Swan River (Montana)
| Swan River | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Montana |
| Source | Gray Wolf Lake |
| - location | Mission Mountains, Missoula County |
| - elevation | 6,650 ft (2,027 m) |
| - coordinates | 47°17′48″N 113°52′04″W / 47.29667°N 113.86778°W |
| Mouth | Flathead Lake |
| - location | Bigfork, Flathead County |
| - elevation | 2,897 ft (883 m) |
| - coordinates | 48°03′35″N 114°04′51″W / 48.05972°N 114.08083°WCoordinates: 48°03′35″N 114°04′51″W / 48.05972°N 114.08083°W |
| Length | 95 mi (153 km) |
| Basin | 671 sq mi (1,738 km2) |
| Discharge | for river mile 14.0, near Bigfork |
| - average | 1,155 cu ft/s (33 m3/s) |
| - max | 8,890 cu ft/s (252 m3/s) |
| - min | 193 cu ft/s (5 m3/s) |
The Swan River is a 95-mile (153 km) long, north-flowing river in western Montana in the United States. The river drains a long isolated valley, known as the Swan Valley, between the Swan Range on the east and the Mission Mountains to the west.
On an 1884 Rand McNally map, the Swan River and Swan Lake are referred to as the Sweatinghouse River and the Sweatinghouse Lake. However, by 1895, most maps had adopted Swan, a name apparently proposed by early English hunters in the area and acknowledged by the locals, according to Ken Wolf’s 1980 Montana Magazine article “History of the Swan Valley.” Henry Coale quoted a local 1914 report that "Twenty years ago Trumpeter Swans were common in Montana, and used regularly to winter here, but are now on the verge of extinction." He indicated that the Kootenai Indians generally reported that swans bred in the Flathead Valley up to the first immigration of whites in 1886... Coale described swans nesting historically at Lake Rodgers, at Swan Lake, and on the east side of Flathead Lake, and on the lakes which drain Clearwater, a branch of the Big Blackfoot River.
The Swan originates at Gray Wolf Lake in the Mission Mountains, at 6,650 feet (2,030 m) above sea level. Fed partly by melt from the Gray Wolf Glacier, the river descends through a short and steep canyon to Lindbergh Lake, at the base of the Mission Mountains. From there the river flows briefly east before turning north, passing Condon, flowing about 75 miles (121 km) to the northern end of the valley where it empties into Swan Lake. At the north end of the 10-mile (16 km) long lake, the river emerges into the Flathead Valley, where it turns abruptly west through a canyon, emptying into Flathead Lake at the town of Bigfork. Via Flathead Lake, it eventually drains to the Flathead River, a major tributary in the Columbia River system.
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Wikipedia