Bighorn River

 

river, 461 mi (741 km) long, formed in W central Wyo. by the confluence of the Wind and Pop Agie rivers and flowing north to join the Yellowstone River in S Mont. The Bighorn basin, part of the Missouri River basin project, has several dams that provide for flood control, irrigation, hydroelectricity, and recreation. Boysen and Yellowtail are the principal dams; the lake behind Yellowtail dam is the nucleus of Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area (see National Parks and Monuments, table). In 1807 a U.S. trading post was established at the mouth of the Bighorn. The battle between the forces of Col. George Custer and the Sioux took place (1876) near the junction of the Bighorn and the Little Bighorn rivers.

The Bighorn River is a tributary of the Yellowstone, approximately 461 mi (742 km) long, in the western United States in the states of Wyoming and Montana.

The upper reaches of the Bighorn, south of the Owl Creek Mountains in Wyoming, are known as the Wind River. The two rivers are sometimes referred to as the Wind/Bighorn. The Wind River officially becomes the Bighorn River at the Wedding of the Waters, on the north side of the Wind River Canyon near the town of Thermopolis. From there, it flows through the Bighorn Basin in North Central Wyoming, passing through Thermopolis and Hot Spring State Park.

At the border with Montana, the river turns northeast, and flows past the north end of the Bighorns, through the Crow Indian Reservation, where the Yellowtail Dam forms the reservoir Bighorn Lake. The reservoir and the surrounding gorge are part of the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area.

It is joined by the Little Bighorn River near the town of Hardin, Montana. Approximately fifty miles further downriver, it joins the Yellowstone.

See also

• List of Wyoming rivers
• List of Montana rivers

External links

• State of Wyoming: Bighorn River Basin
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Wind/Bighorn River Drainage
• Wyoming Game and Fish map showing the Wind River becoming the Bighorn.

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