Bighorn
Bighorn is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- 45.36°, -107.84°
About Bighorn
The Bighorn River is a tributary of the Yellowstone, approximately 461 miles (742 km) long, in the states of Wyoming and Montana in the western United States. 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.
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, the river 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 Bighorn Mountains, through the Crow Indian Reservation, where the Yellowtail Dam forms the Bighorn Lake reservoir. The reservoir and the surrounding canyon are part of the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area.
The Little Bighorn River joins the Bighorn near the town of Hardin, Montana.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Bighorn River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Bighorn in Depth
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. The Wind River flows southeast receiving the east fork of the 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. The river then changes direction to the northeast and then the north, flowing into Boysen Reservoir, which is formed by Boysen Dam. Below the dam it enters the Wind River Canyon, where the river narrows and forms many rapids. At the end of the canyon the Wind River widens out in an area called the Wedding of the Waters where it becomes the Bighorn River and enters the Bighorn Basin.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Bighorn River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Bighorn: Key Facts
| Length | 742 km |
|---|---|
| Drainage basin | 59,270 km² |
| Source | Wind River |
| Mouth | Yellowstone River |
| Drainage system | Yellowstone River basin |
| Tributaries | Shoshone River, Little Bighorn River, Wind River, Greybull River, Nowood River, Shell Creek, Cottonwood Creek, Owl Creek |
Facts from Wikidata Q859686 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Bighorn: Quick Answers
- Where is Bighorn?
- Bighorn is located in United States, at 45.3556° N, 107.8416° W.
- Are there dams on the Bighorn?
- No dam on the Bighorn is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.