The Teton River is a 64-mile-long (103 km) [2] tributary of the Henrys Fork of the Snake River in southeastern Idaho in the United States. It drains through the Teton Valley along the west side of the Teton Range along the Idaho-Wyoming border at the eastern end of the Snake River Plain. Its location along the western flank of the Tetons provides the river with more rainfall than many other rivers of the region.
At the time of the arrival of the Europeans to the region in the 1820s, the area was inhabited by the Shoshone and various related tribes. The lushness of the Teton Basin provided prime area for the fur trade, attracting many other tribes to region, including the Nez Perce, Flathead and the Gros Ventre. At the time, the basin was part of the disputed Oregon Country. The resulting friction between the trading groups led to recurring skirmishes in the basin. In 1832, a trade rendezvous gone awry resulted in the Battle of Pierre's Hole between the Gros Ventre and a party of American trappers, led by William Sublette and aided by their Nez Perce and Flathead allies. In the brief but bloody battle at least twenty-six Gros Ventres were killed, including women and children, and perhaps a dozen whites and Flatheads. Sublette received severe injuries and returned east to the United States for medical care.
The most famous modern incident along the river occurred on June 5, 1976 when the earthen Teton Dam in Teton Canyon collapsed, killing 11 people in the valley below. The force of water due to the dam failure destroyed the lower part of the Teton River, washing away riparian zones and reducing the canyon walls. This seriously damaged the stream ecology, and the native cutthroat trout population has been endangered. The force of the water and excessive sediment also damaged stream habitat in the Snake River and some tributaries.
The Teton River watershed drains 1,133 square miles (2,930 km2), 806 square miles (2,090 km2) in Idaho and 327 square miles (850 km2) in Wyoming. The river mainstem is formed near Victor in Teton County, Idaho, near the Wyoming state line, by the confluence of Warm Creek (Trail Creek watershed) and Drake Creek. [7] It is joined by several additional creeks that descend from surrounding Teton, Big Hole, and Snake River mountain ranges. [8] The majority of flows to the Teton River come from tributaries draining the western flank of the Tetons, including Trail, Fox, Teton, and South Leigh creeks. [8] Trail Creek descends along Highway 22 from the Caribou-Targhee National Forest in Idaho, meeting the other creeks from the south. The river flows north in a slow meandering course through a broad flat valley called the Teton Basin (formerly known as "Pierre's Hole"), flanked by the Teton Range to the east and the Big Hole Mountains to the west. Much of the river's upper course in the Teton Basin is surrounded by extensive wetlands.
After emerging from the north end of the Teton Basin, the Teton River enters the nearly inaccessible Teton Canyon, approximately 25 miles (40 km) long, along the Teton-Fremont county line. There it is joined by Badger Creek and Bitch Creek from the east, then turns almost 90 degrees west, and is joined by Canyon Creek from the south. After passing through the failed Teton Dam site, north and east of Newdale, the Teton River bifurcates into two distributaries some four miles downstream, just north of Teton, one called the South Fork Teton River (also called the South Teton River) and the other called North Fork Teton River (also known as the Teton River). The South Teton River travels generally southwest until it joins Henry's Fork west of Rexburg at the southwest end of a large inland delta region on the Henry's Fork, essentially merging with the delta from the east as one of its channels. The Teton River itself (North Fork Teton) continues to travel west, where it joins the Henrys Fork at Warm Slough near Rexburg, approximately seven miles upstream of the confluence with the Snake River.
The upper watershed between Victor and Driggs are key targets for restoration by the Friends of Teton River as they harbor the best spawning habitat for Yellowstone cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri). An Idaho Fish and Game study reported a 95% decline in Yellowstone cutthroat trout (YCT) while non-native brook trout (Salvenlinus fontinalis) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) populations increased by 300%. The Teton River is considered one of three remaining strongholds for YCT, which currently only survive in 27% of their former range in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. [8] Hybridization with nonnative rainbow trout has been the primary factor reducing YCT populations. Other factors include competition with nonnative brook trout and habitat degradation from water diversion, grazing, mining, timber harvest and development. [9]
The Snake River is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest region in the United States. At 1,078 miles (1,735 km) long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, in turn the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean. The Snake River rises in western Wyoming, then flows through the Snake River Plain of southern Idaho, the rugged Hells Canyon on the Oregon–Idaho border and the rolling Palouse Hills of Washington, emptying into the Columbia River at the Tri-Cities, Washington.
Grand Teton National Park is an American national park in northwestern Wyoming. At approximately 310,000 acres, the park includes the major peaks of the 40-mile-long (64 km) Teton Range as well as most of the northern sections of the valley known as Jackson Hole. Grand Teton National Park is only 10 miles (16 km) south of Yellowstone National Park, to which it is connected by the National Park Service–managed John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway. Along with surrounding national forests, these three protected areas constitute the almost 18,000,000-acre (7,300,000 ha) Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the world's largest intact mid-latitude temperate ecosystems.
The Teton Dam was an earthen dam on the Teton River in Idaho, United States. It was built by the Bureau of Reclamation, one of eight federal agencies authorized to construct dams. Located in the eastern part of the state, between Fremont and Madison counties, it suffered a catastrophic failure on June 5, 1976, as it was filling for the first time.
The Bighorn River is a tributary of the Yellowstone, approximately 461 miles (742 km) long, in the states of Wyoming and Montana in the western United States. The river was named in 1805 by fur trader François Larocque for the bighorn sheep he saw along its banks as he explored the Yellowstone.
The Pend Oreille River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately 130 miles (209 km) long, in northern Idaho and northeastern Washington in the United States, as well as southeastern British Columbia in Canada. In its passage through British Columbia its name is spelled Pen d'Oreille River. It drains a scenic area of the Rocky Mountains along the U.S.-Canada border on the east side of the Columbia. The river is sometimes defined as the lower part of the Clark Fork, which rises in western Montana. The river drains an area of 66,800 square kilometres (25,792 sq mi), mostly through the Clark Fork and its tributaries in western Montana and including a portion of the Flathead River in southeastern British Columbia. The full drainage basin of the river and its tributaries accounts for 43% of the entire Columbia River Basin above the confluence with the Columbia. The total area of the Pend Oreille basin is just under 10% of the entire 258,000-square-mile (670,000 km2) Columbia Basin. Box Canyon Dam is currently underway on a multimillion-dollar project for a fish ladder.
Jackson Lake is in Grand Teton National Park in northwestern Wyoming. This natural lake was enlarged by the construction of the Jackson Lake Dam, which was originally built in 1911, enlarged in 1916 and rebuilt by 1989. As part of the Minidoka Project the top 33 ft (10 m) of the lake is used by farmers in Idaho for irrigation purposes under water rights legislation that was enacted prior to the establishment of Grand Teton National Park. The lake is the remnant of large glacial gouging from the neighboring Teton Range to the west and the Yellowstone Plateau to the north. The lake is primarily fed by the Snake River, which flows in from the north, and empties at Jackson Lake Dam. Jackson Lake is one of the largest high altitude lakes in the United States, at an elevation of 6,772 ft (2,064 m) above sea level. The lake is up to 15 mi (24 km) long, 7 mi (11 km) wide and 438 ft (134 m) deep. The water of the lake averages below 60 °F (16 °C), even during the summer.
The geology of the Grand Teton area consists of some of the oldest rocks and one of the youngest mountain ranges in North America. The Teton Range, partly located in Grand Teton National Park, started to grow some 9 million years ago. An older feature, Jackson Hole, is a basin that sits aside the range.
The Boise River is a 102-mile-long (164 km) tributary of the Snake River in the Northwestern United States. It drains a rugged portion of the Sawtooth Range in southwestern Idaho northeast of Boise, as well as part of the western Snake River Plain. The watershed encompasses approximately 4,100 square miles (11,000 km2) of highly diverse habitats, including alpine canyons, forest, rangeland, agricultural lands, and urban areas.
The Payette River is an 82.7-mile-long (133.1 km) river in southwestern Idaho and is a major tributary of the Snake River.
Bridger–Teton National Forest is located in western Wyoming, United States. The forest consists of 3.4 million acres (14,000 km2), making it the third largest National Forest outside Alaska. The forest stretches from Yellowstone National Park, along the eastern boundary of Grand Teton National Park and from there rides along the western slope of the Continental Divide to the southern end of the Wind River Range. The forest also extends southward encompassing the Salt River Range and Wyoming Range mountains near the Idaho border.
The Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat trout is a form of the cutthroat trout that is considered either as a separate subspecies O. c. behnkei, or as a variety of the Yellowstone cutthroat trout. The fish takes its common name from its original habitat, the Snake River of southern Idaho and western Wyoming, and from its unusual pattern of hundreds of small spots that cover most of its body, differing from the larger-spotted Yellowstone cutthroat pattern. Genetically, it cannot be distinguished from the Yellowstone cutthroat trout, and before the construction of dams, no physical barriers were between the ranges of the two subspecies in the Snake River drainage.
The Salt River is an 84-mile-long (135 km) river draining a valley in Lincoln County in western Wyoming. It is named for several exposed beds of salt and briny salt springs of up 60% pure salt in Idaho that drains into the Salt River via Stump Creek. The Salt River valley was a popular destination for Indians and later pioneers seeking salt and game. The headwaters of the river are below 10,472-foot (3,192 m) Mount Wagner in the Salt River Range. The river flows west out of the mountains and then northward along the border of Wyoming and Idaho. It passes 6,600-foot (2,000 m) Smoot, Wyoming and then meanders through the mostly agricultural Star Valley, being joined by numerous creeks along the way, to its confluence with the Snake River near the town of Alpine.
The Gros Ventre River is a 74.6-mile-long (120.1 km) tributary of the Snake River in the state of Wyoming, USA. During its short course, the river flows to the east, north, west, then southwest. It rises in the Gros Ventre Wilderness in western Wyoming, and joins the Snake River in the Jackson Hole valley. In 1925, the massive Gros Ventre landslide dammed the river and formed Lower Slide Lake. The natural dam collapsed in 1927, flooding the downstream town of Kelly, Wyoming. The river is noted for the excellent trout fishing along its length, where native Snake River Fine-spotted Cutthroat Trout average 12 to 16 inches, with some to 20 inches (510 mm).
Lower Slide Lake is located in Bridger-Teton National Forest, in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The natural lake was created on June 23, 1925 when the Gros Ventre landslide dammed the Gros Ventre River. The lake was once much larger, however part of the rock dam failed less than two years later, on May 18, 1927, causing deadly flooding downstream. The lake waters have natural and stocked fish including lake and Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat trout, and mountain whitefish.
Pierre's Hole is a shallow valley in the western United States in eastern Idaho, just west of the Teton Range in Wyoming. At an elevation over 6,000 feet (1,830 m) above sea level, it collects the headwaters of the Teton River, and was a strategic center of the fur trade of the northern Rocky Mountains. The nearby Jackson's Hole area in Wyoming is on the opposite side of the Tetons.
The North Fork Clearwater River is a major tributary of the Clearwater River in the U.S. state of Idaho. From its headwaters in the Bitterroot Mountains of eastern Idaho, it flows 135 miles (217 km) westward and is dammed by the Dworshak Dam just above its mouth in north-central Idaho. Draining a rugged watershed of 2,462 square miles (6,380 km2), the river has an average flow of over 5,600 cubic feet per second (160 m3/s), accounting for a third of the discharge from the Clearwater basin. The river drains parts of Clearwater, Shoshone, Latah, and Idaho counties. Most of the watershed is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. Some of the fish of the river include westslope cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, mountain whitefish, and the threatened bull trout. It also has smallmouth bass and a kokanee salmon run, both from Dworshak Reservoir. The North Fork drainage is home to grizzly bears, cougars, deer, moose, black bear, elk, grey wolves, and osprey. The river used to have a large steelhead run before the implementation of Dworshak Dam. The North Fork of the Clearwater is located within the Clearwater National Forest
The Hoback River, once called the Fall River, is an approximately 55-mile (89 km)-long tributary of the Snake River in the U.S. state of Wyoming. It heads in the northern Wyoming Range of Wyoming and flows northeast, northwest, and then west through the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Its largest tributary is its South Fork, which joins the Hoback about nine miles downstream of its head as it turns northeast and continues to U.S. Route 191. It then turns northwest, where it spreads onto a large marshy flat in a braided floodplain once known as Jackson's Little Hole, but now referred to as the "Hoback Basin" in which lies the town of Bondurant. It then heads west, entering the steep, narrow Hoback Canyon from which it emerges to join the Snake about 11 miles (18 km) south of Jackson Hole, just upstream of head of the Snake River Canyon near the town of Hoback. The entire length of the Hoback is free flowing and unobstructed by dams. About 30 miles (48 km) downstream from the confluence with the Hoback River, the Snake River crosses into the state of Idaho and is impounded by Palisades Dam.
Salmon Falls Creek is a tributary of the Snake River, flowing from northern Nevada into Idaho in the United States. Formed in high mountains at the northern edge of the Great Basin, Salmon Falls Creek flows northwards 121 miles (195 km), draining an arid and mountainous basin of 2,103 square miles (5,450 km2). The Salmon Falls Creek valley served as a trade route between the Native American groups of the Snake River Plain and Great Basin. Today, most of its water is used for irrigation.
The Minidoka Project is a series of public works by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to control the flow of the Snake River in Wyoming and Idaho, supplying irrigation water to farmlands in Idaho. One of the oldest Bureau of Reclamation projects in the United States, the project involves a series of dams and canals intended to store, regulate and distribute the waters of the Snake, with electric power generation as a byproduct. The water irrigates more than a million acres (4,000 km²) of otherwise arid land, producing much of Idaho's potato crop. Other crops include alfalfa, fruit and sugar beets. The primary irrigation district lies between Ashton in eastern Idaho and Bliss in the southwestern corner of the state. Five main reservoirs collect water, distributing it through 1,600 miles (2,600 km) of canals and 4,000 miles (6,400 km) of lateral distribution ditches.
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