The Little Muddy River, looking north or upstream, on the east side of Williston, North Dakota, just north of town, on September 2, 2003. 

According to Lewis and Clark in North Dakota, edited and annotated by Russell Reid, Lewis and Clark called the Little Muddy River the White Earth River. Lewis’ journal entry for April 22, 1805 said, "we found that it contained more water than streams of it’s size generally do at this season. the water is much clearer than that of the Missouri. the banks of the river are steep and not more than ten or twelve feet high; the bed seems to be composed of mud altogether.  the salts which have been before mentioned as common on the Missouri, appears in great quantities along the banks of this river, which are in many places so thickly covered with it that they appear perfectly white."

Real-time streamflow and stage data for the Little Muddy River may be viewed on the National Water Information System (NWIS).  The graph below shows discharge for the time period in which the above picture was taken and median daily streamflow for the Little Muddy River.