Powder River (Wyoming and Montana)

{{short description|River in Wyoming and Montana, United States}}

{{Infobox river

| name = Powder River

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| image = The Powder River in Johnson County, Wyoming.jpg

| image_caption = A view of the Powder River in northern Wyoming

| image_size = 300

| map = Powder River watershed.jpg

| map_size = 300

| map_caption = Powder River watershed ([https://mghydro.com/watersheds/shared/59CB04.html Interactive map])

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| subdivision_type1 = Country

| subdivision_name1 = United States

| subdivision_type2 = State

| subdivision_name2 = Wyoming, Montana

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| length = {{convert|375|mi|km|abbr=on}}

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| discharge1_location= Locate, MT

| discharge1_min = {{convert|0|cuft/s|m3/s|abbr=on}}

| discharge1_avg = {{convert|558|cuft/s|m3/s|abbr=on}}

| discharge1_max = {{convert|31000|cuft/s|m3/s|abbr=on}}

| source1 = Confluence of Middle Fork and North Fork

| source1_location = Near Kaycee, Wyoming

| source1_coordinates= {{coord|43|40|30|N|106|30|45|W|display=inline}}{{cite gnis |id=789156 |name=Powder River}}

| source1_elevation = {{convert|4564|ft|abbr=on}}

| mouth = Yellowstone River

| mouth_location = Near Terry, Montana

| mouth_coordinates = {{coord|46|44|00|N|105|26|02|W|display=inline,title}}

| mouth_elevation = {{convert|2241|ft|abbr=on}}

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| basin_size = {{convert|21875|sqmi|abbr=on}}

| tributaries_left = Crazy Woman Creek, Clear Creek, Mizpah Creek

| tributaries_right = Wild Horse Creek (Wyoming), Little Powder River

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Powder River is a tributary of the Yellowstone River, approximately {{Convert|375|mi}} 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 three forks in north central Wyoming. The North 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 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 accepts the Little Powder near the town of Broadus, and discharges into the Yellowstone approximately {{Convert|50|mi|km|-1}} downriver from Miles City, Montana. The Powder River was so named (in the English language as well as in local indigenous languages) because the sand along a portion of its banks resembles powder or dust.{{cite book | last = Urbanek | first = Mae | title = Wyoming Place Names | publisher = Mountain Press Publishing Company |location= Missoula, MT | year = 1988 | isbn = 0-87842-204-8}}{{cite book|author=Chicago and North Western Railway Company|title=A History of the Origin of the Place Names Connected with the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OspBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA115|year=1908|page=115}}