Palouse River

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title: "Palouse River" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["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"] topic_path: "general/rivers-of-idaho" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palouse_River" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox river"]

Field	Value
name	Palouse River
image	PalouseRiver.jpg
image_caption	Several miles downstream from its fork in Colfax; looking west in 2007
map_size	250
pushpin_map	USA Washington
pushpin_map_size	250
pushpin_map_caption	Palouse River's mouth in Washington
subdivision_type1	Country
subdivision_name1	United States
subdivision_type2	State
subdivision_name2	Washington, Idaho
subdivision_type4	County
subdivision_name4	Franklin, Whitman, Adams, Latah
length	167 mi
discharge1_location	river mile 19.6 at Hooper{{cite web
url	https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/?id=wwchart_ftc&vt=q&site_no=13351000
title	USGS 13351000 Palouse River at Hooper, WA
access-date	May 16, 2018
publisher	USGS }}
discharge1_min	0 cuft/s
discharge1_avg	599 cuft/s{{cite web
url	https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/?id=wwchart_ftc&vt=q&site_no=13351000
title	USGS 13351000 Palouse River at Hooper, WA
access-date	May 16, 2018
publisher	USGS }}
discharge1_max	33500 cuft/s
source1	Rocky Mountains
source1_coordinates
mouth	Snake River
mouth_coordinates
mouth_elevation	541 ft
basin_size	3303 sqmi
::

| name = Palouse River | name_native = | name_native_lang = | name_other = | name_etymology = | image = PalouseRiver.jpg | image_caption = Several miles downstream from its fork in Colfax; looking west in 2007 | map = | map_size = 250 | map_caption = | pushpin_map = USA Washington | pushpin_map_size = 250 | pushpin_map_caption= Palouse River's mouth in Washington | subdivision_type1 = Country | subdivision_name1 = United States | subdivision_type2 = State | subdivision_name2 = Washington, Idaho | subdivision_type3 = | subdivision_name3 = | subdivision_type4 = County | subdivision_name4 = Franklin, Whitman, Adams, Latah | subdivision_type5 = | subdivision_name5 = | length = 167 mi | width_min = | width_avg = | width_max = | depth_min = | depth_avg = | depth_max = | discharge1_location= river mile 19.6 at Hooper{{cite web |url=https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/?id=wwchart_ftc&vt=q&site_no=13351000 |title=USGS 13351000 Palouse River at Hooper, WA |access-date=May 16, 2018 |publisher=USGS }} | discharge1_min = 0 cuft/s | discharge1_avg = 599 cuft/s{{cite web |url=https://waterwatch.usgs.gov/?id=wwchart_ftc&vt=q&site_no=13351000 |title=USGS 13351000 Palouse River at Hooper, WA |access-date=May 16, 2018 |publisher=USGS }} | discharge1_max = 33500 cuft/s | source1 = Rocky Mountains | source1_location = | source1_coordinates= | source1_elevation = | mouth = Snake River | mouth_location = | mouth_coordinates = | mouth_elevation = 541 ft | progression = | river_system = | basin_size = 3303 sqmi | tributaries_left = | tributaries_right = | custom_label = | custom_data = | extra = The Palouse River is a tributary of the Snake River in Washington and Idaho, in the northwest United States. It flows for 167 mi southwestwards, primarily through the Palouse region of southeastern Washington. It is part of the Columbia River Basin, as the Snake River is a tributary of the Columbia River.

Its canyon was carved out by a fork in the catastrophic Missoula Floods of the previous ice age, which spilled over the northern Columbia Plateau and flowed into the Snake River, eroding the river's present course in a few thousand years.

Course

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Palouse-Falls-Washington-State.JPG" caption="[[Palouse Falls]] in 2006"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Palouse-River-Mouth.JPG" caption="Starbuck]], looking north in 2006"] ::

The Palouse River flows from northern Idaho into southeast Washington through the Palouse region, named for the river.

The river originates in Idaho in northeastern Latah County, in the Hoodoo Mountains in the St. Joe National Forest. It flows westward, near State Highway 6, as it nears the state line. In Washington, the river flows in Whitman County to Palouse 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 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 Snake River southwest of Hooper, but not before dropping 200 ft over Palouse Falls. The Palouse River enters the Snake River below the Little Goose Dam and above the Lower Monumental Dam.

Basin and discharge

The Palouse River's drainage basin is 3303 sqmi in area. Its mean annual discharge, as measured by USGS gage 13351000 at Hooper (river mile 19.6), is 599 cuft/s, with a maximum daily recorded flow of 27800 cuft/s, and a minimum of zero flow.

Geology

The Missoula Floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and across the Columbia River Plateau during the Pleistocene epoch carved out the Palouse River Canyon, which is 1000 ft deep in places.

The ancestral Palouse River flowed through the now-dry Washtucna Coulee directly into the Columbia River. 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

References

1. {{cite gnis
2. U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. [http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/ The National Map], accessed May 3, 2011
3. [http://www.nwcouncil.org/fw/subbasinplanning/palouse/plan/Plan.pdf Palouse Subbasin Plan] {{Webarchive. link. (2012-02-13 , Northwest Power and Conservation Council)
4. "Water Resources Data, Water Year 2005; Snake River Basin including the Grande Ronde River, Asotin Creek, Tucannon River, and Palouse River Basins; 13351000 Palouse River at Hooper, WA". United States Geological Survey.
5. (1996). "Flood Basalts and Glacier Floods:Roadside Geology of Parts of Walla Walla, Franklin, and Columbia Counties, Washington". Washington State Department of Natural Resources (Washington Division of Geology and Earth Resources Information Circular 90).
6. Alt, David. (2001). "Glacial Lake Missoula & its Humongous Floods". Mountain Press Publishing Company.
7. Bjornstad, Bruce. (2006). "On the Trail of the Ice Age Floods: A Geological Guide to the Mid-Columbia Basin". Keokee Books; Sandpoint, Idaho.
8. (1984). "Roadside Geology of Washington". Mountain Press Publishing Company.

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