Belly River | |
---|---|
Location | |
Country | Canada, United States |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | |
• location | Helen Lake |
• coordinates | 48°59′37″N113°39′56″W / 48.99373°N 113.66556°W |
• elevation | 1,570 meters (5,150 ft) |
Mouth | |
• location | Oldman River |
• coordinates | 49°46′08″N113°02′09″W / 49.76884°N 113.03570°W |
• elevation | 875 meters (2,871 ft) |
Basin features | |
River system | Saskatchewan River |
Belly River is a river in northwest Montana, United States and southern Alberta, Canada. It is a tributary of the Oldman River, itself a tributary of the South Saskatchewan River.
The name of the river may come from the Blackfoot word mokowan of mokoan, meaning 'stomach'. The river was previously referred to as Mokowan River. [1] Its Gros Ventre name is ʔinɔ́tɔnníícááh, also meaning 'belly river'.
The river gives the name to the Cretaceous age Belly River Formation, which was observed on its banks by George Mercer Dawson in 1883. [2]
The Belly River originates in northwestern Montana at Helen Lake, near the base of Ahern Peak in Glacier National Park. It flows north across the 49th parallel north into Alberta near Chief Mountain, in the east of the Waterton Lakes National Park. It continues north, crossed by Highway 6 and Highway 5, passes near the communities of Hill Spring and Glenwood, then turns northeast. It is crossed by Highway 2 north of Stand Off, then continues north along the base of the Mokowan Ridge, where it receives the waters of the Waterton River. Its flow becomes meandered before the river turns east around the Wild Turnip Hill, then it empties into the Oldman River west of Coalhurst, south of Highway 3, at an elevation of 875 meters (2,871 ft).
From spring to mouth, the Belly River receives the following tributaries:
Milk River is a tributary of the Missouri River, 729 miles (1,173 km) long, in the U.S. state of Montana and the Canadian province of Alberta. Rising in the Rocky Mountains, the river drains a sparsely populated, semi-arid watershed of 23,800 square miles (62,000 km2), ending just east of Fort Peck, Montana.
The Continental Divide of the Americas is the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas. The Continental Divide extends from the Bering Strait to the Strait of Magellan, and separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain into the Atlantic and Arctic oceans.
The South Saskatchewan River is a major river in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The river begins at the confluence of the Bow and Oldman Rivers in southern Alberta and ends at the Saskatchewan River Forks in central Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan River Forks is the confluence of the South and North Saskatchewan Rivers and is the beginning of the Saskatchewan River.
The Saint Mary River is a cross-border tributary of the Oldman River, itself a tributary of the South Saskatchewan River. The Saint Mary together with the Belly River and Waterton River drains a small portion of Montana, in the United States, to the Hudson Bay watershed in Canada.
Battle Creek is a river that begins in the south-eastern region of the Canadian province of Alberta, near the border with Saskatchewan, in the Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park. From Alberta, Battle Creek flows east and across the border into Saskatchewan. It flows south out of Saskatchewan across the Canada–United States border into Montana, where it joins the Milk River in Blaine County, Montana.
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 Saint Regis. 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 Shasta River is a tributary of the Klamath River, approximately 58 miles (93 km) long, in northern California in the United States. It drains the Shasta Valley on the west and north sides of Mount Shasta in the Cascade Range.
The Cosumnes River is a river in northern California in the United States. It rises on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada and flows approximately 52.5 miles (84.5 km) into the Central Valley, emptying into the Mokelumne River in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
The Oldman River is a river in southern Alberta, Canada. It flows roughly west to east from the Rocky Mountains, through the communities of Fort Macleod, Lethbridge, and on to Grassy Lake, where it joins the Bow River to form the South Saskatchewan River, which eventually drains into the Hudson Bay.
Waterton Lake is a mountain lake in southern Alberta, Canada and northern Montana, United States. The lake is composed of two bodies of water, connected by a shallow channel known locally as the Bosporus. The two parts are referred to as Middle Waterton Lake, and Upper Waterton Lake, the latter of which is divided by the Canada–United States border with Canada containing about two thirds of the lake while the Southern third falls in the United States. The Boundary Commission Trail ends at the lake as the last border marker was placed there on 8 August 1874. The United States Geological Survey gives the geocoordinates of 49°03′00″N113°54′03″W for Upper Waterton Lake. Lower Waterton Lake is north of Middle Waterton Lake and is separated by a channel known as the Dardanelles.
Crab Creek is a stream in the U.S. state of Washington. Named for the presence of crayfish, it is one of the few perennial streams in the Columbia Basin of central Washington, flowing from the northeastern Columbia River Plateau, roughly 5 km (3.1 mi) east of Reardan, west-southwest to empty into the Columbia River near the small town of Beverly. Its course exhibits many examples of the erosive powers of extremely large glacial Missoula Floods of the late Pleistocene, which scoured the region. In addition, Crab Creek and its region have been transformed by the large-scale irrigation of the Bureau of Reclamation's Columbia Basin Project (CBP), which has raised water table levels, significantly extending the length of Crab Creek and created new lakes and streams.
Babb is a small unincorporated farming and ranching community in Glacier County, Montana, United States, on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. The community experiences a large influx of tourists in the summer months as it is the gateway to the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Babb as a census-designated place (CDP). It had a population of 174 at the 2010 census.
The Red Coat Trail is a 1,300-kilometre (810 mi) route that approximates the path taken in 1874 by the North-West Mounted Police in their March West from Fort Dufferin to Fort Whoop-Up.
The Pouce Coupe River is a major tributary of the Peace River in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada. Its name is officially spelled Pouce Coupé River, but it is commonly written without the acute accent.
The Belly River Group is a stratigraphical unit of Late Cretaceous age in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.
The Willow Creek Formation is a stratigraphic unit of Late Cretaceous to Early Paleocene age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin of southwestern Alberta. It was first described by George Mercer Dawson in 1883 along the Willow Creek, a tributary of the Oldman River. Williams and Dyer defined the type section in 1930 at the mouth of Willow Creek, east of Fort Macleod.
Latah Creek, also known as Hangman Creek, is a large stream in eastern Washington and north central Idaho in the United States. The creek flows northwest from the Rocky Mountains to Spokane, where it empties into the Spokane River. It drains 673 square miles (1,740 km2) in parts of Benewah and Kootenai counties in Idaho, Spokane County and a small portion of Whitman County in Washington, where over 64 percent of its watershed resides. Some major tributaries of the approximately 60-mile (97 km) creek include Little Latah Creek and Rock Creek. The average flow of the creek can range from 20 cubic feet per second (0.57 m3/s) to 20,000 cubic feet per second (570 m3/s). Latah Creek receives its name from a Nez Perce word likely meaning "fish". In 1854, the creek received another name, Hangman Creek, from a war between the Palouse Indians and white soldiers, which resulted in several Palouse being hanged alongside the creek.
The Rosebud River is a major tributary of the Red Deer River in Alberta, Canada. The Rosebud River passes through agricultural lands and ranchland for most of its course, and through badlands in its final reaches. It provides water for irrigation canals through a variety of dams built on its course and that of its tributaries.
The Kakisa River is a major tributary of the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories of Canada.
The Porcupine Hills Formation is a stratigraphic unit of middle to late Paleocene age in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. It takes its name from the Porcupine Hills of southwestern Alberta, and was first described in outcrop by George Mercer Dawson in 1883.