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Latah Creek, also known as Hangman Creek, 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 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 creek include Little Latah Creek (also known as Little Hangman Creek) and Rock Creek. The average flow of the creek can range from to .〔 Note: The creek length is an estimate from this map scale.〕 Latah Creek (pron. ) 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 diverted the creek and its tributaries for irrigation. This has caused the ruin of forests, 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." The remaining third of the land in the watershed is mostly forest. ==Name== The name "Latah" stems from a Nez Perce word meaning "a place of pines and sestles", or "fish". However, there are controversies that even stretch the truth as far as to say that "Latah" is not part of the native dialect. Nevertheless, "Latah" is believed to have been the creek's name for a very long period of time. The name "Hangman" originated from when 17 Palouse Indians were hanged along the creek after a war. Washington State and Spokane County both approve Latah Creek as the official name, while the federal government still identifies the creek is "Hangman". Arguments resulted over whether this name Other variant names of the creek include Sin-sin-too-ooley, Camas Prairie Creek, Hangmans Creek, Hangman's Creek, Camass Prairie Creek, Hngosmn, Kamas Prairie Creek, Lah-Tah, Lah-taw, Lah-too, Lahtoo, Lartoo, Lau-taw Creek, Lautaw Creek, Ned-Wauld River, Nedlewhauld, Neduald, Nedwhauld River, and Sin-sin-too-aley.〔 When the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed the area in 1805, they believed that the name was "Lau-taw". Later in a railroad survey, the name used on the small-scale maps was Camas Prairie Creek, while on the maps of larger scale, the name was Kamas Prairie Creek. Other derivatives, including Lahtoo and Kamass, arose from these names, but another name, Nedlwhauld Creek (or Nedwhauld River) was also documented. During a later road-building survey, the Nedlwhauld/Nedwhauld name was preferred over the others, but by 1861, the name had been changed to Hangman's. By 1959, the US Board on Geographic Names officially changed it to Hangman Creek. In 2001, Washington State proposed that the name be changed to Latah, to no avail.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Latah Creek」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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