Price River
A 100-mile tributary of the Green River draining the Wasatch Plateau and Book Cliffs of central Utah through Castle Valley coal country. · UT
The Price River drains the eastern Wasatch Plateau and Castle Valley of central Utah, flowing roughly 100 miles east through the coal country of Carbon and Emery counties before joining the Green River at Woodside, just upstream of Desolation Canyon. It is the largest tributary entering the Green between the Duchesne River and the San Rafael. The Price carries heavy sediment loads from the soft Mancos Shale and Cretaceous coal-bearing formations of the Book Cliffs, and its flows are heavily influenced by irrigation diversions and mine drainage. During spring runoff the river can flash from a trickle to a torrent in hours.
Signature Experiences
- Book Cliffs escarpment views from Highway 6 corridor
The Price River cuts through the Cretaceous-age Book Cliffs, a 200-mile escarpment of coal-bearing sandstone and shale that marks the ancient shoreline of the Western Interior Seaway. The river's name was applied to the Price River Formation, a significant late Cretaceous unit in the region.
Age range: Late Cretaceous through early Tertiary
Water quality in the lower Price River is impacted by mine drainage, agricultural return flows, and high natural salinity from Mancos Shale dissolution. Selenium concentrations are monitored as part of the Colorado River Basin salinity control program.