Salt Creek is a 30-mile (48 km) tributary of the Middle Fork Willamette River in Lane County in the U.S. state of Oregon.[1][3][2] It is named for salt springs along its banks that are used as licks by deer.[1][5] The stream originates as an outflow of Lower Betty Lake in the forested Cascade Range just southeast of Waldo Lake. It proceeds generally south, through Gold Lake, to Route 58, which it then follows mainly northwest for about 26 miles (42 km) to its mouth at the Middle Fork Willamette River just below Hills Creek Dam.[6][7][8] At Salt Creek Falls—roughly 4 miles (6.4 km) west of Willamette Pass and a little more than 22 miles (35 km) upstream from the mouth[7][9]—the stream plunges 286 feet (87 m),[10] discharging an average of 50,000 U.S. gallons (190,000 L) of water per minute, or 111 cubic feet per second (3.1 m3/s).[11] Below the falls, the creek enters a narrow canyon shaped by glaciation and basalticlava flows from higher in the Cascades.[9][12] McCredie Hot Springs, at the former community of McCredie Springs, are natural hot springs along the lower half of Salt Creek beside Route 58.[13][14]
^ abcMcArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. p. 843. ISBN978-0875952772.
^Richardson, David M., ed. (1998). Ecology and Biogeography of Pinus (2000 ed.). New York, New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 128–30. ISBN0-521-78910-9. OCLC43717786.
^Alexander, Robert R.; Shearer, Raymond C.; Shepperd, Wayne D. "Subalpine Fir". U.S. Forest Service. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
^Packee, E. C. "Western Hemlock". U.S. Forest Service. Retrieved August 18, 2022.