Yellowstone River

The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 692mi long, in the western United States. Considered the principal tributary of the upper Missouri, the river and its tributaries drain a wide area stretching from the Rocky Mountains in the vicinity of the Yellowstone National Park across the mountains and high plains of southern Montana and northern Wyoming.Yellowstone WatershedThe Yellowstone River Watershed is a river basin located in North Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana. The Yellowstone Basin Watershed contains a system of rivers, including the Yellowstone River, and four tributary basins: the Clarks Fork Yellowstone, Wind River and Bighorn River, Tongue River, and Powder River. These rivers form tributaries to the Missouri River. The mainstem of the Yellowstone River is more than 700mi long. At the headwaters, elevations exceed 12,800ft above sea level and descends to 1,850ft at the confluence with the Missouri River in North Dakota. The watershed spans 34,167 square miles. The area contains many lakes, including Yellowstone Lake. There are no storage dams located on the mainstem of the Yellowstone River. However, the watershed contains five major reservoirs: Bull Lake, Boyson, Buffalo, Bighorn, Tongue River, and Lake De Smet reservoirs.