Misplaced Pages

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19-525: In the past Malheur Lake (located in the enclosed Harney Basin to the southwest) outflowed into the river. The Malheur River rises in the southern Blue Mountains of southern Grant County , south of Strawberry Mountain in the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness . It flows south through Malheur National Forest , then southeast past Drewsey and through Warm Springs Reservoir . At Riverside in western Malheur County , it receives

38-620: A closed depression , covers 5,300 square miles (14,000 km ), which makes it larger than the state of Connecticut . Malheur Lake contains many aquatic plants and grasses and is an important nesting and feeding area for waterfowl, migratory birds, and many other bird species. Wildlife includes ducks , geese , swans , herons , egrets , gulls , terns , and grebes . The Great Basin redband trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss newberri ) has reduced access to Malheur and Harney lakes due to irrigation diversions, channelization, draining of marshlands, and high alkalinities . An exotic carp population

57-604: A fur trapper with the Hudson's Bay Company , referred to it as "River au Malheur (from rivière au Malheur , literally: River of the Misfortune") and thereafter as "Unfortunate River". The river lived up to its name a second time in 1845, when mountain man Stephen Meek , seeking a faster route along the Oregon Trail , led a migrant party up the river valley into the high desert along a route that has since become known as

76-616: A phosphorus pollution problem in its lower reaches. The Malheur River watershed was once a major spawning ground for anadromous fish such as salmon . In the early 20th century a number of dams on the Snake River blocked fish migration. A 13.7-mile (22.0 km) segment of the Malheur River from Bosenberg Creek to the Malheur National Forest boundary became protected as wild and scenic in 1988 as part of

95-661: A branch of the Oregon Eastern Railway . Soon afterward, drought in the early 1990s reduced the lake size to just 200 acres (0.31 sq mi), exposing large mudflats and dusty playas. Malheur Lake is a remnant of a much larger Pleistocene lake that drained east to the Malheur River , a tributary of the Snake River . The size of this ancient lake, which existed during a wetter climate, has been estimated at 900 square miles (2,300 km ), with

114-438: A maximum depth of 35 feet (11 m). Its outlet was originally a channel near New Princeton , but lava flows diverted the water to a gap near Crane . Much of the original lake bottom has since turned into desert or become meadows periodically watered by lake overflows. Mud Lake and Harney Lake are also remnants of the original pluvial lake. The lakes as well as nearby marshes and playas are part of Harney Basin. The basin,

133-548: A total capacity of 31,650 acre-feet (39,040,000 m ). The dam is a zoned embankment dam with a crest length of 3,070 feet (940 m), total height of 121 feet (37 m) and sits at 2,500 feet (760 m) elevation. The Bully Creek park is open April through October, has 33 campsites, a day use area with two covered shelters, a swimming beach and a two-lane boat ramp with dock. Fish species include smallmouth bass , largemouth bass , black bass , rainbow trout , yellow perch , white , and black crappie . The reservoir

152-610: Is a reservoir in Malheur County of the U.S. state of Oregon . It is an impoundment of Bully Creek , a tributary of the Malheur River . It is a crescent-shaped reservoir located 9 miles (14 km) west of Vale and a 45-minute drive from I-84 . The reservoir and its dam have paved road access by Bully Creek Road from Vale W Highway. The reservoir was constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1963 and has 985 acres (399 ha) with 7 miles (11 km) of shoreline and

171-704: Is present in Malheur Lake and has caused extreme habitat damage. Harney Lake has been inhospitable to redband trout for many years due to high alkalinities. Today, redband trout in the Malheur Lake basin are widely distributed in small- and medium-size streams. The redband trout is a unique subspecies adapted to the Malheur Lake basin ecosystem. In these closed, high-desert basins, redband trout have evolved to survive in environments with vast extremes of both water flow and temperature. They are one of only eight desert-basin populations of interior native redband trout. The Malheur Lake redband comprises 10 population groups in

190-477: Is typical of Great Basin lakes, Malheur Lake's surface area changes dramatically with the local weather, climate, and season because the lake is in a very flat basin. A large influence on the water volume is local snow melt, especially from Steens Mountain , south of the lake. For example, large snowpacks in the mid-1980s caused the lake to expand from approximately 67 to 160 square miles (170 to 410 km ) within three years, flooding usually dry areas and damaging

209-578: The Donner und Blitzen River from the south and the Silvies River from the north. Malheur Lake periodically overflows into Mud Lake to the west and thence to Harney Lake , the sink of Harney Basin . The western area of Malheur Lake consists of ponds separated by small islands and peninsulas. The lake's central and eastern sections are more open. The generally shallow water is suitable habitat for migratory birds, waterfowl, and aquatic plants. As

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228-640: The Meek Cutoff . After leaving the river valley, the party was unable to find a water supply and lost 23 people by the time they reached The Dalles on the Columbia River ; gold was found, also see Lost Blue Bucket Mine . In 1853, 1854 and 1859 the river was used more successfully as the route of the Elliott Cutoff . The emigrants followed the ruts of Stephen Meek until they reached Harney Basin . From here they sought more direct routes to

247-623: The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System . The protected area includes 3,758 acres (15.21 km) of land along the river. Malheur Lake Malheur Lake ( / ˈ m æ l h j ʊər / MAL -hure ) is one of the lakes in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County in the U.S. state of Oregon . Located about 18 miles (29 km) southeast of Burns , the lake is marsh fed by

266-641: The South Fork Malheur River from the south, then turns sharply back northward to Juntura , where it receives the North Fork Malheur River from the north. From Juntura it flows generally east past Vale , joining the Snake from the west approximately two miles (3 km) north of Ontario, Oregon . The mouth of the Malheur River is approximately at Snake river mile (RM) 370 or river kilometer (RK) 600. The name of

285-747: The Deschutes River, where they turned south until reaching the Free Emigrant Road. The road was built over the Cascades through Willamette Pass and brought emigrants into Central Oregon. The lower Malheur River is used for irrigation in the agricultural potato -growing in the Snake River Plain along the Idaho-Oregon border. There are approximately 370 miles (600 km) of irrigation-related canals and ditches in

304-627: The Malheur River basin. The irrigation system is part of the Bureau of Reclamation's Vale Project, which includes a number of water impoundments, the largest of which are Warm Springs Reservoir on the mainstem Malheur River, Beulah Reservoir on the North Fork Malheur, Bully Creek Reservoir on Bully Creek, and Malheur Reservoir on Willow Creek. The project is operated and maintained by the Vale-Oregon Irrigation District. Agricultural runoff has resulted in

323-657: The closed interior basin of Harney and Malheur lakes. Historically, all streams were interconnected, and these fish moved through all the lakes and streams. While not an officially designated threatened or endangered species, the redband trout is recognized as important resource, and the Steens Mountain Cooperative Management and Protection Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-399) sets aside land in Oregon for protection and research of redband trout. Bully Creek Reservoir Bully Creek Reservoir

342-493: The lower basin of the Malheur River and its tributary Willow Creek . The streamflow of the Malheur and its tributaries is heavily influenced by a complex system of irrigation diversions, siphons, and canals, which begin near Malheur river mile 65, near Namorf and Harper, Oregon . This irrigation system extends downstream to the mouth of the Malheur at Ontario, Oregon . Irrigation is used on about 132,000 acres (530 km) within

361-621: The river is derived from the French for "misfortune". The name was attached to the river by French Canadian voyageur trappers working for the North West Company on the Snake County Expeditions of Donald Mackenzie as early as 1818 for the unfortunate circumstance that some beaver furs they had cached there were snatched by Indigenous people. The name first appears in the record in 1826 when Peter Skene Ogden ,

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