Goose Creek (Snake River tributary)

Goose Creek is a 123-mile (198 km) long[3] tributary of the Snake River. Beginning at an elevation of 7,239 feet (2,206 m)[2] in the Cassia Division of the Sawtooth National Forest in southwestern Cassia County, Idaho, it flows south into Elko County, Nevada, and loops back around into Cassia County, briefly crossing Box Elder County, Utah, in the process.[5] It is impounded by Oakley Dam several miles south of Oakley, Idaho, forming Lower Goose Creek Reservoir. All of the creek's water is stored for irrigation, so its channel from the reservoir to its mouth near Burley, Idaho, is dry and largely obliterated by agriculture.[6] Goose Creek has a 1,120-square-mile (2,901 km2) watershed.[4] The California Trail followed Goose Creek from a point just north of the Idaho/Utah border southwest across northwestern Utah to Little Goose Creek in northeastern Elko County, Nevada.[7]

Goose Creek
Goose Creek near Oakley, Idaho
Location of the mouth of Goose Creek in Idaho
Goose Creek (Snake River tributary) (the United States)
Location
CountryUnited States
StateIdaho, Nevada, Utah
CountiesCassia County, Idaho, Elko County, Nevada, Box Elder County, Utah
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • locationCassia Division of the Sawtooth National Forest, Cassia County, Idaho
 • coordinates42°10′29″N 114°17′31″W[1]
 • elevation7,239 ft (2,206 m)[2]
MouthSnake River
 • location
near Burley, Cassia County, Idaho
 • coordinates
42°32′37″N 113°45′47″W[1]
 • elevation
4,137 ft (1,261 m)[1]
Length123 mi (198 km)[3]
Basin size1,120 sq mi (2,900 km2)[4]

The stream was named for the geese along its course.[8]

Goose Creek in Elko County, Nevada

See also

References
  1. "Goose Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. June 21, 1979. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  2. Source elevation derived from Google Earth search using GNIS source coordinates.
  3. "National Hydrography Dataset". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved February 7, 2013. Note: approximation; course is largely obliterated by agriculture past Lower Goose Creek Reservoir.
  4. "Goose Creek Subbasin Assessment and Total Maximum Daily Loads" (PDF). Idaho Department of Environmental Quality. December 22, 2003. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  5. Idaho Road and Recreation Atlas (Map) (2nd ed.). 1:250,000. Benchmark Maps. 2010. pp. 84–85. ISBN 978-0-929591-06-3. OCLC 567571371.
  6. "Goose Creek Water Quality Monitoring Report" (PDF). Idaho Association of Soil Conservation Districts. March 2006. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 11, 2010. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  7. "California Trail". Trails West. Retrieved October 24, 2014.
  8. Rees, John E. (1918). Idaho Chronology, Nomenclature, Bibliography. W.B. Conkey Company. p. 76.



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