The Oldman River is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

in southern Alberta, Canada. It flows roughly west to east from 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 great-circle distance, straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Can ...

, through the communities of Fort Macleod,

Lethbridge Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 106,550 in the 2023 Alberta municipal censuses, 2023 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian ...

, and on to Grassy Lake, where it joins the

Bow River The headwaters of the Bow River in Alberta, Canada, start at the Bow Glacier and Bow Lake (Alberta), Bow Lake in Banff National Park in the Canadian Rockies, Canadian Rocky Mountains. The glacial stream that feeds Bow Lake (Alberta), Bow Lake ...

to form the South Saskatchewan River, which eventually drains into the

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

. Oldman River has a total length of and a drainage area of .

Etymology

The river is named after Napi, a figure in Blackfoot mythology, who is also referred to as the "Old Man."

History

The Oldman River was, at one time, known as the Belly River. The Belly River is now a separate river that is a tributary of the Oldman. In 1991, the Alberta government finished construction of the Oldman River Dam. The Piikani activist Milton Born With A Tooth had attempted to divert the Oldman River away from the Lethbridge Northern Irrigation District canal intake. This led to an armed standoff and his eventual imprisonment. The dam was constructed where the Oldman, Crowsnest, and Castle river systems converge.

2013 floods

On June 21, 2013, during the 2013 Alberta floods Alberta experienced heavy rainfall that triggered catastrophic flooding throughout much of the southern half of the province along the Bow,

Elbow The elbow is the region between the upper arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and t ...

, Highwood and Oldman rivers and tributaries. A dozen municipalities in Southern Alberta declared local states of emergency on June 21 as water levels rose and numerous communities were placed under evacuation orders.

Tributaries

From headwaters to mouth, Oldman River receives: * Livingstone River * Crowsnest River * Castle River * Pincher Creek *Beaver Creek *Willow Creek * Belly River ** Waterton River * St. Mary River **Lee Creek * Little Bow River

Nature

Oldman River originates in the ''Beehive Natural Area'', an area of

alpine tundra Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation, with an associated harsh climate. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alpine tundra gets ...

and old-growth

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

and

fir Firs are evergreen coniferous trees belonging to the genus ''Abies'' () in the family Pinaceae. There are approximately 48–65 extant species, found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Eurasia, and North Africa. The genu ...

forests. Downstream it flows through Bob Creek Wildland Provincial Park and Black Creek Heritage Rangeland. ''Oldman Dam'' and ''Oldman River'' are other Provincial Recreation Areas established along the river. The river and some of its tributaries have formed coulees in Southern Alberta, and the strata revealed by these formations guide local prospectors to ammolite deposits.

Fish

The Oldman River contains fish species such as

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...

, cutthroat trout, bull trout, brown trout, hybrid trout species ("

cutbow The cutbow (''Oncorhynchus'' sp. × ''mykiss'') is an hybrid (biology)#Interspecific hybrids, interspecific fertile hybrid between rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') and cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus'' sp.). Based on currently accepted tax ...

" rainbow and cutthroat cross), mountain whitefish, pike,

walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the walleyed pike, yellow pike, yellow pikeperch or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern ...

, lake sturgeon, catostomidae, goldeye, and minnows.

References

External links

* Oldman Watershed Council
www.oldmanwatershed.ca
{{Authority control Rivers of Alberta South Saskatchewan River Rivers of the Canadian Rockies Tributaries of Hudson Bay