Salmon River (Idaho)
| Salmon River | |
 Salmon River in Sawtooth NRA
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| Nickname: River of No Return | |
| Country | United States |
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| State | Idaho |
| Tributaries | |
| - left | Yankee Fork, Panther Creek, Middle Fork Salmon River, South Fork Salmon River, Little Salmon River |
| - right | East Fork Salmon River, Pahsimeroi River, Lemhi River, North Fork Salmon River |
| Cities | Salmon, Challis |
| Source | Sawtooth Range |
| - location | near Norton Peak, Lemhi County |
| - elevation | 9,220 ft (2,810 m) |
| - coordinates | 43°47′48″N 114°46′36″W / 43.79667°N 114.77667°W |
| Mouth | Snake River |
| - location | west of White Bird, Idaho and Nez Perce Counties |
| - elevation | 919 ft (280 m) |
| - coordinates | 45°51′23″N 116°47′37″W / 45.85639°N 116.79361°WCoordinates: 45°51′23″N 116°47′37″W / 45.85639°N 116.79361°W |
| Length | 425 mi (684 km) |
| Basin | 14,000 sq mi (36,260 km2) |
| Discharge | for White Bird |
| - average | 11,100 cu ft/s (314 m3/s) |
| - max | 129,000 cu ft/s (3,653 m3/s) |
| - min | 1,000 cu ft/s (28 m3/s) |
 Map of the Salmon River, showing its tributary Middle Fork Salmon River, and its connection to the Columbia River via the Snake River
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 Map of the Salmon River watershed with Little Salmon, South Fork, Middle Fork and Lemhi Rivers
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The Salmon River is located in Idaho in the northwestern United States. The Salmon is also known as The River of No Return. It flows for 425 miles (684 km) through central Idaho, draining a rugged, thinly populated watershed of 14,000 square miles (36,260 km2) and dropping more than 7,000 feet (2,130 m) between its headwaters, near Galena Summit above the Sawtooth Valley in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, and its confluence with the Snake River. Measured at White Bird, its average discharge is 11,060 cubic feet (310 m3) per second. It is one of the largest rivers in the continental United States without a single dam on its mainstem.
Cities located along the Salmon River include Stanley, Clayton, Challis, Salmon, Riggins, and White Bird. Redfish Lake and Little Redfish Lake near Stanley, which flow into the river via Redfish Lake Creek, are the terminus of the longest Pacific sockeye salmon migration in North America. This river is also featured as part of the route that William Least Heat-Moon and his friend take in their boat journey across America, which is described in Heat-Moon's book River Horse.
The lower half of the river provides the time zone boundary for the state, with northern Idaho on Pacific time and the rest of the state on Mountain time.
The Salmon River originates from and flows through the mountains of central and eastern Idaho (Lemhi Range, Sawtooth, Salmon River Mountains, Clearwater and Bitterroot Range). The main stem rises in the Sawtooth Range at over 9,200 feet (2,800 m) in elevation, several miles northwest of Norton Peak. For the first 30 miles (50 km), it flows north through the Sawtooth Valley, then turns east at Stanley, receiving the Yankee Fork shortly below that point and the East Fork further downstream. The river then flows northeast, receiving the Pahsimeroi River at Ellis and then the Lemhi River at Salmon, Idaho east of the Lemhi Range.
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Wikipedia