Tucannon River

The Tucannon River drainage includes the Tucannon and Pataha Creek. The main river drains 318 mi² and is 113 km (70 miles) long. It flows into the Snake River at convert|4|mi|km|0 upstream from Lyons Ferry State Park, which lies at the mouth of the Palouse River. Pataha Creek enters the Tucannon River about convert|11|mi|km|0 above the Tucannon's confluence with the Snake River and drains a watershed of 185 mi².

The Tucannon basin ranges from convert|540|ft|m|0 above sea level at the confluence of the Tucannon River and Snake River to convert|6400|ft|m|-1 above sea level in the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness which lies in the Umatilla National Forest of the Blue Mountains.

Water availability

The total water rights claims [That is a claim filed under the Water Right Claim Registration Act. This has been superseded by the state issued water rights, but do establish precedence. ] and state issued water claims exceed the mean daily flow in the river, and there are further applications pending to support agriculture. Since the aquifer is continuous with the surface water, continued extraction for irrigation will reduce surface flow. [Tucannon River Watershed Initial Assessment, February 1995, Washington State Department of Ecology, copy available electronically at [http://www.ecy.wa.gov/pubs/95152.pdf] ]

Recreational opportunities

Fishing

All tributaries of the Tucannon river are closed to fishing and sections of the Tucannon River are also closed to protect four Federally listed "Threatened and Endangered (T&E)" fish species: spring/summer and fall chinook salmon as well as bull trout and steelhead. The areas which are closed protect the main spawning grounds.U.S. Forest Service Summary of REcreational Opportunities, 2004, copy available at [http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/uma/nr/fishwildlife/fishing-pomeroy.shtml] ] Steelhead and bull trout may be caught, following prescribed fishing restrictions. The accessible areas of the Tucannon River are popular fishing areas. The Tucannon winds through National Forest, State, and private lands, some of which are in stretches open to fishing. There are eight fishing ponds open to public fishing developed by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and routinely stocked. Rainbow, Deer, Blue, Spring, Curl, Beaver, Watson and fly fishing only Big Four Lake make up these wonderful trout opportunities. Fishing access can also be gained at the Tucannon Fish Hatchery where the river is bordered by State or National Forest land.

Camping

The Tucannon Campground is operated by the U.S. Forest Service in the Tucannon River Valley as one of 15 campgrounds in the Pomeroy Ranger District.

Washington State Parks opeates a group camp at Camp Wooten, near the a popular group camping recreation site on the upper Tucannon River, a popular camping & recreation site on the upper Tucannon River. [Washington State Park summary of the faciliites at Camp Wooten. [http://www.parks.wa.gov/elcs.asp#Camp%20Wooten] ]

History

Native peoples

The lower Snake River was home to bands of the Palouse and other Sahaptin-speaking people, including Nez Perce, Yakama, Walla Walla, Umatilla, and Wanapum. The Blue Mountains formed the western part of a 17 million acre (69,000 km²) region traditional to the aboriginal Nimi'ipuu people, renamed Nez Perce by Lewis and Clark when they arrived in the region in 1805. The horse was central to the lives of both the Palouse and the Nez Perce.cite book|author=Trafzer, C.E. & Scheuerman, R.D. |title=Renegade Tribe; The Palouse Indians and the Invasion of the Inland Pacific Northwest|publisher=Washington State University Press, Pullman, Washington|year=1986|id=ISBN 0-87422-027-0]

The Nez Perce Trail followed part of the Touchet and Tucannon, extending east from Wallula and reaching the Touchet River below Waitsburg. From there it followed the southern bank of the Touchet River to present day Dayton. Here it crossed the river and followed Patit Creek northeast. Passing over.... pass to meet the Tucannon.

Lewis and Clark expedition

On October 12, 1805, after a difficult passage through rapids several miles above the mouth of the Tucannon, Lewis and Clark passed through a shorter one just east of the mouth of the present day Tucannon River. Lewis recorded ..."This is called Kimooenim creek". The expedition did not stop, but continued down the river in their dugouts.

Lewis and Clark on their return trip to St. Louis on May 2, 1806, Lewis and Clark followed the Nez Perce Trail, crossing over from Patit Creek about two-and-a-half miles east of present-day Dayton to meet the Tucannon. Only convert|12|mi|km|0 beyond their campsite they reached the Tucannon River. "This creek rises in the southwest [Blue] mountains, and though only twelve yards wide discharges a considerable body of water into Lewis' river (the Snake River), a few miles above the narrows. Its bed is pebbled . . . in its narrow bottoms are found some cottonwood, willow and the underbrush which grows equally on the east branch of the Wollawollah [Touchet] ." (add photo). Lewis and Clark camped on the Pataha Creek (a tributary to the Tucannon), which is recorded as the first locality for some distance where they were able to find ample firewood.

The British fur trade

The fur industry was important in the region. The Tucannon River provided a profitable area for beaver and otter trapping, which were abundant. F. A. Shaver's 1906 book, An Illustrated History of Southeastern Washington, that prior to 1834, the British Hudson's Bay Company (the British fur-trading company) was "undisputed occupants since 1829." A party was led by John Work, who served as an agent of Hudson's Bay Company. Starting from Fort Nez Perce in September 1831, Work and a 56-person party followed the Nez Perce Trail to the Upper Snake River country.

American survey and settlement

In the late winter of 1834, Captain B. L. E. Bonneville crossed the Tucannon on the Nez Perce Trail, surveying the Northwest on behalf of the United States government.

A number of wagon roads were built through the area in the 1860s (including a Walla Walla to Lewiston, Idaho, wagon road in 1862). Settlers slowly drifted into the Tucannon River area in the 1860s, but in the early 1870s settlement rapidly increased.

Indian Wars

"The object was to bring the Indians to terms by some means, by fighting or otherwise, and recapture the stock stolen from the whites. The expedition started about the 10th of March, 1848, and after a search of ten days or so found the enemy encamped on Tucannon River, about convert|4|mi|km above its confluence with the Columbia. The enemy adopted the ruse of hoisting a white flag, asked for and had a talk with the troops, anti pretended not to belong to the hostile party; but, upon the whites taking charge of the stock of the murdered pioneers, which were herding on the adjacent hills, the wily foe threw off the mask, and began an impetuous attack. The troops, greatly outnumbered, fought on the defensive, marching in retreat, formed in a hollow square, to resist the assaults made on all sides. The first night the captured stock was turned loose. The next morning the attack and retreat continued, and the Indians, as the Touchet River crossing was approached, took possession of it, attempting thereby to cutoff sic the retreat of the troops effectually. Here nothing but the most determined charge and fighting drove off the Indians and enabled the whites to cross that river and thus escape threatened extermination." [ [http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:1ty1iGmh-zUJ:gesswhoto.com/cayuse.html+Tucannon+River+history+-salmon&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=35 reference] ]

On August 7, 1858, Captain Keyes with a detachment of dragoons was ordered to the Snake River to erect a Fort at a crossing point near the Palouse River. He selected the mouth of Tucannon River to establish Fort Taylor (a supply depot which honored Captain Taylor—killed that same year while he served with Steptoe against the Spokanes in April. On August 25th this point served as a crossing point for Colonel Wright, who lead a force of 570 men across the Snake. It took several days to find a path to ascend from the Snake valley into the badlands above; this journey led them to the Battle of the Spokane Plain on September 5th.

Later history

The railroad town of Starbuck on the Tucannon River was incorporated in the 1880s. In its early years Starbuck was a division point on the main line of the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company. At one time up to 24 trains a day went through the town. Little Goose Dam, which became operational in 1975 was near Starbuck. It boosted the local population and labor force greatly as construction workers and their families moved into the town.

Today

Blue Sky Wind LLC built the Hopkins Ridge Wind Energy Project in Columbia County, Washington; completing a wind farm in 2005 which is now in commercial operation. Up to 150-MW of power from the wind project is sold to BPA.

References

Brian Sargent Local Resident