Cisco Sonar: The Bear River

The Bear River

This column describes the geographical flow of the Bear River as it flows through Wyoming, Utah and Idaho.  It was originally called the White River because of its muddy water and then the Miller River after one of the early trappers.  I suspect that it became the Bear River around the same time (mid 1800’s) that the lake became Black Bear Lake.

It originates above 11,000 feet on the North Slope of the Uinta Mountains. The water is crystal clear, cold and filled with cutthroat and brook trout.  It then flows into the pastures west of Evanston.  Claimed for irrigation use 180 years ago most of the water is diverted into the fields to grow meadow hay and mosquitoes.  It is then impounded at Sulfur Creek Reservoir for flood control and irrigation. What is left and what runs off the fields is sediment laden as it heads for Woodruff Narrows Reservoir located on the Utah-Wyoming border.  As the water leaves the dam its water quality has improved slightly but quickly again picks up sediment from the erosive valley where Woodruff, Randolph and Cokeville are located.  It is diverted many more times for irrigation, and this practice has created thousands of acres of wetlands (meadow hay) that are home to many species of mammals and birds.  Its serpentine course is due to the lack of gradient and clayey soils on the valley floor.  If you drive up to the top of the Crawford Mountains or look on Google Earth, you can see its footprints and oxbows from the past.  It then picks up tons of sediment during runoff from Sage Creek in Wyoming.

When it rounds the bend at Dingle it has picked up more water from the Smiths and Thomas forks and it turbid again.  At this point man diverted the flow into Bear Lake for storage and the old channel is dewatered.  There is irrigation diversion (Stewart Dam) at Dingle that steers the river down the Rainbow Canal into the Dingle marsh (Bear Lake WMA).  It is then stored in Bear Lake or bypassed directly into the Outlet Canal.  During the summer it is pumped out into the Outlet Canal which connects into the natural channel.  It maintains a lot of its water quality as it heads past Nounan on its way to Alexander Reservoir near Soda Springs.  To me this is classic Bear River with a heavy riparian zone and lots of diversity.

The river is now used for power generation and irrigation. After it leaves Alexander Reservoir it turns towards Grace and goes through the lava flows.  It now provides water for famous Idaho spuds and continues through Black Canyon.  It then heads into Onedia reservoir which great fishing and recreation in addition to power production.  Below Onedia Dam, there is a stunning cold. clear, river stretch popular with rafters and fishermen. The Bear River now flows into the Cache Valley and Cultler Marsh which is a bird watchers and hunter’s bonanza.   After Cutler Dam most of the River goes into two large canals (Bear River Canal Co) to irrigate in Box Elder County.  What is left goes into the Bear River Bird refuge near Corrine and ultimately the Great Salt Lake. 

The Bear River runs for approximately 350 miles.  It’s beginning and ending point is less than 100 miles.  It is also the longest river in North America that doesn’t run into an ocean.  It is a unique diversified watercourse, and we are lucky to live near it.

Bryce Nielson
Cisco's Landing