river in the NW U.S., flowing from Yellowstone National Park into the Columbia River in Wash.: 1,038 mi (1,670 km)
Origin:
transl. (prob. erroneous) of earlier Shoshone River
See Snake River in American Heritage Dictionary 4
A river of the northwest United States rising in northwest Wyoming and flowing about 1,670 km (1,038 mi) through southern Idaho, along the Oregon-Idaho and Idaho-Washington borders, and through southeast Washington to the Columbia River. Encountered in 1805 by the Lewis and Clark expedition, the river has spectacular deep gorges and is an important source of hydroelectric power.