Sheyenne River

For a Wyoming river with the same pronunciation, see Cheyenne River.
The Red River drainage basin, with the Sheyenne River highlighted
Baldhill Dam on the Sheyenne River during the spring 1996 floods
A BNSF Railway freight train crosses the Sheyenne near Karnak, North Dakota in 2009.

The Sheyenne River is one of the major tributaries of the Red River of the North, meandering 591 miles (951 km)[1] across eastern North Dakota.

The river begins about 15 miles (24 km) north of McClusky, North Dakota, and flows generally eastward before turning south near McVille. The southerly flow of the river continues through Griggs and Barnes counties before it turns in a northeastward direction near Lisbon. The river forms Lake Ashtabula behind the Baldhill Dam north of Valley City.

From Lisbon, the river crosses the Sheyenne National Grassland and enters Cass County near the city of Kindred. From Kindred, the river flows north-northeastward through the fertile plains of the Red River Valley.

The character of the river changes as it leaves the sandy grasslands and picks up the fertile clay soil of the Red River Valley. Previously, the river posed a flooding hazard to cities such as West Fargo and Harwood, where it joins the Red River of the North and flows north to Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba. Thanks to a diversion canal completed near Horace, the major Sheyenne River cities fared well in the 1997 Red River Flood which devastated the cities of Grand Forks, North Dakota and East Grand Forks, Minnesota.

The Sheyenne River was named after the Cheyenne Indians.[2]

Crossings

It is crossed by several historic bridges, including the Lisbon Bridge and the Colton's Crossing Bridge in Lisbon, the West Park Bridge in Valley City, the West Antelope Bridge in Flora, the Romness Bridge near Cooperstown, the Westgaard Bridge near Voltaire, and the Nesheim Bridge at McVille.

At Valley City, North Dakota it is crossed by several more bridges, including the Hi-Line Railroad Bridge.

See also

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed June 8, 2011
  2. ↑ Upham, Warren (1920). Minnesota Geographic Names: Their Origin and Historic Significance. Minnesota Historical Society. p. 119.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sheyenne River.

Coordinates: 47°01′26″N 96°49′34″W / 47.02389°N 96.82611°W