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The headwaters of the Marias River drain slopes of the Continental Divide in
Glacier National Park and Lewis and Clark National Forest before flowing
eastward through the broad, rolling plains of north central Montana. The
mainstem forms at the junction of Two Medicine and Cut Bank creeks, 12 miles
north of Valier, Montana. Approximately 50 miles east and south downstream, the
Marias discharges into Tiber Reservoir, a long earth-core impoundment completed
in 1956 for flood control, irrigation, recreation, and municipal purposes. Below
the dam, the stream meanders through a floodplain from 1/2 to 1 1/4 miles wide,
flanked by steep buttes ranging to 200 feet high. The channel in many places is
shallow, with small cobble in swift-current areas. Wide meanders and a shallow
gradient characterize the river to Dugout Coulee. Twenty-four miles farther on,
at Sheep Coulee, the Marias River begins a journey through a 21-mile-long,
gorge-like river valley, 300 to 400 feet below the average elevation of the
adjacent plains. Its varied and scenic badlands and breaks areas range from 1 to
3 miles in width. The river is approximately 150 feet wide through this section.
A mile down from the mouth of the Teton River, the Marias joins the Missouri
River, near Loma, Montana, over 170 miles southeast of its sources.
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- Brown Trout
- Burbot
- Channel Catfish
- Mountain Whitefish
- Northern Pike
- Rainbow Trout
- Sauger
- Shovelnose Sturgeon
- Walleye
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