Niobrara River
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The Niobrara River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 430 mi (692 km) long, running through the U.S. states of Wyoming and Nebraska. The river drains one of the most arid sections of the Great Plains, and has a low flow for a river of its length. The Niobrara's watershed includes a small south-central section of South Dakota as well as the northern tier of Nebraska and a tiny area of eastern Wyoming.
The river rises in the High Plains of Wyoming, in southern Niobrara County. The Niobrara flows east as an intermittent stream past Lusk and southeast into northwestern Nebraska. It then flows southeast across the Pine Ridge country of Sioux County, then east through Agate Fossil Beds National Monument, past Marsland, and through Box Butte Reservoir. The stream flows east across northern Nebraska, near the northern edge of the Sandhills and past Valentine. It is joined by the Snake River about 13 mi (21 km) southwest of Valentine. In north-central Nebraska it is joined by the Keya Paha River approximately 6 mi (10 km) west of Butte. The river joins the Missouri northwest of Niobrara in northern Knox County.
Two sections of the Niobrara River in central Nebraska have been designated as the Niobrara National Scenic River.
The lower Niobrara valley is the traditional home of the Ponca tribe of Native Americans. Between 1861 and 1882, the stretch of the Niobrara River from the mouth of the Keya Paha to its confluence with the Missouri marked the boundary between Nebraska and the Dakota Territory.
