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47-470: From broad valleys to a narrow canyon, the Jefferson River passes through a region of significant geological diversity, with some of the oldest and youngest rocks of North America and a diversity of igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary formations. The region was only intermittently inhabited by Native Americans until relatively recent times, and no single tribe had exclusive use of the Jefferson River when

94-624: A "Lewis and Clark Tour-way" along the Missouri River from St. Louis to Three Forks, Montana . Later, Jay "Ding" Darling proposed the development of the expedition route as a recreational trail. Following a 1966 report by the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation , the National Trails System Act of 1968 listed the route for study as a possible National Scenic Trail . The Lewis and Clark Trail Commission published its report in 1969 and identified

141-469: A couple days at the Missouri headwaters, then began to ascend the Jefferson River, using ropes to pull the dugout canoes upstream against the current. Along the way they hunted deer, elk, bighorn sheep, and encountered grizzly bears. Describing the upper Jefferson River, Lewis recorded on August 2, 1805: The valley though which our rout of this [day] lay and through which the river winds it's meandering course

188-516: A single flood event and tend to be of uniform age. The upper Jefferson extends from the confluence of the Big Hole and the Beaverhead rivers approximately 44 miles downstream to the community of Cardwell . The middle Jefferson enters a narrow canyon a short distance downstream from Cardwell and is largely contained by the geography for most of the next 15 miles downstream to Sappington Bridge. Lacking

235-475: Is a beatifull level plain with but little timber and that on the verge of the river. the land is tolerably fertile, consisting of a black or dark yellow loam, and covered with grass from 9 Inches to 2 feet high. The plain ascends gradually on either side of the river to the bases of two ranges of mountains which ly parallel to the river and which terminate 〈it's〉 the width of the vally. the tops of these mountains were yet partially covered with snow while we in

282-522: Is a much-braided, meandering river and floodplain system that supports productive farm fields, extensive cottonwood groves, rich meadows, and abundant wildlife. The river creates diverse habitats as it naturally shifts back and forth across the Jefferson Valley, forming oxbows and swamps of various depth and age. Shifting channels and natural flooding facilitates the germination of cottonwood seedlings. Individual cottonwood groves are often germinated from

329-704: Is administered by the National Park Service. The official headquarters for the trail is located at the National Park Service Midwest Regional Headquarters, in Omaha, Nebraska . The visitor center features exhibits about the explorers and their historic trip, as well as information about sites along the trail. A highway driving route approximates the path taken by the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804–06, between St. Louis, Missouri and

376-628: Is made up of quartz and feldspar. By the Mississippian Period, 340 million years ago, much of western North America was covered with a warm, shallow sea, much like the Gulf Coast of Florida today. Small marine fossils can be found in the Madison Group limestone that makes up the steep, narrow section of the Jefferson River canyon today. Gentle uplift eventually raised the region above sea level again. Rainwater percolated down through cracks in

423-498: Is not a hiking trail, but provides opportunities for hiking, boating and horseback riding at many locations along the route. The trail is the continuously longest of the 30 National Scenic and National Historic Trails. The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail is approximately 4,900 miles (7,900 km) long, extending from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to the mouth of the Columbia River, near present-day Astoria, Oregon . It follows

470-414: Is suitable for floaters and beginning paddlers, except during high water flows in the spring. Possible hazards include downed trees, called "sweeps" and diversion dams constructed to channel river water into irrigation ditches. Water levels often drop off by mid-summer, making it necessary to drag watercraft over shallow riffles. The Jefferson River consists of three distinct sections. The upper Jefferson

517-567: The Big Hole , the Ruby , and the Beaverhead . The Jefferson River is a segment of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail , established by Congress in 1978 and administered by the National Park Service . The Jefferson River is rated as Class I water for recreational purposes from its origin at the Beaverhead and Big Hole rivers to its confluence with the Missouri at Three Forks. The river

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564-698: The Black Hills of western South Dakota to western Montana and eastern Idaho , and from the Canada–United States border to western Colorado and the Grand Canyon of Arizona . The Madison is formally known as the Madison Group . In Montana, where its thickness reaches 1,700 feet (520 m), the group is subdivided into the Mission Canyon Formation and Lodgepole Formation. Equivalents of

611-583: The Cambrian Period of the Paleozoic Era . A new sea encroached on the land, depositing sedimentary layers of limestone , dolomite , shale , and sandstone over several hundred million years. Limestone is generally made of calcium from marine animals that have been compacted and cemented together. Dolomite is similar but has more magnesium. Shale is formed from fine-grained mud, silts, and clays that have been compacted and cemented together. The sandstone

658-542: The Late Cretaceous . The rising buoyant plutons resulted from subduction along what was then the west coast of North America. Regional uplift brought the deep-seated granite to the surface, where erosion exposed the rocks and the mineral veins they contained. The granite generally consists of quartz, hornblende, and feldspars. Gold, silver, and other semi precious minerals are also associated with batholiths. The ancient metamorphic and more recent sedimentary layers above

705-681: The Pacific Ocean at Astoria, Oregon . Like the Great River Road , it is marked along existing roadways, in this case mostly paralleling the Missouri and Columbia rivers. Roads followed include Interstate 29 in Iowa , the appropriately-numbered SD 1804 , ND 1804 , SD 1806 , and ND 1806 , and Washington State Route 14 . Two separate routes of the trail are signed between St. Louis and East Fairview, North Dakota , one on each side of

752-752: The United States commemorating the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 to 1806. It is part of the National Trails System of the United States. It extends for some 4,900 miles (7,900 km) from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , to the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon . The trail is administered by the National Park Service , but sites along the trail are managed by federal land management agencies, state, local, tribal, and private organizations. The trail

799-597: The fourth longest river on Earth . The geology of the Jefferson River and the surrounding mountain ranges includes some of the oldest rocks found in North America, dating back to the Archean Eon, 2.7 billion years ago. Found primarily in the Tobacco Root and Ruby ranges, these ancient rocks are metamorphic , having been highly compressed and nearly re-melted by geologic forces over eons of time. Frequently found along

846-780: The Hidatsa in North Dakota in 1804–05. Little was known about the American West at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The Missouri River flowed southeast from an unknown source, joining the Mississippi River before flowing south to the Gulf of Mexico. The Columbia River originated at a similar latitude as the Missouri, and flowed west to the Pacific Ocean. What lay in between was the subject of much speculation. The United States acquired

893-621: The Jefferson River is used extensively as a source of irrigation water for local farms and ranches. Dams constructed upstream on the Ruby and Beaverhead rivers store surplus water from spring runoff which is released to augment natural flows during the summer irrigation season. However, portions of the river can become severely dewatered, shallow, and warm in drought years, adversely impacting fish populations. The unnaturally warm water, combined with excess nutrients from irrigation runoff and grazing practices, can stimulate rapid growth of algae in mid-summer, to

940-497: The Jefferson River, these rocks include layered feldspars, gneiss, glassy quartz, heavy dark amphibolite, and sometimes marble. About a billion years ago, the Willow Creek Fault, north of the Jefferson River canyon, dropped down deeply and filled with seawater, stretching north to Alberta and British Columbia. Eventually, the sea receded and erosion wore away intervening geologic history until about 530 million years ago, during

987-569: The Lewis and Clark Expedition first ascended the river in 1805. Today, the Jefferson River retains much of its scenic beauty and wildlife diversity from the days of Lewis and Clark, yet is threatened by water use issues and encroaching development. The Jefferson is a segment of the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail , administered by the National Park Service . From the Rocky Mountains of southwestern Montana , three small rivers converge to form

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1034-1016: The Madison are named the Pahasapa Limestone in the Black Hills, Leadville Limestone (Colorado), Guernsey Limestone (Wyoming), and Redwall Limestone in the Grand Canyon. The upper part of the Madison Group, the Charles Formation in the subsurface of North Dakota and northern Montana, is not strictly an equivalent of the Madison Limestone as usually defined. Most of the Madison Limestones were deposited during Early to Middle Mississippian time ( Tournaisian to Visean stages), about 359 to 326 million years ago. Older North American usage lists

1081-536: The Madison as being laid down during the Kinderhookian, Osagian, and Meramecian stages. Neither a type locality nor derivation of the name was designated when the term Madison Limestone was first used by Peale (1893), but since the original work focused on the area of Three Forks, Montana , it is likely that the name relates to outcrops along the Madison River , Montana. A reference section has been designated on

1128-593: The Missouri River that summer, then wintered over with the Hidatsa Indians in North Dakota, where they met Toussaint Charbonneau and his Shoshone wife Sacagawea. Lewis and Clark hired Charbonneau to join the expedition, in part because Sacagawea's people were native to the Missouri headwaters. The Lewis and Clark Expedition arrived at the Missouri Headwaters on 27 July 1805. Of the three streams that make up

1175-513: The Missouri River watershed through the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, and President Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark with a company of men to explore up the Missouri in the hopes of finding a navigable water route to the Pacific, with a low portage connecting one watershed with the other. The Expedition departed from Saint Louis, Missouri in the spring of 1804, ascended

1222-404: The Missouri. In Washington , it is called the Lewis and Clark Trail Highway and is a state scenic byway . The Washington State Legislature designated it as a named highway corridor in 1955, originally from Vancouver to Clarkston , and later expanded it to include most state highways along the Columbia River from Cape Disappointment to Clarkston. In 1948 the National Park Service proposed

1269-662: The Northern Rockies. It is thought that far fewer animals survived in the region and the native peoples likely migrated elsewhere. Montana was apparently only intermittently inhabited after that until relatively recent times. In the 1500s, the Kootenai came into Montana from the north. The Salish and Pend d'Oreille migrated in from the north and northwest, venturing south to the Jefferson River/Missouri Headwaters and eastward. Major population shifts started in

1316-630: The Trail an additional 1,200 miles (1,900 km) along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Wood River, Illinois. Madison Group The Madison Limestone is a thick sequence of mostly carbonate rocks of Mississippian age in the Rocky Mountain and Great Plains areas of the western United States . The rocks serve as an important aquifer as well as an oil reservoir in places. The Madison and its equivalent strata extend from

1363-528: The ability to flood or meander, this section of the river has few trees, swamps, meadows, and significantly less wildlife than the upper Jefferson. The lower Jefferson opens up again into a meandering, braided river from Sappington bridge approximately 24 miles downstream to its confluence with the Madison River. Here, the riparian zone again supports an extensive community of swamps, meadows, cottonwood groves, and productive farm lands. Throughout its length,

1410-454: The batholiths eroded away as the magma pushed up through the crust. Thus, the granite batholiths are typically found at the center of local mountain ranges, while the much older metamorphic gneiss is usually found lower in the mountains, and limestone layers are mostly found in the foothills nearest the Jefferson River. The Rocky Mountains began a new and continuing phase of crustal stress 5 to 10 million years ago as tectonic forces began to pull

1457-579: The canyon, the river passes into a broad valley again near Willow Creek . The Jefferson converges with the Madison River at Missouri Headwaters State Park near Three Forks to form the Missouri River, joined a short distance downstream by the Gallatin River . After flowing into the Missouri, its waters continue into the Mississippi River , eventually into the Gulf of Mexico . These rivers combine to be

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1504-787: The dam, the river is known as the Beaverhead River . It is joined by the Ruby River above the town of Twin Bridges and converges with the Big Hole River to form the Jefferson about two miles downstream from town. The Jefferson River flows north through the Jefferson Valley towards Whitehall and then east, where it is joined by the Boulder River before passing through the narrow Jefferson River canyon near Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park . After

1551-549: The detriment of anglers and floaters. On August 5, 2016, the Jefferson River stream flow was measured at only 19 CFS (cubic feet per second). This occurred even while the three main tributaries to the Jefferson were contributing 1140 CFS. The Ruby River was measured at 310 CFS, the Big Hole River was measured at 200 CFS and the Beaverhead River was measured at 630 CFS. Irrigators took over 98% of this stream flow by forcing

1598-516: The early 1600s, bringing several new tribes into Montana. With horses of Spanish origin, the Shoshone migrated into Montana from the Great Basin and hunted buffalo, becoming the dominant tribe in the area. However, the arrival and expansion of European settlers on the east coast pushed Native Americans west, in a domino effect that extended all the way into Montana. The Crow migrated into Montana from

1645-508: The east in the 1600s, followed by the Blackfeet , Gros Ventre , and Assiniboine in the 1700s. With the acquisition of guns and horses, the Blackfeet became the dominant tribe on the plains in the 1700s. The Shoshone were largely pushed back over the continental divide into Idaho, but still ventured into Montana hunting and foraging. By 1800, the Missouri headwaters and much of southwest Montana

1692-616: The headwaters of the Jefferson River. The longest begins at Brower's Spring , 9,030 feet (2,750 m) above sea level, on the northern flank of the Centennial Mountains . The site is marked by a pile of rocks. The water flows west then north as Hell Roaring Creek before merging with Rock Creek and flowing west through Upper and Lower Red Rock Lakes. Here it becomes the Red Rock River , flowing west through Lima Reservoir and then northwest into Clark Canyon Reservoir near Dillon . Below

1739-508: The headwaters of the Missouri, the eastern fork is the smallest, while the larger middle and western forks are of relatively equal size. Therefore, Lewis and Clark concluded that it would be inappropriate for any fork to retain the name "Missouri." Instead, they named the western fork the Jefferson, the middle fork as the Madison, and the eastern fork as the Gallatin, as Meriwether Lewis noted in his journal on July 28, 1805: The expedition rested

1786-405: The historic outbound and inbound routes of the Lewis and Clark Expedition as well as the preparatory section from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Camp Dubois at Wood River, Illinois . The Trail connects 16 states (Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon) and many tribal lands. It

1833-608: The limestone, dissolving rock and creating caves such as those found at Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park . Local mountains, such as the Tobacco Roots were formed from the Boulder Batholith . The batholith is composed of at least seven, and possibly as many as fourteen, discrete igneous rock masses called plutons , which formed beneath the Earth's surface during a period of magma intrusion about 73 to 78 million years ago during

1880-460: The north side of Gibson Reservoir in SE/4 sec. 36, T. 22 N., R. 10 W., Patricks Basin quad, Teton Co., Montana. Limestones and dolomites dominate the Madison. Because the rock is highly soluble, it often develops caves and karst topography. Lewis and Clark Caverns , Montana, is an example of a cave developed in the Madison. The rocks were deposited in a generally shallow marine setting, indicated by

1927-642: The now-extinct mammoths and bison with Clovis points . Clovis points dated 12,000 to 13,000 years old have been found along the Missouri River near Townsend , Montana, about forty-five miles beyond the Jefferson. Paleo-Indians seldom entered the Rockies, where glaciation persisted. Upstream from the Jefferson, at Barton Gulch , a tributary of the Ruby -Jefferson River system, archaeologists excavated an extensive complex of Paleo-Indian cooking pits and earth ovens dated to 9400 RCYBP . Between 6,000 and 7,000 years ago, climate change brought dramatically drier conditions to

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1974-618: The region apart. Blocks of earth dropped down to form valleys, and the Jefferson River eroded a channel through rock to form the Jefferson River canyon. Archaeologists believe that the first Americans migrated across the Bering land bridge from Asia between 12,000 and 30,000 years ago. They followed the Great North Trail, which dipped down into Montana along the east slope of the Rocky Mountains. These Paleo-Indians or Clovis people hunted

2021-437: The river into irrigation channels using diversion dams, leaving less than 2% of water in the river. Montana has no minimum stream flow legislation to prevent the total dewatering of the Jefferson River in the future. While much of the Jefferson River remains untouched and scenic, it is threatened by new housing developments that incrementally fragment wildlife habitat and vistas along the river. Efforts to stabilize portions of

2068-413: The riverbank with rock, concrete, and other rip-rap materials have inhibited the river's ability to flood, meander, and form new cottonwood groves and wildlife habitat. In addition, rip-rapped sections of the river tend to funnel floodwaters downstream, increasing the impact to other landowners. Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail is a route across

2115-586: The route and recreation opportunities. In 1978 the law was amended by the National Parks and Recreation Act to provide for a new category of trail, National Historic Trails , one of which was to be the Lewis and Clark trail. From 2003 to 2006, the National Park Service commemorated the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition with the Corps of Discovery II traveling exhibit. The 2019 John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act extended

2162-555: The valley. were suffocated nearly with the intense heat of the midday sun. the nights are so could that two blankets are not more than sufficient covering. Arriving at a major confluence, Lewis and Clark named the western fork the Wisdom River, the eastern fork the Philanthropy River and retained the middle fork as a continuation of the Jefferson River. However, none of these names were retained. These rivers are known today as

2209-413: Was a crossroads frequented by the Lemhi Shoshone , Bannock , Nez Perce , Flathead , Crow , Sioux , and Piegan Blackfeet . Sacagawea , of the Lemhi Shoshone, was captured by the Hidatsa on the lower Jefferson River in 1800, when she was about twelve years old. She was later married to Toussaint Charbonneau and both of them joined the Lewis and Clark Expedition when Lewis and Clark wintered with

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