Little Smoky River is a river in west-central Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It is a tributary of the Smoky River

Smoky River

Smoky River is a river in western Alberta, Canada. It is a major tributary of the Peace River. The descriptive name refers to the presence of "smouldering beds of coal in the riverbank" noted by the Cree Indians....

.

Course

The river originates in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies

Canadian Rockies

The Canadian Rockies comprise the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains range. They are the eastern part of the Canadian Cordillera, extending from the Interior Plains of Alberta to the Rocky Mountain Trench of British Columbia. The southern end borders Idaho and Montana of the USA...

, west of Grande Cache

Grande Cache, Alberta

Grande Cache is a town in west-central Alberta, Canada, located northwest of Hinton and west of Edmonton. It is located in the Municipal District of Greenview, between Highway 40 and the Smoky River, at the northern border of Alberta's Rockies...

 and flows in a north-east direction throghout the foothills. Upon reaching the open prairie, it meander

Meander

A meander in general is a bend in a sinuous watercourse. A meander is formed when the moving water in a stream erodes the outer banks and widens its valley. A stream of any volume may assume a meandering course, alternately eroding sediments from the outside of a bend and depositing them on the...

s northwards and merges into the Smoky River

Smoky River

Smoky River is a river in western Alberta, Canada. It is a major tributary of the Peace River. The descriptive name refers to the presence of "smouldering beds of coal in the riverbank" noted by the Cree Indians....

 south of the town of Peace River

Peace River, Alberta

Peace River is a town in northwestern Alberta, Canada, situated along the banks of the Peace River, at its confluence with the Smoky River, the Heart River and Pat's Creek. It is located northwest of Edmonton, and northeast of Grande Prairie, along Highway 2. The Peace River townsite is nearly ...

. From here, its waters are carried to the Arctic Ocean

Arctic Ocean

The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...

 through the Peace

Peace River (Canada)

The Peace River is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River flows into the Slave River, a tributary of the Mackenzie River. The Mackenzie is the 12th longest river in the world,...

, Slave

Slave River

The Slave River is a Canadian river that flows from Lake Athabasca in northeastern Alberta and empties into Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories....

 and Mackenzie River

Mackenzie River

The Mackenzie River is the largest river system in Canada. It flows through a vast, isolated region of forest and tundra entirely within the country's Northwest Territories, although its many tributaries reach into four other Canadian provinces and territories...

s.

The Little Smoky River has an average discharge of 25 m³/s, and can reach over 100 m³/s in spring.

The towns of Valleyview

Valleyview, Alberta

-History:*Late 1800s: The first visitors to the area arrived, seeking natives to exchange goods for furs. The trading was good and a Hudson’s Bay post was established on Sturgeon Lake...

 and Little Smoky are located in the Little Smoky River basin.

Tributaries

• Joachim Creek
• David Creek
• Rocky Creek
• Kiskiu Creek
• Smoky Lake
• Tony Creek
• Iosegun River
• Waskahigan River
• Asplund Creek
• Goose River
• Sweathouse Creek
• Sturgeon Creek (from Sturgeon Lake
  Sturgeon Lake
  - Canada :*Sturgeon Lake , a lake in Alberta, west of Valleyview*Ontario**Sturgeon Lake , a lake in northwestern Ontario, in northern Kenora District in the Hayes River watershed...
  
  )
• Boulder Creek
• Snipe Creek (from Snipe Lake)
• Deep Creek
• Stony Creek
  • Crazy Man Creek
• Bartsch Creek
• Nicholls Creek
• Mcleans Creek
• Gunns Creek
• Wabatanisk Creek
• Peavine Creek
• Whitemud Creek