Cougar Reservoir becomes thermally stratified in summer, with warmer, less-dense water near the surface and colder, denser water at the bottom. There are five "woman" creeks in Wyoming and Montana. Wildlife viewing is also plentiful, with osprey, blue herons, deer, antelope as well as a few bald eagles being regular summer sights. 4. Miners in Sheridan commuted the 7 to 10 miles to reach the mines by trolly.[45]. 8:39 pm. There are a couple dozen extra, of less significance, in the tributaries of the Tongue River that we monitored and reported on as well, he said. What kind of fish are in Tongue River Reservoir? A sandy beach, a large roped swimming area, and a grassy area with picnic tables and gazebos, are all hallmarks of the free Whitefish City Beach. While Fitzpatrick was visiting the Crow camp, young Crow warriors, probably instigated by AFC agents, rode to Fitzpatrick's camp and proceeded to steal all of his horses, rifles, traps, and equipment, as well as his beaver pelts and trade goods. The grey wolf is an issue if not yet a reality in the Tongue River Basin, and there have been unconfirmed sightings of wolves in the more remote areas of the basin. [53] By the mid-1930s wolves had been exterminated completely in the Tongue River basin (and indeed throughout the stockgrowing west). Coal seams outcropping in the Tongue River sandstone caught fire, probably from prairie fires that started by lightning. Day use entrance fee as a walk-in, bicycle or bus passenger. After earning a degree in biology, he spent several years working as a fishing guide, leading trips and teaching others how to catch everything from trout to salmon. Comments and feedback are welcome. Spending the night on the banks of Tongue River Reservoir means a weekend of boating that will send you home with a sunburn and a belly full of freshly caught fish. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. For ice fishing live bait, try wax worms (bee moth larva), maggots, spikes (fly larvae), wigglers (mayfly larvae) or minnows. The Crow scouts involved immediately fled from the area. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. To fish Montanas waters, you must have a valid fishing license. After about 1860 the Lakota claimed all the lands lying east of the Big Horn Mountains and required the whites to deal with them regarding any intrusion into these areas. Make your fishing dreams come true today and tomorrow. During the winter, travel along the roads in the basin can become difficult to impossible depending on snow accumulation, particularly on the more remote gravel roads that are not regularly plowed. Available approximately early-May through Sept. 30thdepending on weather. [19] However, for two centuries, the Cheyenne and the many bands of Lakota people had been steadily migrating westward into the plains, and by 1851 they were established just to the south and east of Crow territory in Montana. Tongue River Reservoir The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". [32] Sawyers had started to retreat down the trail, when he met a contingent of army cavalry moving up the trail, who agreed to escort them to the Big Horn River, after which the wagon train proceeded on to the Montana gold fields. The Indians first fled up Wolf Creek, but then regrouped and counter-attacked. Forecasts Alerts Tongue River at Tongue River Reservoir (DKRM8) This page provides access to observed and forecast river conditions in RSS/XML feeds/format. If it turns out Wyoming does need to release water to Montana it would have consequences on the storage reservoirs in the Tongue River Valley and specifically in the Big Horn Mountains above Sheridan on tributaries Little Goose and Big Goose Creek. [49] Compared to Otter Creek these coal resources are easier to developthe coal resources of Young's creek lies within five to ten miles of the railroad spur line which is used to ship coal from the nearby open pit mines being operated by Kiewit in the Decker, Montana area, and the communities of Sheridan and Ranchester already exist to serve as a base for the work force needed to develop coal mines at Youngs Creek. [citation needed], Historically, underground coal mines existed along the Tongue River at the communities of Monarch, Kleenburn and Acme, about 7 to 10 miles north of Sheridan, Wyoming. Some amenities are seasonal. Is there public access to Whitefish Lake? Shell paid the tribe a bonus to cancel this lease in 1985, because of poor market conditions, and because of Shell's uncertainties on how Montana's severance tax would be applied to coal owned by the Crow Tribe. Ice Formation Ice floats on top of the denser water. Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site! The AFC was a rival of Tom Fitzpatrick's RMF Company and they had agents in the Crow villages including the notorious James Beckwourth, who was an adopted member of the tribe. Tom Fitzpatrick, a mountain man and fur trader with the RMF, rode to Crow camps on Tongue River with a band of about 30 other trappers to trade for furs and to ask permission of the chiefs to make his fall hunt in their country. if you're concerned about temperature drops in the water, be . The Tongue River Valley, before it reaches the Big Horn Mountains, is part of an extensive drainage basin which is an environment in which wild game thrives. These mines were based on seams of coal that outcropped in this area, in the Tongue River valley or on small tributaries off the valley. What is the penalty for fishing without a license in Montana? But Wyoming State Engineer Brandon Gebhart said its not a done deal yet. Continuing northeast from the reservoir, the river flows through a prairie canyon and the Tongue River breaks, passing Birney, Montana. This line failed in the early 1980s and is no longer in use today. The Tongue River valley and surrounding area is the setting for "A Bride Goes West", an autobiography of Nannie Alderson, which relates her life as a ranch wife in the late 19th century in south central Montana. United States. Most of the course of the river is through the beautiful and varied landscapes of eastern Montana, including the Tongue River Canyon, the Tongue River breaks, the pine hills of southern Montana, and the buttes and grasslands that were formerly the home of vast migratory herds of American bison. The next 14 days will [35] Custer's command was part of the Stanley military column which was accompanying and protecting Northern Pacific Railroad survey parties in the summer months of 1873. Both rivers, like the Tongue, flow in a northerly direction into the Yellowstone River. Ranch chores, repairs and maintenance, work on building projects, doctoring cattle and the like go on all year round. Fly fishermen can test their skill on the river below the dam. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Tongue River At Monarch In most cases, these temperature forecasts are converted into basin Mean Areal Temperatures (MAT) and serve as input into our hydrologic models. There are limited roadside services in Ashland, located about the center of the basin, where U.S. 212 goes east and west. The Tongue River is subdivided into five reaches to permit spatial simulation. "Troopers with Custer: Historic Incidents of the Battle of the Little Big Horn", By E. A. Brininstool, J. W. Vaughn, Published by Stackpole Books, 1994. These bands often located their base camps on the Tongue River because they could camp far enough down the river from the forts to be secure from counterattack, and the lower Tongue River Valley afforded a wide variety of camp sites with the three necessities of the nomadic Indians wood for fires, abundant water, and adequate grass for grazing their large horse herds. Many other water users in the basin were impacted due to the inability to divert post-1950 water rights during the administration period. Tongue Ranger District: General Information Directions: Trail begins on state land at the end of County Road (CR) 92 and ends at Forest System Road (FSR) 196. . Expect 0.1mm of precipitation over the past 3 hours. This river is monitored from 8 different streamgauging stations along the Tongue River, the highest being perched at an elevation of 4,072 ft, the Expect 1.6mm of precipitation over the past 3 hours. [26], In 1864, the Bozeman Trail was opened to the Montana gold fields. At the fort, AFC agents traded for furs with Indians from the surrounding area. Dry land wheat farming, which is prevalent elsewhere in eastern Montana, occurs only in limited and scattered acreages in the Tongue River basin. 290 Campers PointDecker, MT 59025Latitude/Longitude:(45.09975 / -106.79453), View the park map to learn more about amenities, parking and camping details, Learn about fees and regulations for all Montana State Parks. Tongue River at Ashland, MT : 02/27 08: . Whitefish Lake was rated as being crystal clear 24% of the time in Upper Whitefish and 29% of the time in Lower Whitefish (Figure 5). . GPS Info. When in Doubt, Fish Streamers (And Dont be Afraid to Go Big) Add a Stinger Hook. The upper part of this canyon is dammed to form the Tongue River Reservoir. The Crows invited Tom to camp with them. Follow the footnote for six access points in Wyoming, five of them in the mountain section of the Tongue. The Black Hills uplift on the east, the Hartville uplift on the southeast, and the Big Horn Block on the west created a flat, swampy low-lying plain, with slow moving rivers flowing northwest to deltas along a shallow sea. The Tongue River forms in the Big Horn Mountains, west of Sheridan, Wyoming, flows across the Wyoming-Montana state border near Decker, and ends at its confluence with the Yellowstone River in Miles City, Montana (Map 1 above). After remaining idle for more than two weeks on Goose Creek, on July 6, 1876 General George Crook ordered Second Lieutenant Frederick W. Sibley to take 25 men and two scouts, Big Bat Pourier and Frank Grouard, and make a reconnaissance to the north to locate the hostile Indian forces. Corps of Engineers, John Strong Newberry, William Franklin Raynolds, Published by Govt. Today, the Tongue joins with the Yellowstone within the city limits of Miles City. Wyoming State Engineer Brandon Gebhart announced that on April 1st, 2022, Montana placed a call under Article V (A) of the Yellowstone River Compact to fill the Tongue River Reservoir, located . Pumpkin Creek, Otter Creek, Hanging Woman Creek. Before that, he worked for 8 years at Denali National Park, AK. Official websites use .gov Were continuing to allow that storage to accrue [in storage reservoirs in the mountains] but we are monitoring that that if Tongue River doesnt fill, at some point this summer, we will release those volumes of water from those reservoirs for the purpose of satisfying Tongue River filling, said Gebhart. It takes only one mistake to potentially infest a new water body. The rivers temperature can vary from temperate in the shallows to near-freezing in open water. 2.0 MONTANA WATER QUALITY STANDARDS Montana water quality standards are developed to protect water resources, to identify polluted waters reporting a streamflow rate of 383 cfs. . Tongue River At Tongue R Dam Nr Decker Mt. Eric Regensburger. The Tongue River Reservoir and the tributaries of Hanging Woman, Otter, and Pumpkin creeks all have USGS gaging stations with continuous flow data for the majority of the modeled timeframe (2004 to 2013), and are being treated as "point sources" within the model (Map 1). Eleven campsites on Campers Point have electricity year-round. In Wyoming a network of paved roads follow the Tongue river westward to Ranchester and Dayton, where the Tongue comes out of the Big Horn Mountains. Tongue River At Tongue R Dam Nr Decker Mt "I don't know where they would get the water from," said Zach Renstrom, general manager of the Washington County Water Conservancy District. Get the latest weather forecast in Tongue River Reservoir, Big Horn, Montana, United States of America FISHING for today, tomorrow, long range weather and the next 14 days, with accurate temperature, feels like and humidity levels. Compact's protection of Montana's water right in the Tongue River Reservoir. It provides excellent fishing as numerous "state record" fish have been pulled from its waters. Check with the park for availability. This lake is a great place for creating memories. After the battle Crook returned south of the Tongue River to the base camp on Goose Creek, and he was still there on June 25, 1876 when General George A. Custer was defeated at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, some 65 miles to the north. From 1923 to 1935 the North and South Railway promoted a rail line south from Miles City, Montana through Sheridan to Casper, Wyoming. Future water quality projects will also occur to address other identified pollution problems for the Tongue River, Tongue River Reservoir, and tributaries to the Tongue River (Table 1 below); however, these projects have not been scheduled. The river is generally frozen during the winter months. This affects several northern Wyoming communities, including Sheridan. Tongue River Reservoir - One of the most popular ice fishing areas nearby is a couple hours east of here. On the more southern tributaries, particularly in the Custer National Forest area, there are growing herds of prairie elk, an animal originally native to the plains of eastern Montana. [22], In September 1833 on the Tongue River, a chapter was written in the rivalry between the Rocky Mountain Fur Company (RMF) and the American Fur Company (AFC). Dayton receives its municipal water from a well while Ranchester does use some water taken from the Tongue River, though those are pre-compact rights, he indicated. Schroeder said there isn't much negative impact currently to irrigators as there isn't much irrigation as of yet, but conditions could change and that there's currently about 500 to 600 acre feet of water that is flowing into the Tongue River Reservoir daily. The flow of water in the upper river during the summer is generally steady, but in the later months of a dry summer, irrigation can reduce the lower river to a few pools of water connected by a small trickle. Prior to moving to Tongue River, Raymond managed White Tank Mountain Regional Park, a popular 30,000 acre recreation area west of Phoenix, AZ. Tongue River Reservoir State Park is located in Southeastern Montana. The lower major tributaries of the Tongue (Pumpkin Creek, Ottor Creek, Hanging Woman Creek, Prairie Dog Creek) all have gravel roads branching off the Tongue River Road and running along their length, providing access to local ranches. View Interactive Map; Waterbody Information. There is no genuine dispute of material fact that: a) Montana's water right in the Tongue River Reservoir was perfected before 1950; "The Fighting Cheyennes", George Bird Grinnell, Published by Digital Scanning Inc, 2004, Lubetkin, John M., Clash on the Yellowstone, Research Review, The Journal of the Little Big Horn Associates, Vol. There are three primary public access points along the lake: Whitefish Lake State Park, Les Mason Park and City Beach. 456'36"N, 10646'48"W. Located just north of the Montana-Wyoming state line, Tongue River Reservoir State Park is located 6 miles north of Decker on Secondary 314, then 1 mile east on . Montana State Parks offers hike/bike, rustic, tent, rv, and boatslip campsites. Science. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. The late fall roundup separates the calves which are sold to cattle buyers and shipped by truck. means Tongue River Holdings, Inc., a Montana corporation, Transportation Properties, a Montana general partnership, and Tongue River Railroad Company, a Montana limited partnership. TONGUE RIVER RESERVOIR STATE PARK. The lowest two segments are listed as impaired for either salinity or specific conductivity in Montana's Water Quality Integrated Report. An acre-foot is the amount of water needed to cover one acre to the depth of one foot - roughly 326,000 gallons. A railroad spur line, if built, would have to come up the Tongue River from Miles City, a distance of some 65 to 70 miles. Ernest Hemingway wrote a short story, "Wine of Wyoming" that references coal miners living at Sheridan, Wyoming during the era of prohibition, who worked at the underground coal mines in the Tongue River valley, a few miles north of Sheridan. Since the release of wolves in Yellowstone Park in 1995, there has been increasing concern by stockgrowers in surrounding areas that wolf packs would migrate out of the park to cattle country and re-establish themselves where the pickings were better. The watershed spans 34,167 square miles (88,490 km2). We camped at Tongue River Reservoir State Park in a Travel Trailer. The dam impacted due to the Montana gold fields 88,490 km2 ) administration... A prairie canyon and the Tongue River Reservoir State Park, Les Mason Park and City Beach fishermen can their! Rustic, tent tongue river reservoir water temperature rv, and boatslip campsites at the fort AFC... 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