Willow Creek is a 57 miles (91.7 km) tributary of the Malheur River

Malheur River

The Malheur River is a tributary of the Snake River in eastern Oregon in the United States. It drains a high desert area, between the Harney Basin and the Blue Mountains and the Snake....

 in Malheur County

Malheur County, Oregon

Malheur County is a county located in the southeast corner of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is included in the eight-county definition of Eastern Oregon. Most of the county observes the Mountain Time Zone, although the southern quarter of the county observes the Pacific Time Zone along with the...

 in the U.S. state of Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

. The creek, which forms at 3724 feet (1,135.1 m) above sea level and ends at 2234 feet (680.9 m), flows generally southeast between Ironside

Ironside, Oregon

Ironside is an unincorporated community in Malheur County, Oregon, United States. Ironside is located on U.S. Route 26 northwest of Vale. Ironside has a post office with ZIP code 97908....

 and Vale

Vale, Oregon

Vale is a city in Malheur County, Oregon, United States, about west of the Idaho border. It is at the intersection of U.S. Routes 20 and 26, on the Malheur River.Vale was selected as Malheur's county seat in 1955, 68 years after the county was founded...

. Willow Creek's watershed covers 787 mi2 of relatively arid land.

Willow Creek begins at the confluence of its Middle and South forks, slightly north of Ironside and U.S. Route 26

U.S. Route 26 in Oregon

In the U.S. state of Oregon, U.S. Route 26 is a major cross-state state highway, connecting U.S. Route 101 on the Oregon Coast near Seaside with the Idaho state line east of Nyssa. Local highway names include the Sunset Highway No. 47, Mount Hood Highway No. 26, and John Day Highway No...

. It flows northeast away from Route 26 to Malheur Reservoir

Malheur Reservoir

Malheur Reservoir is an irrigation lake along Willow Creek in Malheur County in the U.S. state of Oregon. Built by the Orchard Irrigation District in the 1930s, the lake can hold about of water, which is used to irrigate about of farmland downstream...

, then turns southeast by Huntington Junction before reaching Route 26 again at Brogan

Brogan, Oregon

Brogan is an unincorporated community in Malheur County, Oregon, United States, on U.S. Route 26. Brogan was founded by D. M. Brogan in 1909, and when a post office was established in the locality on April 23 of that year, it was named for him...

. The creek continues southeast, roughly parallel to the highway, through Jamieson

Jamieson, Oregon

Jamieson is an unincorporated community in Malheur County, Oregon, United States. Jamieson is located on U.S. Route 26 northwest of Vale. Jamieson has a post office with ZIP code 97909....

 and Willowcreek

Willowcreek, Oregon

Willowcreek is an unincorporated community in Malheur County, Oregon, United States. It is located about 11 miles northwest of Vale on U.S. Route 26. The community has a store and café....

 before reaching Vale. It enters the Malheur River about 19 miles (30.6 km) from the larger stream's confluence with the Snake River

Snake River

The Snake is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest in the United States. At long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean...

.

Irrigated farming in the basin produces sugar beet

Sugar beet

Sugar beet, a cultivated plant of Beta vulgaris, is a plant whose tuber contains a high concentration of sucrose. It is grown commercially for sugar production. Sugar beets and other B...

s, onions, potatoes, corn, mint, grain, alfalfa

Alfalfa

Alfalfa is a flowering plant in the pea family Fabaceae cultivated as an important forage crop in the US, Canada, Argentina, France, Australia, the Middle East, South Africa, and many other countries. It is known as lucerne in the UK, France, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, and known as...

 seed, vegetable seed, and hay. Between Brogan and Vale, the creek has been turned into a drainage and irrigation canal for farms. Above Brogan, as far as the Malheur Reservoir, 41 miles (66 km) from the mouth, the historic stream was dredged and placer-mined

Placer mining

Placer mining is the mining of alluvial deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment....

 for gold and silver. Water flow for much of the creek is controlled by releases from the reservoir. The upper creek is also used for irrigation.

Fishing on the main stem above Malheur Reservoir and along Middle and South Willow creeks is good for native redband trout

Redband trout

Redband trout is a fish name that may be a synonym for the rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, but is also used more narrowly for inland subspecies with well-defined geographical distributions in the United States...

 and "hatchery trout escapees from the reservoir". The creeks also have a population of rainbow trout

Rainbow trout

The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....

; catches averaging 9 to 10 in (22.9 to 25.4 cm) are the norm. The Willow and its forks are not heavily fished.