Wedding of the Waters

WEDDING of the WATERS

The Wedding of the Waters is the only known place in the world where one river changes name midstream. The Wind River becomes the Big Horn River as it emerges from the Wind River Canyon.

This strange phenomenon occurred because early explorers thought they were mapping out two rivers, not one. The terrain through the rugged Wind River Canyon was so impassable that few realized the mistake until it was too late.

In 1811, an early trapper, Wilson Price Hunt, was part of the first expedition to cross the continent after Lewis and Clark. He wrote in his journal: “We reached the banks of the Big Horn, here called the Wind River because the wind blows so continually that the snow never remains on the ground.”

By 1860, frustration was growing over the dual names. General William Raynolds, travel companion of Jim Bridger, also wrote about the Big Horn River changing names to the Wind River.

“It should properly be called the Big Horn. By the trappers, however, it is always spoken of as the Wind River until it enters the canyon some 30 miles below here. There is no good reason for this arbitrary distinction, whereby the same stream passes into the mountains under one name and emerges with another, and it is necessary that these facts be known to avoid confusion.”

This confusion continued and through the years, others tried to correct the mistake. According to the journal kept by Major Forsyth, on July 2, 1877 General Sheridan designated an area for the name change.

“Today General Sheridan has decided to call the stream below the junction of the Popo Agie, Beaver Creek and North Fork of Wind River the Big Horn and the old North Fork only will retain the name of Wind River.”

General Sheridan’s proposal was never adopted and for over one hundred years, no one could agree where the name change actually occurred. It took the Chamber of Commerce to make the distinction. In the 1930’s, the Thermopolis Chamber placed a sign to mark the official spot where the river changes names.

This area, at the northern mouth of the Wind River Canyon, is the Wedding of the Waters. It is a popular boat dock where fisherman, kayakers and tubers launch off for a day of play on the Bighorn River - with the Wind River at their back.