View source for Little Bighorn River

{{Infobox river 
| name            = The Big Horn River, showing the Little Bighorn River as a tributary
| image_name      = Bighornrivermap.jpg
| image_size      = 
| image_alt       =
| caption         = 
| image_map       =
| map_size        = 300px
| map_alt         =
| map_caption     = The Big Horn River, showing the Little Bighorn River as a tributary
| origin          = {{coord|45|00|03|N|107|37|37|W|display=inline |name=Little Bighorn River}}<ref name=gnis/>
| mouth           = {{Coord|45|44|17|N|107|34|10|W|display=title,inline |name=Little Bighorn River}}<ref name=gnis>{{cite gnis |id=773405 |name=Little Bighorn River}}</ref>
| basin_countries = [[Big Horn County, Montana]] and [[Sheridan County, Wyoming]]
| progression     = 
| length          = 
| elevation       = 
| mouth_elevation = {{convert|2884|ft|m}}<ref name=gnis/>
| discharge       = 
| watershed       = 
| river_system    = [[Yellowstone River]]
| left_tribs      =
| right_tribs     =
}}
The '''Little Bighorn River'''<ref name=gnis/> is a {{convert|138|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}}<ref>{{cite web| url=http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/| title=The National Map| publisher=U.S. Geological Survey| accessdate=Feb. 9, 2011}}</ref> tributary of the [[Bighorn River]] in the [[United States]] in the states of [[Wyoming]] and [[Montana]]. The [[Battle of the Little Bighorn]] was fought on its banks in 1876, as well as the [[Crow War#Battle of Crow Agency|Battle of Crow Agency]] in 1887.

The Little Bighorn rises in extreme northern Wyoming, along the north side of the [[Bighorn Mountains]]. It flows northward into Montana and across the [[Crow Indian Reservation]], past the towns of [[Wyola, Montana|Wyola]], [[Lodge Grass, Montana|Lodge Grass]] and [[Crow Agency, Montana|Crow Agency]], and joins the Bighorn near the town of [[Hardin, Montana|Hardin]].

The battle site, now included in the grounds of [[Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument]], is approximately five miles south of Crow Agency, on the eastern side of the river.

==Source of Name==
In 1859, W.F. Reynolds led an government expedition up the Big Horn River to the mouth of Big Horn Canyon, and then southeast along the base of the Big Horn mountains.  He camped on the Big Horn just below the mouth of the Little Bighorn on September 6, 1859.  He noted in his journal for that day that the  Indian name of the Big Horn river, into which the Little Bighorn empties, is ''Ets-pot-agie'', or Mountain Sheep River, and this generates the name of the Little Big Horn, ''Ets-pot-agie-cate'', or Little Mountain Sheep river.<ref name=Raynlds>{{cite web|last=Raynolds|first=W.F.|title=Report of the Exploration of the Yellowstone River 1859|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=guIRAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA3&dq=raynolds+%22report+on+the+exploration+of+the+yellowstone+river%22+1859&hl=en&sa=X&ei=18S4UeS7HqKoiQLAgIGgBw&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=raynolds%20%22report%20on%20the%20exploration%20of%20the%20yellowstone%20river%22%201859&f=false|publisher=Washington Government Printing Office 1868|accessdate=12 June 2013}}</ref>   The trappers who came to the Big Horn Mountains in the fur trapping era continued the usage of the English translation of the Indian names, and the names for both rivers have come down through history.<ref name=Raynlds></ref>

Captain Reynolds had Jim Bridger as a guide and interpreter, so the information about the source of the name was confirmed by Reynolds from Indian sources through Bridger.

==Variant names==
The Little Bighorn River has three other official variants of the name including Little Horn river,  Custer River, and Great Horn River.<ref name=gnis/>  

A historical variant of the name is the Greasy Grass river.  From the 1500s through the 1800s, the indigenous [[Crow people]] knew the river by the name of the Greasy Grass, reportedly because the abundant grass that grew in the river bottoms that would gather heavy dew in the morning which, in turn, would wet moccasins and cause them to look greasy.  The name Greasy Grass was also used for Lodge Grass Creek, a tributary of the Little Horn.  The Lakota Sioux who began to contest control of this area with the Crow in the 1840s to 1860s, as they pushed westward, continued the use of this name.

==See also==
{{Commons category}}
*[[List of Wyoming rivers]]
*[[List of rivers of Montana]]
*[[Montana Stream Access Law]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}
{{Montana}}
{{Wyoming}}

[[Category:Great Sioux War of 1876]]
[[Category:Landforms of Big Horn County, Montana]]
[[Category:Rivers of Montana]]
[[Category:Rivers of Wyoming]]
[[Category:Tributaries of the Yellowstone River]]

{{Montana-geo-stub}}