Yellowstone River
Yellowstone River, river, noted for its scenic beauty, in the western United States. It flows through northwestern Wyoming, southern and eastern Montana, and northwestern North Dakota over a course of 692 miles (1,114 km). The river system drains about 70,000 square miles (181,300 square km).
The river rises on the slopes of Yount Peak in Wyoming’s Absaroka Range and soon enters the southeastern corner of Yellowstone National Park. It then flows northward into Yellowstone Lake, and, after exiting the north end of the lake, plunges 422 feet (129 metres) in two spectacular waterfalls and enters the magnificent Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The river then winds north and northwest before leaving the park at Gardiner, Montana. At Miner it turns northeastward and then northward on its way to Livingston. There it bends eastward to near Billings, where, flowing onto the high plains, it bends more northeastward past Miles City and Glendive. Just northeast of Sidney, it crosses from Montana into North Dakota and, southwest of Williston, enters the Missouri River. All its principal tributaries—the Bighorn, Tongue, and Powder rivers—originate in the Absaroka and Wind River ranges and the Bighorn Mountains.
The Yellowstone was first explored by people of European descent in 1806, when, as the Lewis and Clark Expedition was returning from the Pacific Northwest, Lieut. William Clark led a party that sailed down the river. Fur trader Manuel Lisa, accompanied by trapper and explorer John Colter (who was the first person of European ancestry to explore the Yellowstone park area and see its geysers), established the first trading post on the Yellowstone, at the mouth of the Bighorn River, in 1807. The region was the site of much of the conflict between Native American peoples and the U.S. government during the 1860s and ’70s. Settlement was spurred along its course by the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railway in the early 1880s, and the river was developed extensively for irrigation.
In addition to the recreational opportunities within Yellowstone National Park, there are several state and local parks and campgrounds along the river in Montana.