Wallowa River
| Wallowa River | |
|---|---|
Wallowa River at Wallowa, Oregon | |
| Etymology | A Nez Perce word for a triangle of stakes forming part of a fish trap |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Oregon |
| County | Wallowa and Union |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | Confluence of the east and west forks of the Wallowa River |
| • location | about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Wallowa Lake, Wallowa County, Oregon |
| • coordinates | 45°16′28″N 117°12′42″W / 45.27444°N 117.21167°W |
| • elevation | 4,499 ft (1,371 m) |
| Mouth | Grande Ronde River |
• location | Union County, Oregon |
• coordinates | 45°43′31″N 117°47′09″W / 45.72528°N 117.78583°W |
• elevation | 2,316 ft (706 m) |
| Length | 55 mi (89 km) |
| Basin size | 950 sq mi (2,500 km2) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Wallowa |
| • average | 610 cu ft/s (17 m3/s) |
| • minimum | 89 cu ft/s (2.5 m3/s) |
| • maximum | 4,640 cu ft/s (131 m3/s) |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Lostine River, Minam River |
| Type | Recreational |
| Designated | July 23, 1996 |
The Wallowa River is a tributary of the Grande Ronde River, approximately 55 miles (89 km) long, in northeastern Oregon in the United States. It drains a valley on the Columbia Plateau in the northeast corner of the state north of Wallowa Mountains.
The Wallowa Valley was home to Chief Joseph's band of the Nez Perce Tribe. Chief Joseph asked the first white settlers to leave when they arrived in 1871. The U.S. government expelled the tribe and seized their property and livestock in 1877, when non-Indian farmers and ranchers wanted to settle the fertile Wallowa valley. The tribe was barred from returning to their homeland by the government after repeated petitions. The tribal members were shipped in unheated box cars to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) to be placed in a prisoner-of-war camp never to see their home again.