Big Spring Creek (Montana)
| Big Spring Creek | |
| Big Spring Branch Big Spring Fork of the Judith River East Fork Big Spring Creek |
|
| River | |
 Source of Big Spring Creek
|
|
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Montana |
| District | Fergus County, Montana |
| River | Missouri River |
| Source confluence | |
| - coordinates | 47°00′01″N 109°20′29″W / 47.00028°N 109.34139°W |
| Mouth | |
| - location | Judith River |
| - elevation | 3,379 ft (1,030 m) |
| - coordinates | 47°12′11″N 109°38′29″W / 47.20306°N 109.64139°WCoordinates: 47°12′11″N 109°38′29″W / 47.20306°N 109.64139°W |
| Length | 30 mi (48 km) |
Big Spring Creek is the name of four streams in Montana, the most prominent of which is Big Spring Creek, a tributary of the Judith River in Fergus County, Montana near Lewistown, Montana. The creek originates from a first magnitude artesian spring approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Lewistown and flows north, northwest for 30 miles (48 km) to its confluence with the Judith River. The spring is the one of the largest in the world flowing at approximately 50,000 to 64,000 US gallons (190,000 to 240,000 l) per minute out of the Madison-Limestone formation in the foothills of the Big Snowy Mountains. The creek flows through and under the town of Lewistown. For three blocks spanning Main Street, the creek runs underneath the town in a man-made channel that was created as the town was built over the creek. The spring provides Lewistown's water supply, which requires no treatment for use by consumers.
During the 1877 Nez Perce War, Chief Joseph's band of Nez Perce camped along Big Spring Creek on the night of September 21, 1877 while trying to escape U.S. Army forces pursuing them. The campsite was near the stockade of the Reed and Bowles trading post which they had visited many times during summer hunting expeditions in the Judith Basin. They visited with Reed telling him about the encounters with the soldiers during their flight from Oregon.
In 1879, what became known as the Spring Creek Band of Métis migrated into the Judith Basin from the Milk River region north of the Missouri River to hunt buffalo in the area. The extended families of Pierre Berger (1879) and Francis Janeaux (1880) established a settlement on Big Spring Creek where the Carroll Trail (a freight road from a steamboat landing on the Missouri River to Helena, Montana) crossed the creek. The site became the town of Lewistown, Montana which was formally established in 1883.
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Wikipedia