The Milk River is an important tributary of the Missouri River. From its headwaters in Glacier National Park, the Milk flows north-east across Montana into Alberta, Canada and back into Montana where it flows east until it joins the Missouri. Some of the towns the Milk flows through are: Milk River, Alberta, Havre, Montana, Malta, Montana, Glasgow, Montana, and Nashua, Montana.
The small area drained by the Milk River in southern Alberta is the only area in Canada that does not drain into either the Pacific, the North Atlantic, or the Arctic oceans.
The Milk river was given this name by Captain Meriwether Lewis, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition who wrote in his journal:
- "the water of this river possesses a peculiar whiteness, being about the colour of a cup of tea with the admixture of a tablespoonfull of milk. from the colour of its water we called it Milk river."
