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18-1076: 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

36-502: A geologic structural basin filled with more than 20,000 feet (6,100 m) of sedimentary rocks from Cambrian to Miocene in age. Since the early 20th century the basin has been a significant source of petroleum, and has produced more than 1,400,000,000 barrels (220,000,000 m ) of oil. The principal reservoir of oil is the Pennsylvanian Tensleep Formation ; Other important petroleum horizons are

54-822: A location in Wyoming is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Bighorn Basin The Bighorn Basin is a plateau region and intermontane basin, approximately 100 miles (160 km) wide, in north-central Wyoming in the United States . It is bounded by the Absaroka Range on the west, the Pryor Mountains on the north, the Bighorn Mountains on the east, and the Owl Creek Mountains and Bridger Mountains on

72-607: The Apsáalooke language which translates to English as Large Bighorn Sheep River . Its Gros Ventre name is ʔɔ́tééíníícááh , 'wild sheep river'. Owl Creek Mountains The Owl Creek Mountains are a subrange of the Rocky Mountains in central Wyoming in the United States , running east to west to form a bridge between the Absaroka Range to the northwest and the Bridger Mountains to

90-673: The Bighorn Basin . The Bighorn continues northward, passing through Thermopolis , Worland , and Basin . At Greybull it receives the Greybull River , and about 30 mi (48 km) north of that confluence it enters Bighorn Lake , where it is joined by the Shoshone River . North of the confluence with the Shoshone, the reservoir narrows as the river enters the Bighorn Canyon , where it crosses into Montana . At

108-592: 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

126-633: The Mississippian Madison Limestone , Permian Phosphoria Formation and the Cretaceous Frontier Sandstone . Some uranium has been mined in the northern part of the basin, along the Bighorn Mountains . The eastern section of the basin is famously rich in fossils , with formations such as the Cretaceous period Cloverly Formation yielding numerous dinosaur fossils. The alluvial strata of

144-554: The Powder River Country , but had been closed to white settlers following Red Cloud's War . Around the turn of the 20th century the Bighorn Basin was settled by ranchers such as William "Buffalo Bill" Cody who founded the town of Cody and owned a great deal of land surrounding the Shoshone River . The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad extended a branch line to Cody in 1901 and ultimately built through

162-777: The Tertiary period, the rivers in the region removed much of the basin fill exposing older bedrock. The rocks in the Owl Creek Range date from the Mississippian age through the Cretaceous period. The mountains likely emerged in the late Cretaceous, in the Laramide orogeny . In areas near the Boysen Fault, just north of Boysen Reservoir 's dam at the southern mouth of Wind River Canyon , erosion has removed

180-841: The Wyoming State Penitentiary for horse theft. Following his release, he formed the Wild Bunch gang which operated from the Hole-in-the-Wall area southeast of the Bighorn Basin. In 1942 one of the nation's ten Japanese American internment camps was located in Park County in the western part of the basin. The camp was named Heart Mountain Relocation Center , after nearby Heart Mountain . The camp operated until 1945, and at its peak detained over 10,000 internees. The Bighorn Basin forms

198-590: The Bighorn River ends where it joins the Yellowstone. 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

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216-746: 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 . Approximately 50 miles (80 km) farther downriver,

234-694: The east. The range forms the boundary between the Bighorn Basin to the north and the Shoshone Basin to the south. The Wind River passes through the gap between the range and the Bridger Mountains to the east, and becomes the Bighorn River on the north side of the mountains. The high point of the range is 9,665 feet (2,946 m). The range is entirely within the Wind River Indian Reservation . During

252-842: The end of the canyon, the river passes through Yellowtail Dam and Afterbay Dam. The river turns to the northeast and enters the Great Plains . At Hardin the river is joined by the Little Bighorn River . Approximately 50 mi (80 km) downriver from the Little Bighorn, in Big Horn County , the Bighorn empties into the Yellowstone . The Bighorn River has also been known as the Great Horn River, Le Corne and Iisaxpúatahcheeaashisee in

270-564: The entire basin. In 1904, Cody helped to form the Shoshone project , the nation's first federal water development project to help irrigate the western portion of the basin. The project culminated in the construction of the Buffalo Bill Dam and reservoir. The wealth in the region also attracted outlaws. Butch Cassidy lived near Meeteetse for a while and was arrested at the insistence of local cattle baron Otto Franc and sent to

288-592: The region. The basin was explored by John Colter in 1807. Just west of Cody, he discovered geothermal features that were later popularly called " Colter's Hell ". The region was later transversed by the Bridger Trail , which was blazed in 1864 by Jim Bridger to connect the Oregon Trail to the south with Montana . The route was an important alternative to the Bozeman Trail , which had crossed

306-602: The south. It is drained to the north by tributaries of the Bighorn River , which enters the basin from the south, through a gap between the Owl Creek and Bridger Mountains, as the Wind River , and becomes the Bighorn as it enters the basin. The region is semi-arid, receiving only 6–10 in (15–25 cm) of rain annually. The largest cities in the basin include the Wyoming towns of Cody , Thermopolis , Worland , and Powell . Sugar beets , pinto beans, sunflowers, barley, oats, corn and alfalfa hay are grown on irrigated farms in

324-496: The upper part of the thrust of the mountain, exposing Cambrian and Ordovician rocks, overlaying Triassic age rocks. Wind River Canyon has several markers along the main roadway through it, which indicate the time period the rocks are from. Metavolcanic rocks of predominantly basaltic and dacitic composition have been found in the canyon. 43°27′N 108°45′W  /  43.450°N 108.750°W  / 43.450; -108.750 This article about

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