Little Bighorn River | |
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The Bighorn River, showing the Little Bighorn River as a tributary
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Country | Big Horn County, Montana and Sheridan County, Wyoming |
Basin features | |
Main source |
Bighorn Mountains 44°47′21″N 107°48′44″W / 44.7893°N 107.8122°W |
River mouth |
Bighorn River near Hardin, Montana 2,884 feet (879 m) 45°44′17″N 107°34′10″W / 45.73806°N 107.56944°WCoordinates: 45°44′17″N 107°34′10″W / 45.73806°N 107.56944°W |
River system | Yellowstone River |
The Little Bighorn River is a 138-mile-long (222 km) tributary of the Bighorn River in the United States in the states of Montana and Wyoming. The Battle of the Little Bighorn also known as the Battle of the Greasy Grass was fought on its banks in 1876, as well as the Battle of Crow Agency in 1887.
The Little Bighorn rises in northern Wyoming, deep in the Bighorn Mountains, under Duncum Mountain and Burnt Mountain. The main stream flows through a deep canyon until it issues onto the plains, just at the Montana-Wyoming border. In Little Bighorn Canyon in Wyoming, the Little Bighorn receives other mountain streams as tributaries including the Dry Fork (which despite its name maintains a permanent, year-round significant flow of water into the Little Bighorn), and the West Fork of the Little Bighorn.
After issuing from its canyon at the Montana-Wyoming line the Little Bighorn flows northward across the Crow Indian Reservation. The river flows past the towns of Wyola, Lodge Grass and Crow Agency, and joins the Bighorn River near the town of Hardin.
At Wyola, Montana, the Little Bighorn receives the flow of Pass Creek flowing north from the Bighorn Mountains. At Lodge Grass the Little Bighorn receives the waters of two tributaries, the largest being Lodge Grass Creek which flows west out of its own canyon system in the Bighorn Mountains, and Owl Creek flowing east and north from the Wolf Mountains. A few miles Before reaching Crow Agency, the Little Horn receives the flow of Reno Creek from the Wolf Mountains to the east.