Powder River

The Powder River is a a tributary of the Yellowstone River, approximately 375 mi (603 km) long in the southeastern Montana and northeastern Wyoming in the United States. It drains an area historically known as the Powder River Country on the high plains east of the Bighorn Mountains

It rises in three forks in eastern Wyoming. The North and Middle forks rise along the eastern slope of the Bighorn Mountains. The South Fork rises on the north slope of Garfield Peak in the Granite Mountains west of Casper. The three 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 is joined by the Little Powder near the town of Broadus, and joins the Yellowstone approximately fifty miles downriver from Miles City, Montana. The Powder River was so named because the sand along a portion of its banks resembled gunpowder.

The Powder River Basin near the Montana/Wyoming border is a major source of coal mined in the United States.

See also

• List of Montana rivers
• List of Wyoming rivers