The
Humboldt River runs through northern
NevadaNevada is a state located in the western region of the United States. The capital is Carson City and the largest city is Las Vegas. The state's nickname is Silver State, due to the large number of silver deposits that were discovered and mined there...
in the western
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. At approximately long, it is the longest river in the arid
Great BasinThe Great Basin is a large, arid region of the western United States. Its boundaries vary depending on how it is defined, but it is most commonly defined as the contiguous endorheic basin roughly between the Wasatch Mountains and the Sierra Nevada mountains. Culturally, the Great Basin is home to...
of
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
. It has no outlet to the ocean, but instead empties into the
Humboldt SinkHumboldt Sink is an intermittent dry lake bed, approximately 11 mi long, and 4 mi across, in northwestern Nevada in the United States...
. It is the largest river in the United States, in terms of discharge, that does not ultimately reach the ocean. Through its tributaries the river drains most of sparsely populated northern Nevada, traversing the state roughly east to west, and passing through repeated gaps in the north-south running mountain ranges.
The
Humboldt River runs through northern
NevadaNevada is a state located in the western region of the United States. The capital is Carson City and the largest city is Las Vegas. The state's nickname is Silver State, due to the large number of silver deposits that were discovered and mined there...
in the western
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. At approximately long, it is the longest river in the arid
Great BasinThe Great Basin is a large, arid region of the western United States. Its boundaries vary depending on how it is defined, but it is most commonly defined as the contiguous endorheic basin roughly between the Wasatch Mountains and the Sierra Nevada mountains. Culturally, the Great Basin is home to...
of
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
. It has no outlet to the ocean, but instead empties into the
Humboldt SinkHumboldt Sink is an intermittent dry lake bed, approximately 11 mi long, and 4 mi across, in northwestern Nevada in the United States...
. It is the largest river in the United States, in terms of discharge, that does not ultimately reach the ocean. Through its tributaries the river drains most of sparsely populated northern Nevada, traversing the state roughly east to west, and passing through repeated gaps in the north-south running mountain ranges. It furnishes the only natural transportation artery across the Great Basin, and has provided a route for the historical
routeThe California Trail was a major overland emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. It was used primarily from 1841 to 1869...
for westward migration, railroads, and modern
highwaysInterstate 80 is the second-longest Interstate Highway in the United States . It connects downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, a suburb of New York City. I-80 is the interstate that most closely approximates the route of the Lincoln Highway, the first auto trail to cross the...
. The river is named for the
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
naturalist
Alexander von Humboldtwas a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher, and linguist, Wilhelm von Humboldt...
.
Course
The source of the river is a spring called Humboldt Wells at the northern tip of the
East Humboldt RangeThe East Humboldt Range is a line of mountains in northeastern Nevada in the Great Basin region of the western United States. It located in central Elko County in the upper watershed of the Humboldt River, which flows to the southwest from its source just north of the range.The East Humboldts run...
, just outside the city of
WellsWells is a town in Elko County, in northeast Nevada in the western United States. The population was 1,346 at the 2000 census. Wells is located at the junction of U.S...
. The river flows west-southwest through
Elko CountyElko County is located in the western U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 45,291. As of July 1, 2007, the population of Elko County was estimated at 50,434. Its county seat is Elko. The county was organized on March 5, 1869, being taken from Eureka County...
past the community of
ElkoElko is a city in Elko County, Nevada, United States. The population was 16,980 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Elko County....
. In northern
Eureka CountyEureka County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 1,651. Its county seat is Eureka.Eureka County is part of the Elko Micropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
it passes along the south end of the
Tuscarora MountainsThe Tuscarora Mountains are a mountain range in Elko County, Nevada....
, and then along the north end of the
Shoshone Rangein Nye County.The Shoshone Range is a mountain range in Lander County, Nevada....
. At
Battle MountainBattle Mountain is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Lander County, Nevada, United States. The population was 2,871 at the 2000 census. Though it has no legal status as a municipality, it still functions as the county seat of Lander County...
it turns northwest for approximately , then west at Red House and past
GolcondaGolconda is an unincorporated community in Humboldt County, Nevada, United States. Located along Interstate 80 in the northwestern part of the state, it is named for the ancient diamond mining center of Golkonda in India. The community lies east of the city of Winnemucca and of Golconda Summit, a...
and a spur of the
Sonoma RangeThe Sonoma Range is a small mountain range in northwest Nevada, USA, lying just south of the Humboldt River between Winnemucca and Golconda. It is one of the many ranges of the basin and range geologic province of the Great Basin....
. Then it turns southwest, flowing past
WinnemucaWinnemucca is a city in and the county seat of Humboldt County, Nevada, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 7,174. Interstate 80 passes through the city, where it meets U.S. Route 95....
and through
Pershing CountyPershing County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 6,693. Its county seat is Lovelock. The county is named for General John Pershing. It was created out of Humboldt County in 1919, and is the last county in the state of Nevada to be...
, along the western side of the
Humboldt RangeThe Humboldt Range is a largely north-south running range of mountains in northwest Nevada, USA, that extend from the town of Imlay in the north to the junction with the West Humboldt Range in the south...
and the
West Humboldt RangeThe West Humboldt Range is a short mountain range in the western Great Basin in northwestern Nevada in the United States. It runs for approximately 40 mi southwest to northeast in northern Churchill County and southern Pershing County...
. It empties into an intermittent lake in the
Humboldt SinkHumboldt Sink is an intermittent dry lake bed, approximately 11 mi long, and 4 mi across, in northwestern Nevada in the United States...
on the border between
PershingPershing County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 6,693. Its county seat is Lovelock. The county is named for General John Pershing. It was created out of Humboldt County in 1919, and is the last county in the state of Nevada to be...
and
ChurchillChurchill County is a county located in the western U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 23,982. As of July 1, 2007, the population of Churchill County was estimated at 27,190. The county, named after Mexican-American War hero brevet Brigadier General Sylvester Churchill,...
counties, approximately southwest of
LovelockLovelock is a city in Pershing County, Nevada, United States. The population was 2,003 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Pershing County...
.
The river receives the
North ForkThe North Fork of the Humboldt River has its origins on the north slopes of McAfee Peak in the Independence Mountains of northeastern Nevada. It quickly exits the mountains and turns southward for approximately 25 miles , joining its waters with numerous other streams...
of the Humboldt River in Elko County, approximately upstream from Elko, and the
South ForkThe South Fork of the Humboldt River has its origins in a fan-shaped group of canyons draining the western slopes of the Ruby Mountains in northeastern Nevada. These headwaters run from Ruby Dome south to King Peak, and include Echo, Box, Kleckner, North Furlong, Long, Segunda, Drown, and...
approximately downstream. It merges with the
Reese RiverThe Reese River is a tributary of the Humboldt River, located in central Nevada in the western United States. It rises in the southern section of the Toiyabe Range, on the flanks of Arc Dome...
near Battle Mountain, and receives the
Little Humboldt RiverThe Little Humboldt River is a tributary of the Humboldt River, approximately 60 miles long, in northern Nevada in the western United States. It is an intermittent stream draining a rugged area on the edge of the Owyhee Desert in the Great Basin....
approximately upstream from Winnemucca. It is impounded in central Pershing County by the Rye Patch Dam, forming the Rye Patch Reservoir.
The river is highly variable in flow, generally decreasing in volume downstream to the west, in part due to the removal of water from the river for irrigation.
History
The region of the river in northern Nevada was sparsely inhabited by the
PaiutePaiute refers to two related groups of Native Americans — the Northern Paiute of California, Nevada and Oregon, and the Southern Paiute of Arizona, southeastern California and Nevada, and Utah...
and
ShoshoneThe Shoshone are a Native American tribe in the United States with three large divisions: the Northern, the Western and the Eastern. The Shoshone were sometimes called the Snake by early White trappers, travelers, and settlers....
at the time of the arrival of
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
settlers. The region was little known by non-indigenous peoples until the arrival of
fur trappersThe fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur.-Russian fur trade:Before the colonization of the Americas, Russia was a major supplier of fur-pelts to Western Europe and parts of Asia. Fur was a major Russian export as trade developed in the early Middle...
in the middle 19th century.
The first recorded sighting of the river was on November 9, 1828, by
Peter Skene OgdenPeter Skene Ogden , was a fur trader and a Canadian explorer of what is now British Columbia and the American West...
during his fifth expedition to the
Snake CountryThe Snake River is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, flowing through the U.S. states of Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. The river's watershed consists of , and the average discharge at its mouth is...
. Odgen came southward along the Little Humboldt, encountering the main river at the confluence near Winnemucca. Ogden explored the river for several hundred miles, blazing a trail along it and making the first known map of the region. He initially named the river "Unknown River", due to the source and course of the river still being unknown to him, and later "Paul's River", after one of his trappers who died on the expedition and was buried on the river bank. He later changed it again to "Mary's River," named after the
Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
wife of one of his trappers, which later somehow became "St. Mary's River". However in 1829 he suggested that "Swampy River" best described the course he had traversed. In 1833 the
Bonneville-Walker fur partyBenjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville was a French-born officer in the United States Army, fur trapper, and explorer in the American West...
explored the river, naming it "Barren River".
Washington IrvingWashington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
's 1837 book describing the Bonneville expedition called it "Ogden's River", the name used by many early travelers. By the early 1840s the trail along the river was being used by settlers going west to
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
.
In 1848 the river was explored by
John C. FrémontJohn Charles Frémont , was an American military officer, explorer, the first candidate of the Republican Party for the office of President of the United States, and the first presidential candidate of a major party to run on a platform in opposition to slavery...
, who made a thorough map of the region and gave the river its current name. The following year the river became the route of the
California TrailThe California Trail was a major overland emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California. It was used primarily from 1841 to 1869...
, the primary land route for migrants to the
California gold fieldsThe California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was discovered by James Wilson Marshall at Sutter's Mill, in Coloma, California. News of the discovery soon spread, resulting in some 300,000 men, women, and children coming to California from the rest of the United States and...
. In 1869 the river was used as part of the route of the
Central PacificThe Central Pacific Railroad was the California-to-Utah portion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in North America.Many proposals to build a transcontinental railroad failed because of the disputes over slavery in Washington; with the secession of the South, the modernizers in the Republican...
segment of the Transcontinental Railroad.
In the 20th century, the valley of the river became the route for U.S. Highway 40, later replaced by
Interstate 80Interstate 80 is the second-longest Interstate Highway in the United States . It connects downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, a suburb of New York City. I-80 is the interstate that most closely approximates the route of the Lincoln Highway, the first auto trail to cross the...
. About 45,000 people live within of the river, roughly a third of the population of the state outside of
western NevadaWestern Nevada is a region that includes Reno, Carson City and the Carson Valley. Lyon County and Churchill County are sometimes also referred to as part of Western Nevada....
and
Southern NevadaSouthern Nevada is the region of Nevada which includes the Las Vegas Valley. Southern Nevada also includes the areas in and around Goldfield, Hawthorne, Pahrump, and Pioche. Geographically, Southern Nevada is partly, and in some cases, fully within the Mojave Desert. The population of the...
.
Further reading
- Wallace, A.R. et al. (2005). Metallic mineral resource assessment of the Humboldt River Basin, northern Nevada (USGS Fact Sheet 2005-3023]. Reno, NV: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
- Yager, D.B. and H.W. Folger. (2003). Map showing silver concentrations from stream sediments and soils throughout the Humboldt River Basin and surrounding areas, northern Nevada [U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-2407-I]. Denver, CO: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
External links