The Niobrara River (; oma, Ní Ubthátha khe, , literally "water spread-out horizontal-the" or "The Wide-Spreading Water") is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. Many early settlers, such as Mari Sandoz, referred to the river as Running Water. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed March 30, 2011 running through the U.S. states of

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to t ...

and

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

."Nature & Science".
Retrieved 2011-03-10. The river drains one of the most arid sections of the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, a ...

, 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 South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...

, as well as a small area of eastern Wyoming.

Course

The river rises in the

High Plains High Plains refers to one of two distinct land regions: * High Plains (United States), land region of the western Great Plains *High Plains (Australia) The High Plains of south-eastern Australia are a sub-region, or more strictly a string of adja ...

of Wyoming, in southern Niobrara County. The Niobrara flows east as an intermittent stream past Lusk and southeast into northwestern

. It then flows southeast across the Pine Ridge country of Sioux County, then east through

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is a U.S. National Monument near Harrison, Nebraska. The main features of the monument are a valley of the Niobrara River and the fossils found on Carnegie Hill and University Hill. The area largely consists ...

, 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 southwest of Valentine. In north-central Nebraska it is joined by the

Keya Paha River The Keya Paha River ( ) is a river flowing U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed March 30, 2011 through the U.S. states of South Dakota and Nebraska. The name is derived from ...

approximately west of

Butte __NOTOC__ In geomorphology, a butte () is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from a French word me ...

. The river joins the

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

northwest of

Niobrara Niobrara may refer to: * Niobrara, Nebraska * Niobrara County, Wyoming * Niobrara River * Niobrara National Scenic River * Niobrara Formation The Niobrara Formation , also called the Niobrara Chalk, is a geologic formation in North America that ...

in northern Knox County, just upstream of Lewis and Clark Lake. Its total drainage basin is about .

Discharge

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. The river is highest in the spring and early summer (February through April) and lowest in early fall (August and September). By late fall, river levels begin to rise as demands for river water for irrigation subside. The Niobrara's average discharge between 1958 and 2013, measured at the U.S. Geological Survey stream gage at

Verdel, Nebraska Verdel is a village in Knox County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 30 at the 2010 census. History Verdel got its start at its current site ''circa'' 1902, when the Chicago and North Western Railroad The Chicago and North West ...

, above the mouth, is . The highest flow recorded was on March 27, 1960. The lowest daily mean was on November 13, 1960.

History

The lower Niobrara valley is the traditional home of the

Ponca The Ponca ( Páⁿka iyé: Páⁿka or Ppáⁿkka pronounced ) are a Midwestern Native American tribe of the Dhegihan branch of the Siouan language group. There are two federally recognized Ponca tribes: the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and the ...

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 The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of N ...

National Scenic River

A 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 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 Par ...

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. 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.

River modifications

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 on the north side of the Niobrara River. Dunlap Diversion Dam, below Box Butte, diverts water through a canal to the farmland. The Snake River tributary is impounded by the Merritt Dam and irrigates about 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. 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. 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.

Spencer Dam Spencer Dam was a run of the river hydroelectric dam on the Niobrara River in Boyd County and Holt County, Nebraska, about southeast of Spencer. The dam was operated by the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD). Heavy precipitation during th ...

, about 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 Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) is the largest electric utility in the state of Nebraska, serving all or parts of 84 (of 93) counties. It was formed on January 1, 1970, when Consumers Public Power District, Platte Valley Public Power and Irri ...

. It includes two Westinghouse generators, with a combined capacity of 3,000 KW. In a 2015 agreement with Nebraska local and state government entities, NPPD agreed to decommission the dam in 2017. The dam was breached by flooding caused by a March 2019 storm.

Native American languages

In the

Cheyenne language The Cheyenne language (, ) (informal spelling Tsisinstsistots), is the Native American language spoken by the Cheyenne people, predominantly in present-day Montana and Oklahoma, in the United States. It is part of the Algonquian language famil ...

, the river is ''Hisse Yovi Yoe'', meaning "surprise river"; in Pawnee, ''Kíckatariʾ''; and in Lakota, ''Wakpá Tȟáŋka''.

References

External links