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Photograph of Bighorn Ditch Headgate
Photograph by National Park Service, Public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Bighorn Ditch Headgate

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

From the record

“The Bighorn Ditch Headgate, also known as the Bighorn Canal Headgate, was built starting in 1892 to provide irrigation to the Crow Indian Reservation in south central Montana. The headgate structure diverted water from the Bighorn River to their lands.”

Wikipedia article Bighorn Ditch Headgate, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 38 National Register listings published here for Big Horn County · listed in 1976 · category: Structure.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 structure as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. W of Fort Smith at mouth of Bighorn Canyon, Fort Smith, 59035
  • When was it listed? December 1976
  • Category. structure
  • Census division. Crow Reservation
  • National Register reference number. 76000174 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

52 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 52 fires within 5 miles of Bighorn Ditch Headgate between 1993 and 2020, burning about 2,703 acres in total. 15 started naturally. 3 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Natural15
Debris and open burning9
Equipment and vehicle use8
Missing data/not specified/undetermined6
Fireworks6
Arson/incendiarism3
Recreation and ceremony2
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Other causes1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
7 September 1997Naturalunder an acreBighorn Canyon National Recreation AreaVIRGIN
30 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresCrow AgencyBOZEMAN TRAIL
30 September 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined4.7 acresCrow AgencyWAR MAN
30 September 2012Other causesunder an acreCrow AgencyFT SMITH
14 September 1996Natural80 acresCrow AgencyWARMAN
8 August 2002Naturalunder an acreCrow AgencyWARMAN
8 August 1996Power generation/transmission/distribution1.0 acresCrow AgencyPOWERLINE
6 August 2000Debris and open burningunder an acreCrow AgencyFTSMITHDUM

Every fire recorded in Big Horn County

Mines and quarries near this property

9 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Bighorn Ditch Headgate: 4 occurrences, 3 past producers, 2 unknowns. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Flagstone, Gypsum-Anhydrite, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Limestone, Dimension. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Clay and Shale OccurrencesClayOccurrence
Lime DepositCalciumPast Producer
Limestone OccurrenceLimestone, DimensionOccurrence
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionUnknown
Unnamed LocationGypsum-AnhydriteOccurrence
Unnamed LocationGypsum-AnhydriteOccurrence
Unnamed QuarryFlagstonePast Producer
Unnamed QuarryFlagstonePast Producer

Every working recorded in Big Horn County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

2 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Fort C. F. Smith Historic District1.9 miles1975
Camp Four7.3 miles1992

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 76000174 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Big Horn CountyAll 38 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.