Little Thompson River [1] | |
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![]() I-25 Service Rd., Johnstown vicinity National Register 10/15/2002, 5WL.2985 "Constructed over the Little Thompson River by Gardner Brothers in 1938, the bridge is associated with the development of US Hwy. 87 north of Denver. Subsequently becoming the route for today’s I-25, the highway served as a major north-south route, joining the major population centers along the western edge of Colorado’s high plains. Designed by the Colorado Department of Highways and fabricated by Midwest Steel & Iron Works, the single span rigid connected camelback pony truss runs for 104 feet" | |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | |
• coordinates | 40°21′18″N105°27′13″W / 40.35500°N 105.45361°W |
Mouth | |
• location | Confluence with Big Thompson |
• coordinates | 40°20′26″N104°50′37″W / 40.34056°N 104.84361°W |
• elevation | 4,724 ft (1,440 m) |
Basin features | |
Progression | Big Thompson— South Platte—Platte— Missouri—Mississippi |
The Little Thompson River is a tributary of the Big Thompson River and thence the South Platte River in the U.S. state of Colorado.
The river's headwaters lie in the Roosevelt National Forest. It flows east through the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Larimer County through the town of Berthoud, Colorado, between Longmont to the south and Loveland to the north. The Little Thompson joins the Big Thompson River near that river's confluence with the South Platte River, near the town of Milliken, Colorado.
The Little Thompson runs 51.5 miles (82.9 km) [2] from its headwaters to the confluence with the Big Thompson, and descends approximately 2,500 feet (760 m) in elevation in its approximately 24-mile (39 km) course through the mountains. Its run includes at least one 15-foot (4.6 m) waterfall and numerous granite box canyons. The river had no man-made dams as of 2007. It is managed as part of the Colorado-Big Thompson project.
The river is considered a Class IV+ waterway, marginally navigable by experienced kayakers, and then only when it is in flood stage during the rainy Spring season.
The most numerous fish species observed in the river include brook trout, mountain whitefish, rainbow trout, native Greenback cutthroat trout, and sculpin.
On May 8, 2016, two boys, Paul and Daniel Foreman, drowned in a part of the river known as 'The Tubs' near Pinewood Springs. The boys, ten and seven, respectively, were playing in the river when they were swept away. [3]
The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/Mountain West. Its drainage basin includes much of the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, much of the populated region known as the Colorado Front Range and Eastern Plains, and a portion of southeastern Wyoming in the vicinity of the city of Cheyenne. It joins the North Platte River in western Nebraska to form the Platte, which then flows across Nebraska to the Missouri. The river serves as the principal source of water for eastern Colorado. In its valley along the foothills in Colorado, it has permitted agriculture in an area of the Colorado Piedmont and Great Plains that is otherwise arid.
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The Cache la Poudre River, also known as the Poudre River, is a river in the state of Colorado in the United States.
The North Platte River is a major tributary of the Platte River and is approximately 716 miles (1,152 km) long, counting its many curves. In a straight line, it travels about 550 miles (890 km), along its course through the U.S. states of Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska.
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The San Miguel River is a tributary of the Dolores River, approximately 81 miles (130 km) long, in southwestern Colorado in the United States. It rises in the San Juan Mountains southeast of Telluride and flows northwest, along the southern slope of the Uncompahgre Plateau, past the towns of Placerville and Nucla and joins the Dolores in western Montrose County approximately 15 miles (24 km) east of the state line with Utah.
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The Salt River is a river in Gila and Maricopa counties in Arizona, United States, that is the largest tributary of the Gila River. The river is about 200 miles (320 km) long. Its drainage basin covers about 13,700 square miles (35,000 km2). The longest of the Salt River's many tributaries is the 195-mile (314 km) Verde River. The Salt's headwaters tributaries, the Black River and East Fork, increase the river's total length to about 300 miles (480 km). The name Salt River comes from the river's course over large salt deposits shortly after the merging of the White and Black Rivers.
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St. Vrain Creek is a tributary of the South Platte River, approximately 32.2 miles (51.8 km) long, in north central Colorado in the United States. It drains part of the foothills north of Boulder and the Colorado Piedmont area in the vicinity of Longmont.
The North Fork South Platte River is a tributary of the South Platte River, approximately 50 miles (80 km) long, in central Colorado in the United States. The river is located near the headwaters of the South Platte in the Rocky Mountains southwest of Denver, draining a rugged area of the Front Range just south of the basin of Clear Creek.
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