Junction of Bighorn and Yellowstone Rivers

Junction of Bighorn and Yellowstone Rivers. . The area that surrounds the mouth of the Bighorn River as it enters the Yellowstone 13 miles east of here is one of the most significant areas in Montana history. , The Indians knew the Yellowstone as the Elk River. French explorers called it the Roche Jaune, while they called the Bighorn La Corner. , Captain William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, on his return trip from their journey to the Pacific Ocean, camped on the east bank of the Bighorn River, Saturday, July 26, 1806. , The following year, on November 21st, 1807, an expedition led by Manuel Lisa, a St. Louis fur trader, arrived at the mouth of the Bighorn River. He built a fur trading post which he named Fort Remon (Raymond) in honor of his two-year-old son. This was the first building erected in what is now the State of Montana. From here Lisa sent John Colter to make contact with the Indians who were in winter camp to induce them to come to his post and trade their furs for goods. On this journey Colter experienced the wonders of present-day Yellowstone National Park. , In 1876 during the Sioux and Cheyenne Indian campaign of that year, General Terry and Colonel Gibbon marched up the Bighorn River to the site of Custer's defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. They arrived two days after the battle. The steamer Far West, plied the waters of both rivers and brought the wounded from the encounter back to Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota territory.