Weiser River outside Weiser, Idaho The Weiser River is a tributary of the Snake River, approximately 90 mi (145 km) long in western Idaho in the United States. It drains a mountainous area of 1,660 sq mi (4320 km²) consisting primarily of low rolling foothills disected by small streams south and east of Hells Canyon along the Idaho-Oregon border.
Description
It rises in northern Adams County in the Seven Devils Mountains, approximately 10 mi (16 km) west of New Meadows in the Payette National Forest. It flows generally southwest, between the Cuddy Mountains to the west and the West Mountains to the east, past Council and Cambridge. In southern Washington County it turns west for its lower 10 mi (16 km), enter a broadending valley called the Weiser Cove along the northwestern extreme of the Snake River Plain before entering the Snake from the east at Weiser.
It receives the Little Weiser River from the east approximately 2 mi (3.2 km) southwest of Cambridge. The river descends from approximately 8,000 ft (2100 m) at its source to 2,090 ft (625 m) at its mouth on the Snake. For much of its uppper river follows a narrow course through the mountains, emerging at times into several broad ranching valeys, including one around Midvale. Although it flows unimpounded, it is used for irrigation in the vicinity of its mouth upstream from Weiser, as well along tributaries in its upper reaches. The Pacific and Idaho Northern Railroad formerly followed its course from Weiser to New Meadows.
The river, as well as the town of Weiser, are named for Private Peter M. Weiser of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which encountered the river in 1804 and 1806.
See also
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