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Clark Fork (river)

Clark Fork
Original name given by
Lewis and Clark expedition:
Clark's River
River
Fall Clark Fork.jpg
The Clark Fork at Missoula, Montana
Country United States
States Montana, Idaho
Tributaries
 - left Bitterroot River
 - right Blackfoot River, Flathead River, Bull River
Cities Butte, Missoula
Source Silver Bow Creek
 - location Butte, Silver Bow County, Montana
 - elevation 6,882 ft (2,098 m)
 - coordinates 46°4′32″N 112°27′56″W / 46.07556°N 112.46556°W / 46.07556; -112.46556 
Secondary source Warm Springs Creek (Montana)
 - location Flint Creek Range, Granite County, Montana
 - elevation 7,466 ft (2,276 m)
 - coordinates 46°15′39″N 113°8′12″W / 46.26083°N 113.13667°W / 46.26083; -113.13667 
Source confluence
 - location Deer Lodge County, Montana
 - elevation 4,795 ft (1,462 m)
 - coordinates 46°11′12″N 112°46′18″W / 46.18667°N 112.77167°W / 46.18667; -112.77167 
Mouth Lake Pend Oreille
 - location Bonner County, Idaho
 - elevation 2,064 ft (629 m)
 - coordinates 48°11′0″N 116°16′9″W / 48.18333°N 116.26917°W / 48.18333; -116.26917Coordinates: 48°11′0″N 116°16′9″W / 48.18333°N 116.26917°W / 48.18333; -116.26917 
Length 310 mi (499 km)
Basin 22,905 sq mi (59,324 km2)
Discharge for Whitehorse Rapids near Cabinet, ID
 - average 21,930 cu ft/s (621 m3/s)
 - max 195,000 cu ft/s (5,522 m3/s)
 - min 762 cu ft/s (22 m3/s)
Clark Fork Map.png
Map of the Clark Fork, its main tributaries and downriver connection to the Columbia River via the Pend Oreille River.

The Clark Fork, or the Clark Fork of the Columbia River, is a river in the U.S. states of Montana and Idaho, approximately 310 miles (500 km) long. The largest river by volume in Montana, it drains an extensive region of the Rocky Mountains in western Montana and northern Idaho in the watershed of the Columbia River. The river flows northwest through a long valley at the base of the Cabinet Mountains and empties into Lake Pend Oreille in the Idaho Panhandle. The Pend Oreille River in Idaho, Washington, and British Columbia, Canada which drains the lake to the Columbia in Washington, is sometimes included as part of the Clark Fork, giving it a total length of 479 miles (771 km), with a drainage area of 25,820 square miles (66,900 km2). In its upper 20 miles (32 km) in Montana near Butte, it is known as Silver Bow Creek. Interstate 90 follows much of the upper course of the river from Butte to northwest of Missoula. The highest point within the river's watershed is Mount Evans at 10,641 feet (3,243 m) in Deer Lodge County, Montana along the Continental Divide.

The Clark Fork is a Class I river for recreational purposes in Montana from Warm Springs Creek to the Idaho border.

The Clark Fork should not be confused with the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River, which is located in Montana and Wyoming.


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