Powder River

Powder River is a tributary of the Yellowstone River, approximately 375 miles (604 km) long in northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana in the United States. Combined with its tributary, the South Fork Powder River, it is 550 miles long. It drains an area historically known as the Powder River Country on the high plains east of the Bighorn Mountains. It rises in four forks in north central Wyoming. The North, Red, and Middle forks rise along the eastern slope of the Bighorn Mountains. The South Fork rises on the southern slopes of the Bighorn Mountains west of Casper. The four forks meet on the foothills east of the Bighorns near the town of Kaycee. The combined stream flows northward, east of the Bighorns, and into Montana. It accepts the Little Powder near the town of Broadus, and discharges into the Yellowstone approximately 50 miles (80 km) downriver from Miles City, Montana. The Powder River was so named (in the English language and local indigenous languages) because the sand along a portion of its banks resembles powder or dust.

Flows through: United States.

River data from Wikidata (CC0); lengths normalised to a common unit.