The Niobrara River ( /ˌnaɪ.əˈbrærə/ ; Omaha–Ponca : Ní Ubthátha khe, pronounced [nĩꜜubɫᶞaꜜɫᶞakʰe] , literally "water spread-out horizontal-the" or "The Wide-Spreading Water") is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 568 miles (914 km) long, [2] running through the U.S. states of Wyoming and Nebraska. [3] The river drains one of the most arid sections of the Great Plains, and has a low flow for a river of its length. The Niobrara's watershed includes the northern tier of Nebraska Sandhills, a small south-central section of South Dakota, as well as a small area of eastern Wyoming.
The river rises in the High Plains of Wyoming, in southern Niobrara County. The Niobrara flows east as an intermittent stream past Lusk and southeast into northwestern Nebraska. It then flows southeast across the Pine Ridge country of Sioux County, then east through Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, past Marsland, and through Box Butte Reservoir. The stream flows east across northern Nebraska, near the northern edge of the Sandhills and past Valentine. It is joined by the Snake River about 13 miles (21 km) southwest of Valentine. In north-central Nebraska it is joined by the Keya Paha River approximately 6 miles (10 km) west of Butte. The river joins the Missouri northwest of Niobrara in northern Knox County, just upstream of Lewis and Clark Lake. Its total drainage basin is about 11,580 square miles (30,000 km2).
Although the annual runoff is low relative to the size of its drainage basin, the Niobrara has a stronger and more consistent flow than many other streams in the region. An estimated 70 percent of the river's water results from seepage from the Ogallala Aquifer that underlies the area, with the remaining 30 percent from precipitation. [4] The river is highest in the spring and early summer (February through April) and lowest in early fall (August and September). [5] By late fall, river levels begin to rise as demands for river water for irrigation subside. [6]
The Niobrara's average discharge between 1958 and 2013, measured at the U.S. Geological Survey stream gage at Verdel, Nebraska, 14.8 miles (23.8 km) above the mouth, is 1,757 cubic feet per second (49.8 m3/s). The highest flow recorded was 39,100 cubic feet per second (1,110 m3/s) on March 27, 1960. The lowest daily mean was 102 cubic feet per second (2.9 m3/s) on November 13, 1960. [7]
The lower Niobrara valley is the traditional home of the Ponca tribe of Native Americans. Between 1861 and 1882, the stretch of the Niobrara River from the mouth of the Keya Paha to its confluence with the Missouri marked the boundary between Nebraska and the Dakota Territory.
A 76-mile (122 km) stretch of the Niobrara River in central Nebraska, from the town of Valentine east to Nebraska State Highway 137, has been designated as the Niobrara National Scenic River since 1991. It is managed by the Department of the Interior (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and National Park Service) to protect the water quality, geologic, paleontologic, fish and wildlife, scenic and recreation values. [8]
Most of the lands within the boundary of the National Scenic River are, and will remain, in private ownership. Management is based upon working with private, county, state and federal landowners and stakeholders to coordinate protection of the river while ensuring a quality experience for river visitors. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages the 9 miles of river that flow through the Fort Niobrara Refuge primarily for wilderness and wildlife habitat, but allows recreation downstream from Cornell Dam. The National Park Service manages the remaining 67 miles, acting as a facilitator for resource protection by landowners and river users, providing law enforcement and visitor education services, and coordinating resource management activities.[ citation needed ]
The Box Butte Dam, completed in 1946 by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), is the only major dam on the Niobrara River proper. Located in Dawes County in western Nebraska, the dam is part of the Mirage Flats Project, which irrigates 11,670 acres (4,720 ha) on the north side of the Niobrara River. Dunlap Diversion Dam, 8 miles (13 km) below Box Butte, diverts water through a 13-mile (21 km) canal to the farmland. [9]
The Snake River tributary is impounded by the Merritt Dam and irrigates about 34,540 acres (13,980 ha) in the area of Valentine, Nebraska. The project is part of the Ainsworth Unit of the Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin Program, also operated by the USBR. [10]
Cornell Dam, built in 1915 at the confluence of Minnechaduza Creek near Valentine, generated power until 1985. The following year the dam was acquired by the U.S. Department of the Interior. Although officially decommissioned, the dam remains standing. [11] The feasibility of removing the defunct dam has been studied, although the accumulation of sediment behind the dam, which may include high levels of chemicals from pesticides, may be harmful to the river environment if released. [12] [13]
Spencer Dam, about 50 miles (80 km) from the mouth of the Niobrara, was the last operational hydroelectric plant on the river. The dam was built in 1927 and was operated by the Nebraska Public Power District. It includes two Westinghouse generators, with a combined capacity of 3,000 kW. [14] In a 2015 agreement with Nebraska local and state government entities, NPPD agreed to decommission the dam in 2017. [15] The dam was breached by flooding caused by a March 2019 storm. [16]
In the Cheyenne language, the river is Hisse Yovi Yoe, meaning "surprise river";[ citation needed ] in Pawnee, Kíckatariʾ; [17] and in Lakota, Wakpá Tȟáŋka, meaning "great river". [18]
The Missouri River is a river in the Central and Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Mountains of southwestern Montana, then flows east and south for 2,341 miles (3,767 km) before entering the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, Missouri. The river drains semi-arid watershed of more than 500,000 square miles (1,300,000 km2), which includes parts of ten U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. Although a tributary of the Mississippi, the Missouri River is slightly longer and carries a comparable volume of water. When combined with the lower Mississippi River, it forms the world's fourth-longest river system.
Sioux County is a county in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 1,135. Its county seat is Harrison.
The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 692 miles (1,114 km) long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains and high plains of southern Montana and northern Wyoming, and stretching east from the Rocky Mountains in the vicinity of Yellowstone National Park. It flows northeast to its confluence with the Missouri River on the North Dakota side of the border, about 25 miles (40 km) west of Williston.
The Cheyenne River, also written Chyone, referring to the Cheyenne people who once lived there, is a tributary of the Missouri River in the U.S. states of Wyoming and South Dakota. It is approximately 295 miles (475 km) long and drains an area of 24,240 square miles (62,800 km2). About 60% of the drainage basin is in South Dakota and almost all of the remainder is in Wyoming.
The Keya Paha River is a river flowing 127 miles (204 km) through the U.S. states of South Dakota and Nebraska.
The Niobrara National Scenic River is in north-central Nebraska, United States, approximately 300 miles (480 km) northwest of Omaha. In 1991, Congress set aside 76 miles (120 km) for preservation under the management of the National Park Service with assistance from the local Niobrara Council. Several "outstandingly remarkable values" have been designated to be protected along the Niobrara National Scenic River, including: Fish and Wildlife, Scenery, Fossil Resources, Geology, and Recreation. The river was designated by Backpacker magazine as one of the 10 best rivers for canoeing in the United States.
The Pine Ridge is an escarpment between the Niobrara River and the White River in far northwestern Nebraska. The high tableland between the rivers has been eroded into a region of forested buttes, ridges and canyons.
Lewis and Clark Lake is a 31,400 acre (130 km2) reservoir located on the border of the U.S. states of Nebraska and South Dakota on the Missouri River. The lake is approximately 25 miles (40 km) in length with over 90 miles (140 km) of shoreline and a maximum water depth of 45 feet (14 m). The lake is impounded by Gavins Point Dam and is managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District.
The Missouri National Recreational River is a National Recreational River located on the border between Nebraska and South Dakota. The designation was first applied in 1978 to a 59-mile section of the Missouri River between Gavins Point Dam and Ponca State Park. In 1991, an additional 39-mile section between Fort Randall Dam and Niobrara, Nebraska, was added to the designation. These two stretches of the Missouri River are the only parts of the river between Montana and the mouth of the Missouri that remain undammed or unchannelized. The last 20 miles of the Niobrara River and 6 miles of Verdigre Creek were also added in 1991.
Nebraska Highway 12 is a highway in northern and northeastern Nebraska. It has a western terminus at U.S. Highway 83 in Valentine and an eastern terminus at U.S. Highway 20 west of Jackson. The highway largely lies within 10 miles (16 km) of the South Dakota border its entire length. The highway has been designated the Outlaw Trail Scenic Byway.
U.S. Highway 20 (US-20) is a part of the United States Numbered Highway System that runs for 3,365 miles (5,415 km) from Newport, Oregon, to Boston, Massachusetts. Within the state of Nebraska, it is a state highway that begins on the Wyoming–Nebraska state line west of Harrison near the Niobrara River and runs to the Nebraska–Iowa state line in South Sioux City. Throughout its 431.60-mile (694.59 km) length, the route passes through a diverse range of landscapes, including bluffs and escarpments in the Nebraska Panhandle, the Sandhills in the northern part of the state, and rolling hills and plains as the highway approaches the Missouri River valley south of Sioux City, Iowa. Throughout its length, US-20 is a two-lane highway with the exception of the easternmost 8.45 miles (13.60 km), which is a four-lane divided highway, the last 3.21 miles (5.17 km) of which is concurrent with Interstate 129 (I-129). The 197 miles (317 km) between the Wyoming border and Valentine is designated as the Bridges to Buttes Byway, one of nine scenic byways in the state of Nebraska.
Little Butte Creek is a 17-mile-long (27 km) tributary of the Rogue River in the U.S. state of Oregon. Its drainage basin consists of approximately 354 square miles (917 km2) of Jackson County and another 19 square miles (49 km2) of Klamath County. Its two forks, the North Fork and the South Fork, both begin high in the Cascade Range near Mount McLoughlin and Brown Mountain. They both flow generally west until they meet near Lake Creek. The main stem continues west, flowing through the communities of Brownsboro, Eagle Point, and White City, before finally emptying into the Rogue River about 3 miles (5 km) southwest of Eagle Point.
The Niobrara Valley Preserve is a 56,000 acre conservation area in Brown and Keya Paha counties of Nebraska owned by The Nature Conservancy.
Box Butte Dam is a dam in the arid northwestern panhandle area of Dawes County, Nebraska.
The Mesilla Diversion Dam is located in the Rio Grande about 40 miles (64 km) upstream of El Paso, Texas, about 6 miles (9.7 km) to the south of Las Cruces, New Mexico. It diverts water from the river for irrigation in the lower Mesilla Valley. The dam is owned by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, which built it, and is operated by the Elephant Butte Irrigation District.
Ponca Creek is a stream that flows from southern South Dakota and into northern Nebraska. It is 139 miles (224 km) long. Its source is about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of U.S. 183, near Colome. It flows into the Missouri River 6 miles (9.7 km) northwest of Niobrara. Ponca Creek starts out going east, then takes a southeast direction, which continues until around Bristow, Nebraska, where it turns east again until it flows into the Missouri River. The entire Ponca Creek watershed drains 520,000 acres (2,100 km2). The watershed stretches from central Tripp County to central Gregory County.
Fort Niobrara (1880–1906) was a military post located in north central Nebraska.
Spencer Dam was a run of the river hydroelectric dam on the Niobrara River in Boyd County and Holt County, Nebraska, about 5 miles (8.0 km) southeast of Spencer. The dam was operated by the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD). Heavy precipitation during the March 2019 North American blizzard led to a failure of the dam in the early morning of 14 March, causing heavy flooding downstream.