Flathead River

The Flathead River (Salish: člq̓etkʷ ntx̣ʷetkʷ, ntx̣ʷe, Ktunaxa: kananmituk), in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Montana, originates in the Canadian Rockies to the north of Glacier National Park and flows southwest into Flathead Lake, then after a journey of 158 miles (254 km), empties into the Clark Fork. The river is part of the Columbia River drainage basin, as the Clark Fork is a tributary of the Pend Oreille River, a Columbia River tributary. With a drainage basin extending over 8,795 square miles (22,780 km) and an average discharge of 11,380 cubic feet per second (322 m/s), the Flathead is the largest tributary of the Clark Fork and constitutes over half of its flow.