The North Platte River is a major

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...

of the

Platte River The Platte River () is a major river in the State of Nebraska. It is about long; measured to its farthest source via its tributary, the North Platte River, it flows for over . The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, which itsel ...

and is approximately long, counting its many curves.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed March 21, 2011 In a straight line, it travels about , along its course through the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

s of

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, 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 south ...

, 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 southwe ...

. The head of the river is essentially all of

Jackson County, Colorado Jackson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,379, and it was the fourth least populated in the state. The county is named after the United States President Andrew Jackson. The cou ...

, whose boundaries are the continental divide on the west and south and the mountain drainage peaks on the east—the north boundary is the state of Wyoming border. The rugged

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 ...

surrounding Jackson County have at least twelve peaks over in height. From Jackson County the river flows north about out of the

Routt National Forest Routt may refer to: ;Places In the United States: * Routt, Louisville, Kentucky *Routt County, Colorado ;People *Joe Routt *John Long Routt *Stanford Routt Stanford Bermond Routt (born July 26, 1983) is a former American football cornerback. Aft ...

and

North Park (Colorado basin) North Park is a high, sparsely populated basin (approximately in elevation) in the Rocky Mountains in north central Colorado in the United States. It encompasses a wide valley in Jackson County rimmed by mountain ranges at the headwaters of the ...

near what is now

Walden, Colorado The Town of Walden is the Statutory Town that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only incorporated municipality in Jackson County, Colorado, United States. It is situated in the center of a large open valley called Nor ...

, to Casper, Wyoming. Shortly after passing Casper, the river turns to the east-southeast and flows about to the city of

North Platte, Nebraska North Platte is a city in and the county seat of Lincoln County, Nebraska, United States. It is located in the west-central part of the state, along Interstate 80, at the confluence of the North and South Platte Rivers forming the Platte River. T ...

. The North Platte and

South Platte River The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwestern United States, Midwest and the American Sout ...

join to form the Platte River in western Nebraska near the city of North Platte, Nebraska. The Platte River flows to the Missouri River, which joins the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

to flow to the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

. The river provides the major avenue of drainage for northern Colorado, eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska. It is only navigable over most of its length at high water by

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the ter ...

s, kayaks and rubber

raft A raft is any flat structure for support or transportation over water. It is usually of basic design, characterized by the absence of a hull. Rafts are usually kept afloat by using any combination of buoyant materials such as wood, sealed barrels ...

History as a trail west

The North Platte River drainage has been an important westward route in the westward expansion of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. To get the two essentials, water and grass for the traveler's animals the emigration trails nearly always followed river valleys across the North American continent. These trails extended from the Missouri River,

and North Platte River across

and parts of

and on to its confluence with the Sweetwater River (Wyoming). About beyond what is now Casper, Wyoming the main emigration trails left the North Platte valley and followed the Sweetwater River valley and other river valleys going further west.North Platte between

Casper, WY Casper is a city in, and the county seat of, Natrona County, Wyoming, United States. Casper is the second-largest city in the state, with the population at 59,038 as of the 2020 census. Only Cheyenne, the state capital, is larger. Casper is nic ...

and Pathfinder Reservoi

Accessed 26 Aug 2011 The trail route along the North Platte River was first written about by

Wilson Price Hunt Wilson Price Hunt (March 20, 1783 – April 13, 1842) was an early pioneer and explorer of the Oregon Country in the Pacific Northwest of North America. Employed as an agent in the fur trade under John Jacob Astor, Hunt organized and led the gre ...

of the

Astor Expedition The Pacific Fur Company (PFC) was an American fur trade venture wholly owned and funded by John Jacob Astor that functioned from 1810 to 1813. It was based in the Pacific Northwest, an area contested over the decades between the United Kingdom o ...

who was traveling back to the Missouri River from the newly established

Fort Astoria Fort Astoria (also named Fort George) was the primary fur trading post of John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company (PFC). A maritime contingent of PFC staff was sent on board the ''Tonquin (1807 ship), Tonquin'', while another party traveled overl ...

on the Columbia River in 1811. The lack of American trappers and settlers in the contested

Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. O ...

resulted in this early discovery being unused and nearly forgotten. Jedediah Smith and several trappers in 1823 rediscovered the route and the trail along the Platte, North Platte and Sweetwater Rivers became a major trail to the fur trader’s summer time

Rocky Mountain Rendezvous The Rocky Mountain Rendezvous was an annual rendezvous, held between 1825 to 1840 at various locations, organized by a fur trading company at which trappers and mountain men sold their furs and hides and replenished their supplies. The fur compa ...

. Mule trains carrying in trading supplies for the

mountain men A mountain man is an explorer who lives in the wilderness. Mountain men were most common in the North American Rocky Mountains from about 1810 through to the 1880s (with a peak population in the early 1840s). They were instrumental in opening up ...

and

fur trapper Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket ...

s were some of the first to use the trail in 1824. The fur traders on their return trip carried the traded furs back east at the end of the summer trading season. This fur trade route continued to be used to about 1840. By about 1832 the trail along the Platte, North Platte, and Sweetwater Rivers had been improved by the fur traders to a rough wagon trail from the Missouri River to the

Green River Green River may refer to: Rivers Canada * Green River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Lillooet River *Green River, a tributary of the Saint John River, also known by its French name of Rivière Verte *Green River (Ontario), a tributary of ...

in Wyoming where most of the Rocky Mountain Rendezvous occurred. Following the fur traders, the major emigration trails established along the north and south banks of the North Platte River were the

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

(1843–1869),

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

(1843–1869),

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into severa ...

(1847–1869) and the Bozeman (1863–68) Trails. The trails north of the North Platte River originally crossed the North Platte near

Fort Laramie Fort Laramie (founded as Fort William and known for a while as Fort John) was a significant 19th-century trading-post, diplomatic site, and military installation located at the confluence of the Laramie and the North Platte rivers. They joined ...

to join the original Oregon and California Trail Route on the south side. In 1850 Child's Route (Child's Cutoff) extended the north side trail to what is now Casper, Wyoming. The rugged territory from

Fort Laramie, Wyoming Fort Laramie is a town in Goshen County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 230 at the 2010 census. The town is named after historic Fort Laramie, an important stop on the Oregon, California and Mormon trails, as well as a staging point ...

to Casper meant that the trails often deviated from the river to find an easier path and relied on streams draining into the North Platte for water.

River description

Up in central north Colorado rests

, a valley ringed by mountains. The headwaters of the river is essentially all of

whose boundaries are the continental divide on the west and south and the mountain drainage peaks on the east—the north boundary is the state of Wyoming boundary. The rugged

Continental Divide surrounding Jackson County have at least twelve peaks over in height. These peaks include on the west: Mount Zirkel , Lost ranger Peak and Mount Ethel ; on the south: Sheep Mountain and Parkview Mountain —whose waters on the south or east side drain into the North Platte River drainage. On the east are: Mount Nimbus , Mount Cumulus , Howard Mountain , Mount Cirrus , Mount Richthofen , Lead Mountain ,North Diamond Peak and Clark Peak whose eastern slope waters drain into the North Platte River. In Jackson county the North Platte is joined by several other small streams draining the mountains around the county. Some of these creeks are: Arapaho Creek, Colorado Creek, East Branch Illinois River, Jack Creek, Jewell Lake Trib., Grizzly Creek, Little Grizzly Creek, Norris Creek, North Fork of North Platte River, Rock Creek (Little Willow Ck), South Fork Canadian River, South Fork Michigan River, Willow Creek and in Wyoming the Encampment River. All these streams are draining the snow melt form the mountains surrounding Jackson County. The North Platte River flows northward from Colorado into Wyoming through the popular rafting site – Northgate Canyon which is along the western side of the Medicine Bow Mountains. In Colorado and Wyoming, the river is narrower and much swifter flowing than it is in Nebraska, where it becomes a slow flowing, shallow

braided stream A braided river, or braided channel, consists of a network of river channels separated by small, often temporary, islands called braid bars or, in English usage, '' aits'' or ''eyots''. Braided streams tend to occur in rivers with high sediment ...

. The upper reaches of the river in the Rockies in Colorado and Wyoming are popular for recreation rafting and fly fishing on the river and its many tributaries for

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

and other sport fish. In western Nebraska, the banks and riverbed of the North Platte provide a green oasis amid an otherwise semi-arid region of North America. The river has been dammed several times to form several reservoirs along its course. On the north end of the Park range it is joined by the

Medicine Bow River The Medicine Bow River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 21, 2011 tributary of the North Platte River, in southern Wyoming in the United States. Description It ...

in the Seminoe Reservoir formed by Seminoe Dam, further downstream is the Kortes Reservoir. Still further downstream about above Casper the North Platte is joined by the Sweetwater River to form the

Pathfinder Reservoir Pathfinder Reservoir is located in the U.S. state of Wyoming on the North Platte River between Casper and Rawlins. It sits 47 miles (76 km) southwest of Casper, in Carbon County and Natrona County. The reservoir was created by Pathfinder ...

. Northeast of the Pathfinder Reservoir it passes through the Alcova and Gray Reef reservoirs before it hits Casper. Casper was established about 1860 east of the former site of

Fort Caspar Fort Caspar was a military post of the United States Army in present-day Wyoming, named after 2nd Lieutenant Caspar Collins, a U.S. Army officer who was killed in the 1865 Battle of the Platte Bridge Station against the Lakota and Cheyenne. Found ...

, which was built about 1859 during the mass migration along the Oregon, California, Mormon and Bozeman trails. Near what is now Casper was the location of several ferries that offered passage across the North Platte River during the summer "Trail season" starting about 1847. In 1847, during the first Mormon emigration,

Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his ...

leading the Mormon settlers to

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

established a ferry near present-day Casper known as the Mormon Ferry. The next year the ferry was moved a few miles down river. Soon competing ferries were built. In 1859, Louis Guinard built a toll bridge across the North Platte and a trading post near the original ferry's locations. Before reaching Casper the river turns and flows northeast between the Granite Mountains to the west and the Laramie Mountains to the east. The North Platte emerges from the mountains near Casper, where it turns and flows east-southeast, along the northern edge of the Laramie Mountains onto 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, an ...

. The North Platte flows east-southeast across the plains of eastern Wyoming, past the town of Douglas, Wyoming and through Glendo and Guernsey Reservoirs.Guernsey Reservoi

Accessed 22 Aug 2011 It then flows past the

Fort Laramie National Historic Site Fort Laramie (founded as Fort William and known for a while as Fort John) was a significant 19th-century trading-post, diplomatic site, and military installation located at the confluence of the Laramie and the North Platte rivers. They joined ...

(the former site of Fort Laramie), where it is joined by the

Laramie River The Laramie River is a tributary of the North Platte River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 21, 2011 in the U.S. states of Colorado and Wyoming. ...

. The North Platte is joined by Horse Creek flowing in from Wyoming near the Wyoming-Nebraska border as its last significant addition. It crosses into western Nebraska, flowing east-southeast between the cities of

Scottsbluff, Nebraska Scottsbluff is a city in Scotts Bluff County, in the western part of the state of Nebraska, in the Great Plains region of the United States. The population was 14,436 at the 2020 census. Scottsbluff is the largest city in the Nebraska Panhand ...

and

Gering, Nebraska Gering is a city in, and the county seat of, Scotts Bluff County, in the Panhandle region of Nebraska, United States. The population was 8,564 at the 2020 census. History Gering was officially founded on March 7, 1887, being located at the base ...

. In

Keith County, Nebraska Keith County is a county in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 8,368. Its county seat is Ogallala. In the Nebraska license plate system, Keith County is represented by the prefix 68 (it had the ...

, the Kingsley Dam forms Lake C.W. McConaughy, the largest reservoir in Nebraska and a significant

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been devel ...

and recreation facility for the region. Kingsley Dam, constructed in 1935 to 1941, is located on the east side of

Lake McConaughy Lake McConaughy is a reservoir on the North Platte River. It is located north of Ogallala, Nebraska, United States, near U.S. Highway 26 and Nebraska Highway 61. The reservoir was named for Charles W. McConaughy, a grain merchant and mayor of H ...

in central Keith County, Nebraska, and is the second largest hydraulic fill dam in the world. East of the Kingsley dam the North Platte River flows nearly parallel to the

. In many places they are separated by only about 5 mi (8 km) for a stretch of about 50 mi (80 km) before they join to form the Platte River just east of the city of

. The wagon trails following the south side of the Platte/North Platte River ferried or waded in low water years across the South Platte River in several places to stay on the south side of the North Platte River where the trails were located. Those who later went on to

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

followed the South Platte River trail into Colorado. Historically, the North Platte River used to be up to a mile wide (1.6 km) in many places as evidenced by the old streambed and written records. Today, by the time the North Platte reaches

Paxton, Nebraska Paxton is a village in Keith County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 523 at the 2010 census. History Paxton was named for W. A. Paxton, a rancher. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area ...

it is much smaller due to the extensive water taken from it for irrigation.

References

External links

Bureau of Land Management: North Platte River

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: North Platte River on the Mormon Trail

Fishing the North Platte River
{{authority control Rivers of Carbon County, Wyoming Bodies of water of Converse County, Wyoming Rivers of Goshen County, Wyoming Rivers of Jackson County, Colorado Rivers of Lincoln County, Nebraska Rivers of Morrill County, Nebraska Rivers of Natrona County, Wyoming Mormon Trail Oregon Trail Rivers of Colorado Rivers of Nebraska Rivers of Wyoming Tributaries of the North Platte River Tributaries of the Platte River

History as a trail west

River description

See also

References

External links