Wedding of the Waters

Where one name should end was argued long before either panel. In 1860 William Raynolds, camped where the Popo Agie joins the Wind near present Riverton, wrote that the river he had come down as the Bighorn the summer before should properly take that name below his camp, well upstream of this canyon. The federal names board made Bighorn official in 1903 and Wind River only in 1916, and the name Wedding of the Waters goes back at least to a marker placed in 1934. The Apsáalooke (Crow) name for the river is Iisaxpúatahcheeaashisee.

What the plaque says

Wedding of the Waters This river begins in the Absaroka (ab-sore-uh-ka) Mountains located 90 miles to the northwest. It runs southeast, then swings north and flows through two mountain ranges before it joins the Yellowstone River at Bighorn, Montana, 180 miles northeast of here. The waters eventually reach the Gulf of Mexico via the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Early explorers arriving at the river, in what is now the state of Montana, named it the Bighorn for the big horn sheep found along it. Other explorers who found the river south of here, named it the Wind River. In time, people realized there was actually only one river with two well established names. To avoid confusion it was decided that the river upstream from a place 1/2 mile to the south would be called the Wind River and the river downstream the Bighorn. This canyon, which cuts across and through the Owl Creek Mountains was named the Wind River Canyon. The Canyon which the river cuts through in the Pryor Mountains on the Wyoming-Montana border about 100 miles to the northeast retained the name Bighorn Canyon. The site where the river changes its name has been known as the Wedding of the Waters, one of the few places where a river changes its name in midstream. Wedding of the Waters To native Indians, mountain men, and early settlers, the Wedding of the Waters was a special place. Here, after carving its way through rocks more than three billion years old, the Wind River ends its journey and the Bighorn River begins. For many species of wildlife, the Wedding of the Waters is also a special place. The warmer waters released from the bottom of Boysen Reservoir produce luxuriant stands of aquatic vegetation and, combined with the warm thermal spring water downstream, keep the river open all winter. Because of the open water and aquatic vegetation, waterfowl concentrate here by the thousands each winter. The waterfowl and trout are prey to bald eagles which winter in the area. A variety of mammals are found near the Wedding of the Waters, from wily mule deer and whistling marmots to mink along the river's edge. Bighorn sheep historically used the rugged canyon slopes for winter range. Rainbow, cutthroat and brown trout, along with burbot and mountain whitefish, inhabit this stretch of the Bighorn River, providing a blue-ribbon fishery of national fame. The fish on the upper river grow quickly because of the abundance of aquatic insects found in the bottom vegetation. Just downstream, the nation's first handicap-accessible riverine boat ramp provides drift boat access to the Bighorn River. To man and beast alike, the Wedding of the Waters is indeed a special place. "Wyoming's Wildlife--Worth the Watching®" is funded in a large part through interest earned from the Wildlife Trust Account.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Hot Springs State Park — 4.8 mi
  Wyoming's first state park: a thousand feet of banded travertine along the Bighorn, a 1916 swinging bridge, and a small bison herd on the hill.
• Legend Rock State Petroglyph Site — 24 mi
  Ten thousand years of images pecked into a sandstone cliff, most by the ancestors of the Eastern Shoshone, now behind a gate after vandalism.

More markers nearby

• Broad Streets of Thermopolis — 4.0 mi
• World's Largest Mineral Hot Springs — 4.0 mi
• Hot Springs State Park — 4.7 mi
• Bridger Trail - Bighorn River Crossing — 13 mi