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.
18-883: Shell Creek is a tributary of the Bighorn River , approximately 50 mi (80 km) long, in Wyoming in the United States . Lying entirely within Big Horn County , Shell Creek begins above the Shell Lakes in the Bighorn Mountains . Starting at an elevation of over 11,000 ft (3,400 m), it drops to below 3,800 ft (1,200 m) as it descends the western side of the Bighorn Mountains through Shell Canyon and enters
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
54-684: Is ʔɔ́tééíníícááh , 'wild sheep river'. 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
72-758: 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 . The Bighorn continues northward, passing through Thermopolis , Worland , and Basin . At Greybull it receives
90-486: Is in the lower portion-downstream from the town of Shell . About 7,500 acres (30 km) are irrigated from Shell Creek itself. Also, the part of the creek is diverted above Shell and conveyed via pipeline to the town of Greybull as a municipal water supply. US 14 , the Bighorn Scenic Byway, travels along Shell Creek through the canyon. This modern highway is relatively young. Much of it was completed in
108-616: The Big Horn Basin near Shell, Wyoming . It flows into the Bighorn River , a tributary of the Yellowstone River , just north of Greybull . The Shell Creek watershed consists of 370,500 acres (1,499 km) of native rangeland (73%), forest (24%), irrigated cropland, pasture and hayland (3%). There are over 10,500 acres (42 km) of irrigated lands in the Shell Creek watershed; the greater part (92%) of which
126-875: 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 the Apsáalooke language which translates to English as Large Bighorn Sheep River . Its Gros Ventre name
144-665: 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 the end of the canyon, the river passes through Yellowtail Dam and Afterbay Dam. The river turns to the northeast and enters
162-633: 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
180-554: 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
198-841: 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
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#1732780322524216-740: 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, the Bighorn River ends where it joins the Yellowstone. The Bighorn River begins as the Wind River in
234-566: 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
252-626: 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
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
288-519: The mid-1960s, with major improvements in the 1980s. 44°30′35″N 108°03′20″W / 44.50972°N 108.05556°W / 44.50972; -108.05556 Bighorn 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
306-592: 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
324-602: 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
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