| Malad River | |
| Name Other: | Big Wood River, Riviera Malades, Sickly River |
| Subdivision Type1: | Country |
| Subdivision Name1: | United States |
| Subdivision Type2: | State |
| Subdivision Name2: | Idaho |
| Subdivision Type3: | Region |
| Subdivision Name3: | Gooding County |
| Length: | 12miles |
| Discharge1 Location: | near Hagerman |
| Discharge1 Min: | 0cuft/s |
| Discharge1 Avg: | 286cuft/s |
| Discharge1 Max: | 6400cuft/s |
| Discharge2 Location: | mouth |
| Discharge2 Avg: | 112cuft/s |
| Source1: | Confluence of the Big Wood River & Little Wood River |
| Source1 Coordinates: | 42.945°N -114.7961°W |
| Source1 Elevation: | 3460feet[1] |
| Mouth: | Snake River |
| Mouth Coordinates: | 42.8625°N -114.905°W |
| Mouth Elevation: | 2703feet |
| Basin Size: | 3000sqmi[2] |
| Tributaries Left: | Little Wood River |
| Tributaries Right: | Big Wood River |
The Malad River is a river located within Gooding County, and Oneida County, Idaho, United States, and is a tributary of the Snake River.
The river is formed by the confluence of the Big Wood River and the Little Wood River near Gooding. From there the river flows south and west for 12miles[3] to join the Snake River near Hagerman.
The river flows through Thousand Springs State Park, where it tumbles down a stairstep waterfall. The Malad Gorge is deep and 2.5miles long.
The river's flow is affected by numerous reservoirs and irrigation works on its tributaries. The Malad River itself is largely diverted into a power flume that enters the Snake below the mouth of the Malad, via a powerhouse. Below the diversion the Malad River is replenished by numerous springs, yet the average flow above the diversion is higher than at the river's mouth.[2]
The Malad River is part of the Columbia River basin, being a tributary of the Snake River, which is a tributary to the Columbia River.[4]
The name of the river stems from French, via Rivière aux Malades ('river of the sick'), presumably as a reference to some illness suffered by early French-Canadian trappers who investigated the area.[5]