Latah Creek

Latah Creek Hangman Creek[1]
Ice-jam break up on Latah Creek, 2005
Location of the mouth of Latah Creek in Washington Show map of Washington (state) Latah Creek (the United States) Show map of the United States
Native name	Snt'ut'u'lmkhwkwe[1] Latah (Nez Perce)
Location
Country	United States
State	Washington, Idaho
Cities	DeSmet, ID, Tekoa, WA, Latah, WA, Spokane, WA
Physical characteristics
Source	Charles Butte
• location	Benewah County, Idaho
• coordinates	47°06′53″N 116°43′0″W / 47.11472°N 116.71667°W / 47.11472; -116.71667
• elevation	3,600 ft (1,100 m)[2]
Mouth	Spokane River
• location	Spokane, Spokane County, Washington
• coordinates	47°39′36″N 117°27′28″W / 47.66000°N 117.45778°W / 47.66000; -117.45778
• elevation	1,700 ft (520 m)[2]
Length	60 mi (97 km)
Basin size	673 sq mi (1,740 km2)
Discharge
• location	Spokane[3]
• average	231 cu ft/s (6.5 m3/s)[3]
• minimum	10 cu ft/s (0.28 m3/s)
• maximum	21,200 cu ft/s (600 m3/s)
Basin features
Progression	Spokane River → Columbia River → Pacific Ocean
Tributaries
• left	South Fork Latah/Hangman Creek, Sheep Creek, Marshall Creek, Garden Springs Creek
• right	Indian Creek, Little Latah/Hangman Creek, Rock Creek, Cove Creek, Rattler Run Creek, California Creek, Stevens Creek

Latah Creek (/ˈleɪtə/ LAY-tə), also known as Hangman Creek,^[1] is a large stream in eastern Washington and north central Idaho in the United States. The creek flows northwest from the Rocky Mountains to Spokane, where it empties into the Spokane River. It drains 673 square miles (1,740 km²) in parts of Benewah and Kootenai counties in Idaho, Spokane County and a small portion of Whitman County in Washington, where over 64 percent of its watershed resides. Some major tributaries of the approximately 60-mile (97 km) creek include Little Latah Creek (also known as Little Hangman Creek) and Rock Creek. The average flow of the creek can range from 20 cubic feet per second (0.57 m³/s) to 20,000 cubic feet per second (570 m³/s).^[4][5] Latah Creek receives its name from a Nez Perce word likely meaning "fish". In 1854, the creek received another name, Hangman Creek, from a war between the Palouse Indians and white soldiers, which resulted in several Palouse being hanged alongside the creek.

The Latah Creek watershed is dominated by agriculture, which has released large amounts of sediment from the surrounding Palouse soils into the watershed on an annual basis. This has caused the ruin of natural fish populations, riparian zones, and natural flow patterns. The creek has been channelized in some places, and meanders, islands and natural channel formations have been destroyed. In response to these damaging factors, the water quality overall in the Latah Creek basin is quite low, and "Washington State water quality standards for temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, and fecal coliforms are routinely violated."^[6] The remaining third of the land in the watershed is mostly forest.^[7]