Cow Creek (Montana)

Cow Creek (Montana)

Coordinates: 47°47′17.89″N 108°56′05.83″W / 47.7883028°N 108.9349528°W / 47.7883028; -108.9349528

Cow Creek is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 35 miles (56 km) long, in north central Montana in the United States. Cow Creek rises in the southern foothills of the Bear Paw Mountains in western Blaine County and flows east and then south, joining the Missouri approximately 25 miles (40 km) air miles northeast of Winifred, Montana -- or 22 miles (35 km) miles upstream from the Fred Robinson Bridge. Cow Creek flows down to the Missouri in a canyon that passes through the Missouri Breaks, which are severely eroded badlands that extend out on either side from the Missouri River. The floor of Cow Creek canyon provided a pathway of travel from the Montana plains north of the river, down to the Missouri – at the mouth of Cow Creek, Cow Island made fording the Missouri easier – a steep but short trail on the south bank of the Missouri opposite Cow Creek completed this route which led from the northern Montana plains to the central and southern Montana plains. This pathway was used by migrating buffalo/bison and nomadic American Natives for centuries. During the steamboat era on the Missouri River, when low water prevented riverboats getting up to Fort Benton, the mouth of Cow Creek became a river landing and freighting depot, and it was the start of the Cow Island Trail by which freight was moved on to Fort Benton by going north up Cow Creek and then west. In 1877 the Nez Perce Indian Tribe, fleeing to Canada, had several skirmishes along Cow Creek including the "Battle of Cow Island", and several days later at a camp on Cow Creek the Nez Perce, thinking themselves now beyond the reach of the U.S. Army, made the fateful decision to slow down, rather than push on for the Canadian border. Today, modern highways have by passed Cow Creek, and the buffalo and the nomadic Indian are gone. Cow Creek is dormant, in one of the most remote spots of the isolated regions of the vast area known as the Montana Missouri Breaks.