Yellowstone River

The undammed river that runs from the Wyoming high country through Montana to the Missouri.

via Wikipedia: Yellowstone River · see source

The Yellowstone River is a major tributary of the Missouri River in the Western United States, roughly 671 mi long and seen as the main tributary of the upper Missouri. Its basin gathers water from the mountains and high plains of southern Montana and northern Wyoming, reaching east from the Rocky Mountains near Yellowstone National Park. The river heads northeast and joins the Missouri just inside North Dakota, about 25 mi west of Williston. No storage dams block its main stem, making it one of the defining waterways of the northern plains.

Quick Facts

Length

692 mi / 1,114 km

Mouth

Missouri River

Mouth location

McKenzie County, near Buford, North Dakota

Basin size

70,000 sq mi / 181,299 km²

Tributaries left

Gardner River, Shields River

Tributaries right

Lamar River
Boulder River
Stillwater River
Bighorn River
Tongue River
Powder River

Facts from the source article.

Background

The name most likely comes from the Minnetaree term for Yellow Rock River. A popular story ties it to the yellow cliffs of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, but some scholars point instead to sandstone bluffs on the lower river. The Cheyenne also knew it as Yellow Rocks River, while the Crow called it Elk River, and French trappers used Roche Jaune. Lewis and Clark wrote down Yellow Stone in 1805, and William Clark explored the river in 1806 on the way back from the Pacific Coast. In 1873 steamboat captain Grant Marsh named many of its features during an Army expedition aboard the Key West.