The Cut Bank Creek is a tributary of the

Marias River The Marias River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 210 mi (338 km) long, in the U.S. state of Montana. It is formed in Glacier County, in northwestern Montana, by the confluence of the Cut Bank Creek and the Two Medi ...

in the Missouri river basin watershed, approximately 75 mi (123 km) long, in northwestern

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 Columbi ...

in the United States, which having deeply eroded steep cliff banks eponymously gives name to the

cut bank A cut bank, also known as a river cliff or river-cut cliff, is the outside bank of a curve or meander in a water channel (stream), which is continually undergoing erosion.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Ed, Stephen Marshak Cut banks are found in abu ...

formal terrain term of geological science. It rises in the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

in Glacier National Park at the

continental divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

and flows ENE onto the foothills and plains of the

Blackfeet Indian Reservation The Blackfeet Nation ( bla, Aamsskáápipikani, script=Latn, ), officially named the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana, is a federally recognized tribe of Siksikaitsitapi people with an Indian reservation in Monta ...

, then southeast, past

Cut Bank, Montana Cut Bank is a city in and the county seat of Glacier County, Montana, Glacier County, Montana, United States, located just east of the "cut bank" (gorge) along Cut Bank Creek. The population was 3,056 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census ...

where it forms a scenic gorge deepGoogle Earth, which reports imagery dated 2004-04-30th; calculated differential altitudes at trestle bridge east side tracks to gorge river measures 3717-3563ft = with minor consistent variations averaging spanned by an elevated railway bridge just a mile from the town's Amtrak rail transport system

passenger station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

and

BNSF BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

freight yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for keeping rolling stock or u ...

s. The river and cliff there are prototypical giving rise to the eponymous formally named "

" geographic

terrain feature A landform is a natural or anthropogenic land Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surf ...

archetype. In southeastern Glacier County, approximately 12 mi (19 km) southeast of Cut Bank, it joins the

Two Medicine River The Two Medicine River is a tributary of the Marias River, approximately 60 mi (97 km) long, in northwestern Montana in the United States. It rises in the Rocky Mountain Front in Glacier National Park at the continental divide and fl ...

to form the

Notes

Rivers of Montana Landforms of Glacier National Park (U.S.) Rivers of Glacier County, Montana {{Montana-river-stub

See also

Notes