The Blackfoot River, sometimes called the Big Blackfoot River to distinguish it from the

Little Blackfoot River The Little Blackfoot River is a long tributary of the Clark Fork River, located in Powell County, Montana in the state of Montana in the United States. Location and flows The Little Blackfoot River is located in Powell County, Montana. The rive ...

, is a snow-fed and spring-fed river in western

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

. The Blackfoot River begins in Lewis and Clark County at the Continental Divide, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of the town of

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

(4536 feet, 1382 m). The river's headwaters are between Rogers Pass (5610 ft, 1710 m) to the north and Stemple Pass (6376 ft, 1943 m) to the south. It flows westward through the town of Milltown and enters the Clark Fork River approximately five miles (8 km) east of the city of

Missoula Missoula ( ; fla, label=Salish language, Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, Missoula Cou ...

(3210 ft, 978 m). The Blackfoot River is renowned for its recreational opportunities, most notably fly fishing, but also rafting, canoeing, and inner tubing. The Blackfoot is a fast, cold river with many deep spots, making it prime habitat for several varieties of

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salm ...

. The river's canyon and the valleys were formed by the

Missoula Floods The Missoula floods (also known as the Spokane floods or the Bretz floods or Bretz's floods) were cataclysmic glacial lake outburst floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Gorge at the end of the las ...

, cataclysmic

glacial lake outburst flood A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) is a type of outburst flood caused by the failure of a dam containing a glacial lake. An event similar to a GLOF, where a body of water contained by a glacier melts or overflows the glacier, is called a j� ...

s which occurred at the end of the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

. The Blackfoot River and the Clark Fork experienced a record flood in 1908. The river is featured in the 1976 novella '' A River Runs Through It'' by

Norman Maclean Norman Fitzroy Maclean (December 23, 1902August 2, 1990) was a Scottish-American professor at the University of Chicago who became, following his retirement, a major figure in American literature. Maclean is best known for his collection of n ...

, as well as the 1992 film starring Brad Pitt, directed by Robert Redford. The Blackfoot is a Class I river from the Cedar Meadow fishing access site west of Helmville to its confluence with the Clark Fork River for public access for recreational purposes.Stream Access in Montana

References

External links

USGS water flows and Statistical Data
{{authority control Rivers of Montana Bodies of water of Missoula County, Montana Rivers of Lewis and Clark County, Montana Bodies of water of Powell County, Montana

See also

Further reading

References

External links