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 Picture yourself on the banks of Montana's stretch of the Missouri River at Wolf Point and look at the water. When you think about it, there's actually quite a bit of water flowing past you. It flows past every minute and every hour. It flows past this spot every day and every night of every year. Do you ever wonder where it comes from? Do you wonder where it goes? Then think about this. Some raindrops fall in the Bob Marshall Wilderness of western Montana and run into a stream that feeds the Sun River. Some snowflakes fall on a mountain in Yellowstone National Park, melt and feed a spring that bubbles water into the Madison River. Each of these spots is hundreds of miles from the other. Yet all the raindrops and the snowmelt in these places will eventually make up the waters of the Missouri River, hundreds more miles away, as it flows past Wolf Point. All in all, it's an amazing trip for those drops of water. It's even more amazing when you think that the water you see flowing past Wolf Point has only just begun its journey. This water will flow another 1,700 miles before it joins with the Mississippi River and then continue on down that Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Just the Missouri alone is a total of 2,540 miles long. Big rivers like the Missouri are the result of many smaller rivers, streams and creeks coming together. The Missouri is also the result of rains falling during the summer and snows falling during the winter and of moisture following the water cycle. The Missouri River drainage in Montana covers roughly three-fourths of the state, if you include the waters of the Yellowstone River, which join the mainstem Missouri just a 500 feet east of the state line in North Dakota. That means if you live almost anywhere east of the Continental Divide in Montana, you live in the area eventually that drains into the Missouri River. Water that flows down the Missouri River in Montana gets there in a number of ways. The most obvious method of putting water in a river is rainfall during the spring, summer and fall. When we get rains, some of it doesn't sink into the ground. It runs off the earth's surface in tiny flows that get bigger as they gather together with other tiny flows. This water runs down coulees and into creeks. The creeks feed larger creeks or streams, which enter small rivers that eventually flow into the Missouri. Water that does sink into the ground helps build up what's called groundwater. These are underground water sources. It's where people get water for wells for drinking water and some irrigation. Groundwater also sometimes bubbles up to the surface as springs that may just form wet spots in the ground or can create trickles of running water or even creeks or ponds of their own. Very, very big springs can result in some pretty good-sized creeks all by themselves. For examples, look at Big Spring Creek, near Lewistown, or Bluewater Creek, near Bridger, or the Roe River, at Great Falls. These are such big springs that enough water bubbles up to provide for the needs of state fish hatcheries which are located there.
Winter snows, especially in the highest mountains, are like storing up water and putting it in a bank. While much of the summer rains run off relatively quickly, snows pile deep in the high country all throughout late fall, winter and into early spring. This snowpack will melt more slowly during the warm months of the year. It will send water down the creeks, streams and rivers throughout the summer and into fall. When you think about it, this water system works pretty well -- for rivers, fish and the people who live and farm nearby. Snows that fall on the croplands and rangelands of Eastern Montana melts in spring and provides an early green-up. Then the first big rush of mountain snowmelt comes down the river systems in April, May and June which fills the reservoirs. Then, as the summer gets hotter, the snows higher up in the mountains melts and keeps a steady supply of water coming from springs and streams through the rest of the year. Montana's Missouri River also relies on a series of dams and reservoirs to control flows, store irrigation water for farmers and prevent major flooding. On the mainstem Missouri River alone, there are big reservoirs behind Canyon Ferry Dam, Hauser Dam and Holter Dam near Helena, and the giant Fort Peck Dam which has created a reservoir nearly 100 miles long. On tributaries -- rivers that flow into the Missouri -- you'll find some big reservoirs like Tiber Reservoir on the Marias River, Hebgen Lake on the Madison, Clark Canyon Reservoir on the Beaverhead and Fresno and Nelson Reservoirs which are fed by the Milk River. All of these dams and rivers and many, many more play a role in providing the water that flows past you as you watch the Missouri River at Wolf Point. It's the result of summer rains, winter snows, bubbling springs, creeks, streams and a huge part of Montana landscape which drain into them. And for the fish of the Missouri River, it's a system that keeps them alive in big water years and times of drought. For native species, it's a cycle of life that has been going on for centuries in Montana. And as you look at the parts of all the other states that make up the entire Missouri River drainage, you begin to realize how important that water flowing past you right now really is to all of us in the United States. |
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