Humboldt River

Humboldt River
River
The Humboldt River, flowing through Carlin Canyon.
Name origin: Alexander von Humboldt
Country	United States
State	Nevada
Source	Humboldt Wells
- location	East Humboldt Range, Elko County, Nevada
- elevation	5,620 ft (1,713 m) [1]
- coordinates	41°7′13″N 114°58′5″W / 41.12028°N 114.96806°W / 41.12028; -114.96806 [1]
Mouth	Humboldt Sink
- elevation	3,894 ft (1,187 m) [1]
- coordinates	39°59′17″N 118°36′4″W / 39.98806°N 118.60111°W / 39.98806; -118.60111 [1]
Length	330 mi (531 km)
Basin	16,600 sq mi (42,994 km2)
Discharge
- average	390 cu ft/s (11 m3/s) [2]
- max	17,000 cu ft/s (481 m3/s)
- min	0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s)
Map of the Humboldt River watershed
Nevada Historical Marker
Reference No.	22[3]

The Humboldt River runs through northern Nevada in the western United States. At approximately 330 miles (530 km) long it is the second longest river in the Great Basin, after the Bear River. It has no outlet to the ocean, but instead empties into the Humboldt Sink. It is the fourth largest river in the United States, in terms of discharge, that does not ultimately reach the ocean, while it is the largest in terms of area drained. Through its tributaries the river drains most of sparsely populated northern Nevada, traversing the state roughly east to west, and passing through repeated gaps in the north-south running mountain ranges. It furnishes the only natural transportation artery across the Great Basin, and has provided a route for the historical route for westward migration, railroads, and modern highways. The river is named for the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt.

History

View southwest along the Humboldt River from the 9th Street Footbridge in downtown Elko, Nevada. Elko is the largest city along the banks of the Humboldt.

The region of the river in northern Nevada was sparsely inhabited by the Paiute and Shoshone at the time of the arrival of European American settlers. The region was little known by non-indigenous peoples until the arrival of fur trappers in the middle 19th century.

The first recorded sighting of the river was on November 9, 1828, by Peter Skene Ogden of the Hudson's Bay Company, during his fifth expedition to the Snake Country. Odgen came southward along the Little Humboldt, encountering the main river at the confluence near Winnemucca. Ogden explored the river for several hundred miles, blazing a trail along it and making the first known map of the region. He initially named the river "Unknown River", due to the source and course of the river still being unknown to him, and later "Paul's River", after one of his trappers who died on the expedition and was buried on the river bank.^[4][5] He later changed it again to "Mary's River," named after the Native American wife of one of his trappers, which later somehow became "St. Mary's River". However in 1829 he suggested that "Swampy River" best described the course he had traversed.^[6] In 1833 the Bonneville-Walker fur party explored the river, naming it "Barren River". Washington Irving's 1837 book describing the Bonneville expedition called it "Ogden's River", the name used by many early travelers. By the early 1840s the trail along the river was being used by settlers going west to California.

In 1848 the river was explored by John C. Frémont, who made a thorough map of the region and gave the river its current name. The following year the river became the route of the California Trail, the primary land route for migrants to the California gold fields. In 1869 the river was used as part of the route of the Central Pacific segment of the Transcontinental Railroad.^[3]

In the 20th Century, the valley of the river became the route for U.S. Highway 40, later replaced by Interstate 80.^[7] In the latter part of the 20th Century, about 45,000 people lived within 10 miles (16 km) of the river, roughly a third of the population at that time of the State of Nevada outside of Western Nevada and Southern Nevada, before the rapid 21st Century growth of Southern Nevada changed these population figures.

Watershed and Course

The Humboldt River can be divided geographically into an upper, middle and lower division based on Palisade Canyon and Emigrant Canyon being the major constriction points along the Humboldt River Valley. The upper basin begins in northeastern Nevada and drains about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km²) upstream from Palisade. The middle basin has a drainage area of about 7,800 square miles (20,000 km²) and lies between Palisade and Emigrant Canyon, which is a narrow gap located just downstream from Comus. The lower basin is an area encompassing some 4,100 square miles (11,000 km²) from below Emigrant Canyon and extending through the Humboldt Sink in northwestern Nevada.^[7]

A hydrologic definition instead divides the Humboldt River drainage into two basins - one above and one below Palisade - based on the fact the flows increase above Palisade and decrease below Palisade. The river in the upper basin is 92 miles (148 km) long and in the lower basin it is 218 miles (351 km) long. The major tributaries of the upper Humboldt River basin are (heading downstream) Bishop Creek, Marys River,^[8] Lamoille Creek, North Fork Humboldt River, South Fork Humboldt River, Susie Creek,^[9] Maggie Creek^[10] and Marys Creek; and of the lower basin they are Pine Creek, Reese River, and the Little Humboldt River.^[7]

The source of the river mainstem is a spring called Humboldt Wells at the northern tip of the East Humboldt Range, just outside the city of Wells. The river flows west-southwest through Elko County past the communities of Elko and Carlin. Approximately 15 miles (24 km) upstream from Elko, the river receives the North Fork of the Humboldt River, and receives the South Fork approximately 7 miles (11 km) downstream of Elko.

In northern Eureka County it passes through Palisade Canyon between the south end of the Tuscarora Mountains and the north end of the Shoshone Range. At Battle Mountain the river turns northwest for approximately 50 miles (80 km), then west at Red House and past Golconda and a spur of the Sonoma Range. It merges with the Reese River near Battle Mountain, and receives the Little Humboldt River approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) upstream from Winnemucca.

The Humboldt flows through the Rye Patch Reservoir.

Past the junction with the Little Humboldt, the river turns southwest, flowing past Winnemucca and through Pershing County, along the western side of the Humboldt Range and the West Humboldt Range.^[7] In central Pershing County, the Rye Patch Dam impounds the river, forming the Rye Patch Reservoir, which stores water to irrigate farms near Lovelock, 22 miles downstream.^[11] The Humboldt empties into an intermittent lake in the Humboldt Sink on the border between Pershing and Churchill counties, approximately 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Lovelock.

The river gains most of its water from snowmelt in mountains in the eastern part of the watershed, most importantly the Ruby Mountains, Jarbidge Mountains, and Independence Mountains. River flow generally decreases downstream to the west, in part due to the removal of water from the river for irrigation, especially near Lovelock. Stream-gauge measurements undertaken by the United States Geological Survey suggest that Palisade Canyon, between Carlin and Beowawe, is the point where the river's flow ceases to increase and begins to decrease. Also, since the Humboldt's water comes almost exclusively from snowmelt, its flow is highly variable from season to season (peak flow occurs during the spring melt) and from year to year (depending on the amount of snow every winter)^[2][7]

Palisades Canyon and the Humboldt River in 1868, during construction of the Transcontinental Railroad (LOC)

The same site, located just northeast of Palisade, 140 years later

The Humboldt River near Lovelock

Ecology

The Lahontan cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki henshawi) is an inland subspecies of cutthroat trout endemic to northern Nevada, eastern California, and southern Oregon. In 1970 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) listed the Lahontan cutthroat trout (LCT) as “endangered”. In 1975 it reclassified LCT as “threatened” to facilitate management and to allow regulated fishing. Genetic and meristic studies of LCT indicate that the Humboldt River Basin LCT are a unique subspecies of cutthroat trout.^[12]

North American beaver (Castor canadensis) seem to have been making a comeback in Elko County possibly due to less fur trapping combined with reduced consumption of riparian willow and other vegetation by cattle. Maggie and Susie Creeks, which enter the Humboldt River near Carlin, have benefited from 20 years of work by ranchers, agencies, mines, and non-profit groups via improvements in grazing techniques and specific projects. Now, a remote sensing project found 107 beaver dams along 20 miles of Maggie Creek in 2006, which rose to 271 dams in 2010. Beaver dams are accelerating recovery of riparian vegetation and widening the riparian zone as they slow the water and collect sediment that used to be lost downstream. In five years, beaver ponds have increased the amount of impounded water on Maggie Creek from 9 miles (14 km) of stream to 16 miles (26 km). The impounded water is seeping into the ground and raising the water table. Newmont's shallow groundwater monitoring wells along Maggie Creek have shown about a two foot rise over the past 17 years along Maggie Creek. Stream flows are more perennial, making more water available for wildlife and livestock and protecting populations of native trout.^[13] Significantly, Maggie Creek has a Beaver Creek tributary which flows from Beaver Peak in the Tuscarora Mountains.^[14][15]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Humboldt River.

• List of Nevada rivers
• Sarah Winnemucca

References

Further reading

• Wallace, A.R. et al. (2005). Metallic mineral resource assessment of the Humboldt River Basin, northern Nevada (USGS Fact Sheet 2005-3023]. Reno, NV: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
• Yager, D.B. and H.W. Folger. (2003). Map showing silver concentrations from stream sediments and soils throughout the Humboldt River Basin and surrounding areas, northern Nevada [U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2407-I]. Denver, CO: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.