River
Oldman River
445 km from source to mouth · Canada.
CanadaFlows into South Saskatchewan River
In numbers
Length
445km
Average flow
95m³/s
Basin
26,700km²
Drop
1,062m
from 1,762 m to 700 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
445 km of river and 12 stops on the way: 3 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmRocky Mountainsat 1,762 m
- 94 kmCrowsnest Rivertributary
- 108 kmOldman River Reservoir22 km²
- 137 kmBeaver Creektributary
- 169 kmFort Macleod3,060 people
- 182 kmWillow Creektributary
- 203 kmMonarch Trestle
- 227 kmBelly Rivertributary
- 260 kmSt. Mary Rivertributary
- 265 kmLethbridge103,197 people
- 266 kmLethbridge Viaduct
- 325 kmLittle Bow Rivertributary
- 358 kmTaber8,163 people
- 445 kmSouth Saskatchewan Riverat 700 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
Watercourse in Alberta, Canada
At the mouth it carries 95 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 26 seconds. It drops from 1,762 m to 700 m, 2.4 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 26,700 km², about the size of RW. 1.5 million people live in it. Highest water: from April to June; lowest: from December to March. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (49% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- LethbridgeLargest city on its banks · 103,197 people
- Lethbridge County Airport (YQL)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 8 km from the cityCar hire in LethbridgeDiscover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water4 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe6 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to AugustThe best months to visit
Oldman River, month by month
Highest water: from April to June
Lowest water: from December to March. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from December to February. Best months to visit: from June to August.
From about 150 m³/s in the lowest month to 370 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Oldman River: the basin in numbers
52,421 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 1.5millionpeople live in the basin
- 29/km²people per km²
- 1,277maverage altitude of the basin
- 479mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 2.8°Caverage air temperature
- 17%protected areas
- 1.2%covered by lakes
- 3%permafrost
- 3.2km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 39% Forest
- 33% Cropland
- 26% Pasture
- 1% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Oldman River: what you find on the way
- 31Weirs
- 1WaterfallsOldman River Falls
- 6Rapids
- 4Boat rampsPopson Park Boat Launch and 3 more
- 1River beachesCottonwood beach
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.2 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Oldman River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
1lake on its wayLakeyas
10mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Oldman River Reservoirkm 9922km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (10)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Mount Lyall2.9 km away · prominence 529 m2,951m
- Beehive Mountain6.8 km away · prominence 245 m2,895m
- Mount Gass1.5 km away · prominence 447 m2,865m
- Mount Holcroft13 km away · prominence 254 m2,734m
- Cross diatreme7.9 km away2,200m
- Mount Farquhar11 km away
- Pasque Mountain12 km away
- Mount O'Rourke8.0 km away
2 more on PeakyasOpen Peakyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
South Saskatchewan RiverCanada1,000 km250 m³/sTributaries (6)
Also: Belly River, Little Bow River, Crowsnest River, St. Mary River, Beaver Creek, Willow Creek
In the same basin
Canada644 km2,800 m³/sSaskatchewan RiverCanada547 km700 m³/sNorth Saskatchewan RiverCanada1,380 km240 m³/sRed River of the NorthCanada890 km260 m³/sAssiniboine RiverCanada1,275 km45 m³/sBow RiverCanada587 km130 m³/sRed Deer RiverCanada801 km70 m³/sWinnipeg RiverCanada298 km950 m³/sQu'Appelle RiverCanada743 km14 m³/sSouris RiverCanada1,240 km60 m³/sNearby
Rivers nearby
Canada587 km130 m³/s0 km awayRed Deer RiverCanada801 km70 m³/s169 km awayClark Fork
United States499 km620 m³/s389 km awayKootenay RiverCanada780 km780 m³/s435 km awayMilk RiverUnited States1,173 km17 m³/s444 km awayJefferson RiverUnited States134 km54 m³/s445 km awayPend Oreille RiverCanada209 km740 m³/s441 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1514985) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
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