Editing Pudding River

{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox river
| name               = Pudding River
| name_native        = 
| name_native_lang   = 
| name_other         = 
| name_etymology     = From ''Riviere au Boudin'', given by French fur trappers in the early 19th-century to commemorate a blood pudding made from [[elk]] they shot near the river<ref name = "McArthur">{{cite book | last = McArthur | first = Lewis A. |author2=McArthur, Lewis L.  | title = Oregon Geographic Names|edition = 7th | publisher = Oregon Historical Society Press | year = 2003 |orig-year = 1928| location = Portland, Oregon | pages = 788&ndash;89 | isbn = 0-87595-277-1}}</ref>
<!---------------------- IMAGE & MAP -->
| image              = Pudding river near aurora.jpg
| image_caption      = Pudding River near [[Aurora, Oregon|Aurora]]
| image_size         = 300
| map                = 
| map_size           = 300
| map_caption        = 
| pushpin_map        = USA Oregon
| pushpin_map_size   = 300
| pushpin_map_caption= Location of the mouth of the Pudding River in Oregon
<!---------------------- LOCATION -->
| subdivision_type1  = Country
| subdivision_name1  = [[United States]]
| subdivision_type2  = State
| subdivision_name2  = [[Oregon]]
| subdivision_type3  = 
| subdivision_name3  = 
| subdivision_type4  = County
| subdivision_name4  = [[Marion County, Oregon|Marion]], [[Clackamas County, Oregon|Clackamas]]
| subdivision_type5  = 
| subdivision_name5  = 
<!---------------------- PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS -->
| length             = {{convert|62|mi|km|abbr=on}}<ref>{{cite web| author = United States Geological Survey |title = United States Geological Survey Topographic Map | publisher = TopoQuest |url = http://www.topoquest.com/map.php?lat=44.90672&lon=-122.79688&datum=nad83&zoom=4&map=auto&coord=d&mode=zoomin&size=m}} The relevant map quadrants, Canby, Woodburn, Silverton, and Stayton NE, Oregon, include river-mile (RM) markers to RM&nbsp;59 (river kilometer 95). The remaining {{convert|3|mi|km|0}} is an estimate based on map scale and ruler.</ref><ref name="DeLorme Pudding">{{cite map |publisher = DeLorme Mapping |title = Oregon Atlas & Gazetteer |edition = 1991 |section = 54, 60|isbn = 0-89933-235-8}}</ref> 
| width_min          = 
| width_avg          = 
| width_max          = 
| depth_min          = 
| depth_avg          = 
| depth_max          = 
| discharge1_location= Aurora, {{convert|8.11|mi|km}} from the [[River delta|mouth]]<ref name="Aurora gauge">{{cite web
| title = Water-Data Report 2007: 14202000 Pudding River at Aurora, OR
| publisher = United States Geological Survey
| year = 2007
| url = http://wdr.water.usgs.gov/wy2007/pdfs/14202000.2007.pdf
| accessdate = November 11, 2008}}</ref>
| discharge1_min     = {{convert|3.5|cuft/s|m3/s|abbr=on}}
| discharge1_avg     = {{convert|1237|cuft/s|m3/s|abbr=on}}<ref name="Aurora gauge">{{cite web
| title = Water-Data Report 2007: 14202000 Pudding River at Aurora, OR
| publisher = United States Geological Survey
| year = 2007
| url = http://wdr.water.usgs.gov/wy2007/pdfs/14202000.2007.pdf
| accessdate = November 11, 2008}}</ref>
| discharge1_max     = {{convert|43700|cuft/s|m3/s|abbr=on}}
<!---------------------- BASIN FEATURES -->
| source1            = [[Waldo Hills]]
| source1_location   = east of [[Salem, Oregon|Salem]], [[Marion County, Oregon|Marion County]]
| source1_coordinates= {{coord|44|53|51|N|122|44|42|W|display=inline}}<ref name="gnis"/>
| source1_elevation  = {{convert|953|ft|abbr=on}}<ref name="source">Source elevation derived from [[Google Earth]] search using GNIS source coordinates.</ref>
| mouth              = [[Molalla River]]
| mouth_location     = near [[Canby, Oregon|Canby]], [[Clackamas County]]
| mouth_coordinates  = {{coord|45|17|54|N|122|43|07|W|display=inline,title}}<ref name="gnis">{{cite web | work = Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) | publisher = United States Geological Survey | date =  November 28, 1980 | url ={{Gnis3|1125688}} | title = Pudding River | accessdate =  August 10, 2010}}</ref>
| mouth_elevation    = {{convert|69|ft|abbr=on}}<ref name="gnis"/>
| progression        = 
| river_system       = 
| basin_size         = {{convert|528|sqmi|abbr=on}}<ref name="watershed council">{{cite web
|author1=Pudding River Watershed Council |author2=Adolfson Associates |author3=Alsea Geospatial | title = Pudding River Watershed Assessment, 2006
| publisher = Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
| url = https://nrimp.dfw.state.or.us/DataClearinghouse/default.aspx?pn=viewrecord&XMLname=669.xml
| accessdate = October 14, 2011}}</ref>
| tributaries_left   = 
| tributaries_right  = 
| custom_label       = 
| custom_data        = 
| extra              = 
}}

The '''Pudding River''' is a {{convert|62|mi|km|adj=on}} tributary of the [[Molalla River]] in the [[U.S. state]] of [[Oregon]]. Its drainage basin covers {{convert|528|sqmi|km2|0}}. Among its tributaries are [[Silver Creek (Marion County, Oregon)|Silver Creek]], [[Butte Creek (Oregon)|Butte Creek]], [[Abiqua Creek]], and the [[Little Pudding River]].

Historically, the Pudding River flowed directly into the [[Willamette River]], and aerial photos dating back to 1936 provide evidence of the Willamette River's confluence with the Pudding River [[Mainstem (hydrology)|mainstem]] channel.<ref name="USGS">{{cite web | publisher = United States Geological Survey | year = 2012 | url = http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2012/5017 | title = Geomorphic Setting, Aquatic Habitat, and Water-Quality Conditions of the Molalla River, Oregon, 2009-10 | author = Kurt D. Carpenter |author2=Christiana R. Czuba |author3=Christopher S. Magirl |author4=Mathieu D. Marineau |author5=Steve Sobieszczyk |author6=Jonathan A. Czuba |author7=Mackenzie K. Keith  | accessdate = 2012-11-01}}</ref>  Currently, it flows directly into the Molalla River near River Mile 1 before joining the Willamette River. [[Anadromous]] and resident [[salmonid]]s use the Lower Pudding River main stem and key tributaries that support the basin's ecosystems.

==Geology==
About 24 million years ago at the end of the [[Oligocene]], Oregon had started to look how it is today and the Willamette Bay finally became the Willamette Valley by drying up and being raised above sea level, after assuming a shape much like today's [[Puget Sound]].<ref name="Bishop">{{cite book | last = Bishop | first = Ellen Morris | title = In Search of Ancient Oregon: A Geological and Natural History|edition = 1st | publisher = Timber Press | year = 2003 | location = Portland, Oregon | page = 125 | isbn = 0-88192-590-X}}</ref>

==Course==
The Pudding River Basin's complex of headwater creeks originates from the western edge of the Cascade Mountains along a snowpack-limited [[ridgeline]] (i.e. no glaciers are present) that forms a critical linkage from the [[Mount Hood National Forest]] and [[Table Rock Wilderness]] to [[Silver Falls State Park]] and the rolling [[Waldo Hills]] east of [[Salem, Oregon|Salem]]. Peak ridgeline elevations vary from {{convert|3750|to|4250|ft|m}}. After emerging from the Cascade Mountain foothills of the Panther Rock Ridge and its unique forested upper-elevation wetlands and lakes, the key tributaries of the watershed like ecologically-important Butte Creek converge near [[Woodburn, Oregon|Woodburn]] into the meandering Pudding River. Passing through and within the Pudding River Valley, the numerous subwatersheds of the Pudding Basin represent a vital part of fertile agricultural lands of the Lower [[Willamette Valley]] sub-basin.  Two forks of the Pudding join between the cities of [[Silverton, Oregon|Silverton]] and [[Mt. Angel, Oregon|Mt. Angel]], at {{coord|45.036368|-122.833275}}, as the river continues its course northward where it receives [[Abiqua Creek]] from the right at about {{convert|2|mi|km}} northwest of Silverton.  North of Mt. Angel, [[Butte Creek (Oregon)|Butte Creek]], which comes down from the [[Cascade Range]] foothills past [[Scotts Mills, Oregon|Scotts Mills]], empties into the Pudding River at {{coord|45.160768|-122.773569}}.  The river continues northward past the town of [[Aurora, Oregon|Aurora]].  For most of its course, Butte Creek and the Lower Pudding River mainstem defines the boundary between [[Marion County, Oregon|Marion]] and [[Clackamas County, Oregon|Clackamas]] Counties.

The Pudding River flows into the Molalla River, at {{coord|45.282375|-122.716856|display=inline}}, just before the Molalla joins the [[Willamette River]] in a floodplain that is part of the [[Molalla River State Park]].

==Fishing==
The upper river offers catch-and-release fishing for wild trout, while the lower river has [[bass (fish)|bass]] and [[panfish]]. Although the Pudding River is not [[Fish stocking|stock]]ed with hatchery fish, [[coastal cutthroat trout]] and [[rainbow trout]] enter the upper main stem from Drift, Butte, Silver, and Abiqua creeks. Fishing is restricted to artificial flies and lures and is not allowed for winter-run steelhead (anadromous rainbow trout) that [[Spawn (biology)|spawn]] in the tributaries. The extreme lower reaches of the river are navigable by boat when the stream flow is sufficient, sometimes as late as June.<ref name="Sheehan">{{cite book | last = Sheehan | first = Madelynne Diness | title = Fishing in Oregon: The Complete Oregon Fishing Guide|edition = 10th | publisher = Flying Pencil Publications | year = 2005 | location = Scappoose, Oregon | page = 163 | isbn = 0-916473-15-5}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of rivers of Oregon]]
* [[List of longest streams of Oregon]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [http://www.puddingriverwatershed.org Pudding River Watershed Council]
* [http://ahps.wrh.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ahps.cgi?pqr&auro3&printable NOAA hydrology site for the Pudding River at Aurora]
* [[Oregon Department of Transportation]] Photographs:
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20031022131302/http://www.odot.state.or.us/ssbpublic/BSS/rmds/photos/b_pudding_river.htm Pudding River Bridge at Aurora]
** [http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/CS/SSB/images/olivant_sandyriver/cb_clack21.jpg Covered Bridge over Pudding River near Barlow]
** [http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/CS/SSB/images/olivant_sandyriver/cb_mar11.jpg Covered Bridge over Pudding River in Marion County]

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Rivers of Oregon]]
[[Category:Rivers of Marion County, Oregon]]
[[Category:Rivers of Clackamas County, Oregon]]