Snake River

Snake River is about a 1000 miles long and covers 108,000 square miles, runs through 6 states Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Oregon and Washington. The thirteenth longest river in the United States. More than 11,000 years ago Native Americans lived along the Snake. The River rises in western Wyoming as a small river flowing west and south into Jackson Hole and runs into the Pacific Ocean.

Snake River Faces a big pollution risk, because huge industrial farms are located near the river that use chemicals, fertilizers, manure which gets washed into the water and destroys the ecosystem. 

Snake River got its name from an American native tribe, the Shoshone tribe. The name Snake River was derived from an S-shape gesture the Shoshone tribe made with their hands to represent swimming Salmon. Explorers misinterpreted it to represent a snake, giving the river its present-day name.  

The Snake River Plain was created by a volcanic hotspot which now lies underneath Yellowstone National Park, the headwaters of the Snake River.