Bighorn River

For other uses, see Bighorn River (disambiguation).

The Bighorn River is a tributary of the Yellowstone, approximately 461 miles (742 km) long, in the western United States in the states of Wyoming and Montana. The river was named in 1805 by fur trader François Larocque for the Bighorn Sheep he saw along its banks as he explored the Yellowstone River.

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 Springs 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 farther downriver, it joins the Yellowstone.

Course

The Bighorn River begins as the Wind River in the Rocky Mountains at Wind River Lake, near Two Ocean Mountain and the summit of Togwotee Pass. From there it flows southeastward, receiving the East fork Wind River from the north, and enters the Wind River Basin, flowing past Dubois and Johnstown, to Riverton, where it receives the Little Wind River, here it turns northeastward then northward, and into Boysen Reservoir, which is formed by Boysen Dam. Below the dam it enters the Wind River Canyon, where the river is very narrow and has many rapids. At the end of the canyon the Wind River widens out in what is called the Wedding of the Waters, where it becomes the Bighorn River and enters the Bighorn Basin, where it continues northward, passing through Thermopolis, Worland, and Basin. At Greybull it receives the Greybull River, and about 30 miles north of here, enters Bighorn Lake, where it is joined by the Shoshone River, north of here the reservoir narrows as the river enters the flooded Bighorn Canyon, where it crosses into Montana, at the end of the canyon the river passes through Yellowtail Dam, Yellowtail Aferbay Dam, Turns northeast and enters the Great Plains. At Hardin it is joined by the Little Bighorn River, and aproxamatly 50 miles downriver at Bighorn, it empties into the Yellowstone.

Variant names

Bighorn River in Montana

The Bighorn River has also been known as: Great Horn River, Le Corne, and Iisaxpúatahcheeaashisee (Apsáalookěi ).

See also

• List of rivers of Montana
• List of rivers of Wyoming
• Montana Stream Access Law

Further reading

• Sullivan, Gordon (2008). Saving Homewaters: The Story of Montana's Streams and Rivers. Woodstock, VT: The Countryman Press. ISBN 978-0-88150-679-2.

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.
• Packing list for a Fishing trip on the Bighorn.