List of longest streams of Idaho

The Big Wood River (10th longest) in the Sawtooth National Recreation Area in Blaine County

A total of 70 streams that are at least long flow through the U.S state of Idaho. All of these streams originate in the United States except the Kootenai River (third longest) and the Moyie River (thirty-first longest), both of which begin in the Canadian province of British Columbia. At , the Snake River is the longest and the only stream of more than in total length. It begins in Wyoming and flows through Idaho for , and then through Oregon and Washington. Some of the other streams also cross borders between Idaho and Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, or Wyoming, but the majority flow entirely within Idaho, the longest of which is the Salmon River at .

All but four of the streams lie within the large basin of the Columbia River, although the river itself does not flow through Idaho. Consequently, the predominant direction of the state's streamflow is northwest towards the Columbia River and its mouth at the Pacific Ocean. The only other major drainage basin in Idaho is the Great Salt Lake watershed in the state's southeastern corner, which is part of the Great Basin and has no outlet to the ocean. The Bear River, the second longest stream, is within this watershed, along with the Malad River, Deep Creek, and the Logan River.

Source data for the table below comes from topographic maps created by the United States Geological Survey and published online by TopoQuest, and on the Idaho Road and Recreation Atlas, the National Hydrography Dataset, the Geographic Names Information System, and other sources as noted. In the table, total lengths are given in miles (mi) and kilometers (km).

Table

Longest streams of Idaho

Rank	Name	Mouth	Total length		Length in Idaho		Mouth coordinates	Source coordinates
			mi	km	mi	km
1	Snake River	Columbia River	1,076	1,732	769	1,238
2	Bear River	Great Salt Lake	490	789	185	297
3	Kootenai River	Columbia River	485	780	65	105
4	Salmon River	Snake River	425	685	425	685
5	Owyhee River	Snake River	347	558	91	147
6	Clark Fork	Pend Oreille Lake	347	558	9	15
7	Palouse River	Snake River	167	268	43	70
8	Bruneau River	Snake River	153	246	94	152
9	Saint Joe River	Coeur d'Alene Lake	140	225	140	225
10	Big Wood River	Malad River	137	221	137	221
11	Big Lost River	Big Lost River Sinks	135	217	135	217
12	Blackfoot River	Snake River	135	217	135	217
13	North Fork Clearwater River	Clearwater River	135	217	135	217
14	Little Wood River	Malad River	130	209	130	209
15	Henrys Fork	Snake River	127	204	127	204
16	South Fork Owyhee River	Owyhee River	127	204	33	53
17	Portneuf River	Snake River	124	200	124	200
18	Goose Creek	Snake River	123	197	75	120
19	Salmon Falls Creek	Snake River	121	195	73	117
20	Pend Oreille River	Columbia River	118	190	32	52
21	Spokane River	Columbia River	114	183	15	24
22	Raft River	Snake River	109	175	98	158
23	Middle Fork Salmon River	Salmon River	106	170	106	170
24	North Fork Payette River	Payette River	106	170	106	170
25	Weiser River	Snake River	103	166	103	166
26	Boise River	Snake River	102	164	102	164
27	South Fork Boise River	Boise River	102	164	102	164
28	Selway River	Middle Fork Clearwater River	100	161	100	161
29	Jordan Creek	Owyhee River	99	159	42	67
30	Malad River	Bear River	97	156	36	58		Note: Incomplete record. Source coordinates derived from Big Malad Spring.
31	Moyie River	Kootenai River	92	147	26	42
32	South Fork Salmon River	Salmon River	90	145	90	145
33	Willow Creek	Snake River	84	136	84	136
34	Salt River	Snake River	84	136	2	4
35	Payette River	Snake River	83	133	83	133
36	Teton River	Henrys Fork	81	131	81	131
37	South Fork Payette River	Payette River	80	129	80	129
38	Hangman Creek	Spokane River	79	127	21	33
39	North Fork Coeur d'Alene River	Coeur d'Alene River	77	124	77	124
40	Clearwater River	Snake River	75	120	75	120
41	Deep Creek	Great Salt Lake	73	118	35	57
42	Union Flat Creek	Palouse River	72	115	5	7
43	Succor Creek	Snake River	71	114	30	48
44	Lochsa River	Middle Fork Clearwater River	69	111	69	111
45	Priest River	Pend Oreille River	68	110	68	110
46	Battle Creek	Owyhee River	67	108	67	108
47	Bannock Creek	Snake River	67	107	67	107
48	Indian Creek	Boise River	66	107	66	107
49	Sailor Creek	Snake River	64	104	64	104
50	Fall River	Henrys Fork	64	103	33	53
51	Camas Creek	Big Wood River	64	103	64	103
52	Camas Creek	Mud Lake	63	102	63	102
53	South Fork Clearwater River	Clearwater River	63	101	63	101
54	Sheep Creek	Bruneau River	63	101	61	97
55	Squaw Creek	Payette River	61	98	61	98
56	Little Owyhee River	South Fork Owyhee River	61	97	16	26
57	Lemhi River	Salmon River	60	97	60	97
58	Pahsimeroi River	Salmon River	59	95	59	95
59	Beaver Creek	Camas Creek	58	94	58	94
60	Big Jacks Creek	Jacks Creek	58	93	58	93
61	Potlatch River	Clearwater River	57	92	57	92
62	Marsh Creek	Portneuf River	56	90	56	90
63	Clover Creek	Bruneau River	55	89	55	89
64	Logan River	Little Bear River	54	86	3	5
65	Blue Creek	Owyhee River	53	85	53	85
66	Middle Fork Boise River	Boise River	52	84	52	84
67	Little Salmon River	Salmon River	52	84	52	84
68	Jarbidge River	Bruneau River	52	83	34	54
69	Cow Creek	Jordan Creek	51	82	13	20
70	North Fork Boise River	Boise River	50	81	50	81

Snake River (longest) cutting through the Snake River Plain near Twin Falls

Bear River (2nd longest) in Bear River State Park, Wyoming

File:Kootenaicropped.jpg

Kootenai River (3rd longest) south of Libby Dam, Montana

Salmon River (4th longest) below the Sawtooth Mountains

File:Owyhee River, Elko County, Nevada.jpg

Owyhee River (5th longest) south of Mountain City, Nevada

Clark Fork (6th longest) in Missoula, Montana

File:Palouse-Falls-Washington-State.JPG

Palouse River (7th longest) flowing over Palouse Falls, Washington

Bruneau River (8th longest) in southwestern Idaho

Saint Joe River (9th longest) in the Saint Joe National Forest

File:Dworshak Dam 3.jpg

North Fork Clearwater River (13th longest) below Dworshak Dam

File:DSCN6277 portneufriver e.jpg

Portneuf River (17th longest) west of Soda Springs

File:2013-07-07 16 30 58 View north down the Salmon Falls Creek Gorge from Salmon Falls Dam in Idaho.jpg

Salmon Falls Creek (19th longest) below Salmon Falls Dam

Pend Oreille River (20th longest) at Albeni Falls Dam

File:Waterfalls in Riverfront Park along Spokane River, downtown Spokane.jpg

Spokane River (21st longest) in downtown Spokane, Washington

North Fork Payette River (24th longest) near Smiths Ferry

File:The Weiser River outside Weiser, Idaho.jpg

Weiser River (25th longest) near Weiser

Boise River (26th longest) near Boise

Clearwater River (40th longest) near Orofino

File:Succor Creek.jpg

Succor Creek (43rd longest) in Malheur County, Oregon

See also

• List of rivers of Idaho
• List of longest rivers in the United States by state
• List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem)

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

• Map of Idaho streams published by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality

• Benchmark Maps 2010.
• Stream lengths are derived from high-resolution flowline data from the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) unless otherwise noted. Idaho NHD data may be downloaded here (453 MB zip file).
• The mouth coordinates, mouth elevation, and source coordinates are from the Geographic Names Information System (United States Geological Survey) listing for each stream except the Kootenai River (Canadian topographic maps) and the Moyie River (Canadian Geographical Names Data Base).
• Source coordinates derived from Google Earth using data from Canadian topographic maps.