawtooth Valley in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, and its confluence with the Snake River. Measured at White Bird, its average discharge is. It is one of the largest rivers in the continental United States without a single dam on its mainstem.
Cities located along the Salmon River include Stanley, Clayton, Challis, Salmon, Riggins, and White Bird. Redfish Lake and Little Redfish Lake near Stanley, which flow into the river via Redfish Lake Creek, are the terminus of the longest Pacific sockeye salmon migration in North America.
The lower half of the river provides the time zone boundary for the state, with northern Idaho on Pacific time and the rest of the state on Mountain time.
Course
The Salmon River originates from and flows through the mountains of central and eastern Idaho. The main stem rises in the Sawtooth Range at over in elevation, several miles northwest of Norton Peak. For the first, it flows north through the Sawtooth Valley, then turns east at Stanley, receiving the Yankee Fork shortly below that point and the East Fork further downstream. The river then flows northeast, receiving the Pahsimeroi River at Ellis and then the Lemhi River at Salmon, Idaho east of the Lemhi Range.North of Salmon, the river is joined by the North Fork, before turning west into over of continuous canyons through the Salmon River and Clearwater Mountains – some of the most rugged and isolated terrain in the contiguous United States. Exhibiting upwards of of vertical relief, the Salmon River canyons are some of the deepest in the U.S., surpassing the Grand Canyon and second only to the Snake River's Hells Canyon on the Idaho–Oregon border. Here, the river is joined by its two largest tributaries, the Middle Fork and South Fork. Ten miles downstream of its confluence with the Middle Fork, the Salmon River becomes the dividing line for the two time zones in Idaho: Mountain time to the south, Pacific time to the north, bisecting the state at approximately 45½ degrees north latitude.
The river turns abruptly north at the confluence with the Little Salmon River at Riggins, about above its mouth. From there the river flows almost due north, with U.S. Route 95 on its east bank until a few miles before White Bird; the river then loops northwest and south to its confluence with the Snake River north of Hells Canyon, south of the Washington border and south of Lewiston. The Salmon River is the longest river system contained entirely within a single U.S. state.
History
Anthropology
The Salmon River area has been home to people for at least the last 8,000 years. Much of the area was inhabited by several tribes, including the Nez Perce. The river was considered sacred ground and a rich source of food for the indigenous people of the area, who relied on the abundant salmon species and other wildlife.Exploration
In August 1805, just after crossing the Continental Divide of the Americas, Lewis and Clark ventured down the Salmon River, but found it to be too rough to be navigable. Clark wrote:... I shall in justice to Capt. Lewis who was the first white man ever on this fork of the Columbia Call this Louis's river.... The Westerly fork of the Columbia River is double the size of the Easterley fork & below those forks the river is... wide, it is very rapid & Sholey water Clear but little timber.
The honor didn't last long; by 1810, maps of the area were already referring to "Louis' River" as the Salmon. Clark had thought that the Salmon River was the Snake River, thus he called it the "Westerly fork of the Columbia". The Snake River retained the variant name "Lewis River" or "Lewis Fork" longer than did the Salmon.
In the Early to Mid 20th Century other explorers arrived to the Salmon River and ultimately stayed. These early explorers included Frank Lance, Francis, Hank the Hermit, and most well know and storied Buckskin Bill. Sylvan Ambrose Hart was one of the last Mountain Men to inhabit the Salmon River Canyon at 5 Mile Bar. He arrived to the canyon in/around 1928 from the Oklahoma Territory. For nearly 50 years he lived at 5 Mile Bar and spent less than 50 dollars a year on staples like coffee, tea, chocolate, sugar, flour, etc. Buckskin was a true craftsman in his own right forging his own knives, pistols, rifles, kettles, pots, and pans. Buckskin died in 1980 and his cabin at 5 mile bar has been turned into a museum.
Gold
In the 1860s, placer deposits of gold were found along the river, and a gold rush began. Miners came to the area, causing clashes with the Nez Perce on their ancestral tribal lands. Many historic and present day mines can be seen while traveling along the river.Recreation
Several national forests and Sawtooth National Recreation Area provide for numerous recreation opportunities within the river's watershed. Two segments are protected as National Wild and Scenic Rivers. The Middle Fork was one of the original eight rivers designated Wild and Scenic in 1968, and is often considered the "crown jewel" of the Wild and Scenic system.The Salmon is a popular destination for whitewater kayaking, canoeing, and rafting. The canyons of the Salmon allow for magnificent views of the complex geology of the region. The Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Area includes one of the deepest canyons in the continental United States, which at roughly of vertical relief, is deeper than the Grand Canyon. Outdoor Lodges dot the main canyon of the Salmon River from Salmon, Idaho to Riggins, Idaho. Often the only way to access these lodges is either by motorized boats, rafting trips, hiking, and even some isolated airstrips.
Both the Middle Fork and Main Fork travel through the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Area. The Middle Fork is about long, while the Main Fork is about in length. The Middle Fork raft trip run ends prior to the beginning of the Main Fork run; Corn Creek is the start of the Main Fork section of the Salmon River.
The South Fork of the Salmon flows through Payette National Forest and enters the Wild and Scenic Main Fork at Mackay Bar. The Main Fork raft trip ends about east of Riggins, either at Vinegar Creek or Carey Creek, marking the beginning of the Lower Salmon rafting section. Boating companies offer both single and multiple day trips on the river.
The Middle Fork of the Salmon River is known as one of the best catch and release fly fisheries in the nation. Other recreational activities along the river include camping, hiking and mountain biking.
Wildlife
The Salmon River historically produced 45% percent of all the steelhead and 45 percent of all the spring and summer chinook salmon in the entire Columbia River Basin. The Salmon River basin contains most of the remaining salmon and steelhead habitat in the Columbia River Basin. Despite abundant, excellent salmon habitat in the Salmon River basin, chinook, steelhead, and sockeye salmon populations have not significantly recovered, despite listings under the federal Endangered Species Act since the mid-1990s. Populations remain at risk in large part because of the negative effects of four federal dams and reservoirs on the lower Snake river, through which both juvenile salmon and returning adults must pass. Many Northwest salmon advocates, commercial & sportfishermen call for removal of the Lower Granite, Little Goose, Lower Monumental, and Ice Harbor dams to address survival problems. As of November 2015, controversy continues in NW Politics, public discourse, and in federal court, where federal salmon recovery plans are under legal challenge.USGS stations
The United States Geological Survey operates four stream gauge water level monitoring stations on the main stem of the Salmon River and 17 others on its tributaries. Real time data is available for each station on the USGS website. For a map of these see or in the box at right.| Stream | Location | Site number | Coordinates | Drainage area | Avg discharge | Max discharge | Min discharge | Website |
| Salmon River | Clayton, ID | 13296500 | ||||||
| Salmon River | Salmon, ID | 13302500 | ||||||
| Salmon River | Shoup, ID | 13307000 | ||||||
| Salmon River | White Bird, ID | 13317000 | ||||||
| Valley Creek | Stanley, ID | 13295000 | ||||||
| Yankee Fork Salmon River | Clayton, ID | 13296000 | ||||||
| Thompson Creek | Clayton, ID | 13297330 | ||||||
| Squaw Creek | Clayton, ID | 13297355 | ||||||
| Pahsimeroi River | Ellis, ID | 13302005 | ||||||
| Lemhi River | Lemhi, ID | 13305000 | ||||||
| Lemhi River | Salmon, ID | 13305310 | ||||||
| Blackbird Creek | Cobalt, ID | 13306336 | Unknown | |||||
| Panther Creek | Cobalt, ID | 13306370 | Unknown | |||||
| Napias Creek | Leesburg, ID | 13306385 | ||||||
| Middle Fork Salmon River | Yellow Pine, ID | 13309220 | ||||||
| Middle Fork Salmon River | Shoup, ID | 13310199 | ||||||
| South Fork Salmon River | Krassel Ranger Station | 13310700 | ||||||
| East Fork South Fork Salmon River | Stibnite, ID | 13311000 | ||||||
| Sugar Creek | Stibnite, ID | 13311450 | Unknown | |||||
| Johnson Creek | Yellow Pine, ID | 13313000 | ||||||
| Little Salmon River | Riggins, ID | 13316500 |