Arkansas River
Arkansas River | |
---|---|
Tennessee Creek | |
• location | Near Leadville, Rocky Mountains, Colorado |
• coordinates | 39°15′30″N 106°20′38″W / 39.25833°N 106.34389°W[1] |
• elevation | 9,728 ft (2,965 m) |
Mouth | Mississippi River |
• location | Franklin Township, Desha County, near Napoleon, Arkansas |
• coordinates | 33°46′30″N 91°6′30″W / 33.77500°N 91.10833°W[2][1] |
• elevation | 108 ft (33 m)[3][1] |
Length | 1,469 mi (2,364 km), West-east[4] |
Basin size | 168,000 sq mi (440,000 km2)[5] |
Discharge | |
• location | Little Rock, AR[6] |
• average | 39,850 cu ft/s (1,128 m3/s)[6] |
• minimum | 1,141 cu ft/s (32.3 m3/s) |
• maximum | 536,000 cu ft/s (15,200 m3/s) |
Basin features | |
Walnut River, Verdigris River, Neosho River | |
• right | Cimarron River, Salt Fork Arkansas River, La Flecha, Canadian River, Poteau River |
The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in Colorado, specifically the Arkansas River Valley. The headwaters derive from the snowpack in the Sawatch and Mosquito mountain ranges. It flows east into Kansas and finally through Oklahoma and Arkansas, where it meets the Mississippi River.
At 1,469 miles (2,364 km), it is the sixth-longest river in the
The Arkansas from its headwaters to the
Pronunciations
Name pronunciation varies by state. Generally, the river is pronounced /ɑːrˈkænzəs/ ar-KAN-zuhs in Kansas, but /ˈɑːrkənsɔː/ AR-kən-saw in Colorado, Oklahoma and Arkansas.[9][10]
Physical geography
Course changes
The path of the Arkansas River has changed over time. Sediments from the river found in a palaeochannel next to Nolan, a site in the Tensas Basin, show that part of the river's meander belt flowed through up to 3200 BCE. While it was previously thought that this relict channel was active at the same time as another relict of the Mississippi River's meander belt, it has been shown that this channel of the Arkansas was inactive approximately 400 years before the Mississippi channel was active.[11]
Hydrography
The Arkansas has three distinct sections in its long path through central North America. At its headwaters beginning near
At
In eastern Oklahoma, the river begins to widen further into a more contained consistent channel. To maintain more reliable flow rates, a series of dams and large reservoir lakes have been built on the Arkansas and its intersecting tributaries, including the
Into western
Water flow in the Arkansas River (as measured in central Kansas) has dropped from approximately 248 cubic feet per second (7.0 m3/s) average from 1944–1963 to 53 cubic feet per second (1.5 m3/s) average from 1984–2003, largely because of the pumping of groundwater for irrigation in eastern Colorado and western Kansas.
Important cities along the Arkansas River include
The May 2002 I-40 bridge disaster took place on I-40's crossing of Kerr Reservoir on the Arkansas River near Webbers Falls, Oklahoma.
Table of primary tributaries
Allocation problems
Since 1902, Kansas has claimed that Colorado takes too much of the river's water; it has filed numerous lawsuits over this issue in the
The Kansas–Oklahoma Arkansas River Basin Compact was created in 1965 to promote mutual consideration and equity over water use in the basin shared by those states. The Kansas–Oklahoma Arkansas River Commission was established, charged with administering the compact and reducing pollution. The compact was approved and implemented by both states in 1970 and has been in force since then.[13]
Riverway commerce
The
The McClellan–Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System diverts from the Arkansas River 2.5 mi (4.0 km) upstream of the Wilbur D. Mills Dam to avoid the long winding route which the lower Arkansas River follows. This circuitous portion of the Arkansas River between the Wilbur D. Mills Dam and the Mississippi River was historically bypassed by river vessels. Early steamboats instead followed a network of rivers—known as the Arkansas Post Canal—which flowed north of the lower Arkansas River and followed a shorter and more direct route to the Mississippi River. When the McClellan–Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System was constructed between 1963 and 1970, the Arkansas Post Canal was significantly improved, while the lower Arkansas River continued to be bypassed by commercial vessels.[16]
In history
Many nations of
Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe, a French trader, explorer, and nobleman had led an expedition into what is now Oklahoma in 1718–19. His original objective was to establish a trading post near the present city of Texarkana, Arkansas, but he extended his trip overland as far north as the Arkansas River (which he designated as the Alcansas). The explorer wrote that he and nine other men, including three Caddo guides and 22 horses loaded with trade goods, had come to a native settlement overlooking the river, where there were about 6,000 natives, who gave the strangers a warm welcome. La Harpe's party was honored with the calumet ceremony and spent ten days at this location.[17]
In 1988, evidence of a native village was discovered along the Arkansas River 13 miles (21 km) south of present-day Tulsa, Oklahoma. By then, the site was known as the Lasley Vore Site.[17][a]
French traders and trappers who had opened up trade with Indian tribes in Canada and the areas around the Great Lakes began exploring the Mississippi and some of its northern tributaries. They soon learned that the birchbark canoes, which had served them so well on the northern waterways, were too light for use on southern rivers such as the Arkansas. They turned to making and using dugout canoes, which they called pirogues, made by hollowing out the trunks of cottonwood trees.[b] Cottonwoods are plentiful along the streams of the southwest and grow to large sizes. The wood is soft and easily worked with the crude tools carried by both the French and Indians. The pirogues were sturdier and could be more useful for navigating the sandbars and snags of the Southern waterways.[18]
In 1819, the
This area had long been the traditional territory of the
By the time
On March 31, 1820, the Comet became the first steamboat to successfully navigate part of the Arkansas River, reaching a place called Arkansas Post,[c] about 60 miles (97 km) above the confluence of the Arkansas and the Mississippi rivers.[21] In mid-April 1822, the Robert Thompson, towing a keelboat, was the first steamboat to navigate the Arkansas as far as Fort Smith. For five years, Fort Smith was known as the head of navigation for steamboats on the river. It lost the title to Fort Gibson in April 1832, when three steamboats, Velocipede, Scioto, and Catawba, all arrived at Fort Gibson later that month.[18][d]
Later, the
American Civil War
During the American Civil War, each side tried to prevent the other from using the Arkansas River and its tributaries as a route for moving reinforcements. Initially, the Union Army abandoned its forts in the Indian Territory, including Fort Gibson and Fort Smith, to maximize its strength for campaigns elsewhere. The Confederate Army sent troops from Texas to support its Native American allies. Union troops returned to the area later in the war, after defeating the Confederates at the Battle of Pea Ridge and the Battle of Fort Smith. They began recovering the position it had previously abandoned, most notably Fort Gibson and reopened the Arkansas River as a supply route. In September 1864, a body of Confederate irregulars led by General Stand Watie (Cherokee) successfully ambushed a Union supply ship bound for Fort Gibson. The vessel was destroyed, and a part of its cargo was looted by the Confederates.
Post Civil War
By 1890, water from the Arkansas River was being used to irrigate more than 20,000 acres (8,100 ha) of farmland in Kansas. By 1910, irrigation projects in Colorado had caused the river to stop flowing in July and August.[23]
Flooding in 1927 severely damaged or destroyed nearly every levee downstream of Fort Smith, and led to the development of the Arkansas River Flood Control Association.
Angling
The headwaters of the Arkansas River in central Colorado have been known for exceptional trout fishing, particularly fly fishing, since the 19th century, when greenback cutthroat trout dominated the river.[24] Today, brown trout dominate the river, which also contains rainbow trout. Trout Unlimited considers the Arkansas one of the top 100 trout streams in America,[25] a reputation the river has had since the 1950s.[26] From Leadville to Pueblo, the Arkansas River is serviced by numerous fly shops and guides operating in Buena Vista, Salida, Cañon City, and Pueblo. Colorado Parks and Wildlife provides regular online fishing reports for the river.[27][28]
A fish kill occurred on December 29, 2010, in which an estimated 100,000 freshwater drum lined the Arkansas River bank.[29][30] An investigation, conducted by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, found the dead fish "... cover 17 miles [27 km] of the river from the Ozark Lock and Dam downstream to River Mile 240, directly south of Hartman, Arkansas."[30] Tests later indicated the likely cause of the kill was gas bubble trauma caused by opening the spillways on the Ozark Dam.[31]
Image gallery
-
Arkansas River in downtown Pueblo, Colorado
-
Downtown Wichita, Kansas, skyline at night from The Keeper of the Plains at the Arkansas River
-
Arkansas River, looking across to North Little Rock
-
John Martin Dam and Reservoir on the Arkansas River in Bent County, Colorado
-
The Arkansas River in Tulsa, Oklahoma
-
Arkansas River in Salida, Colorado
-
The Arkansas River in Natural Steps, Arkansas
-
Arkansas River between Van Buren and Fort Smith, Arkansas
Notes
- ^ A team led by Dr. George H. Odell, an anthropology professor from the University of Tulsa, uncovered artifacts that showed the natives were members of the Wichita people, and that the European artifacts also found there were of the same time period. Dr. Odell concluded this was most likely the place where la Harpe met the natives he described.[17]
- ^ Pirogues are still used in the swamps and marshes of South Louisiana by descendants of the "Cajuns," who were exiled from eastern Canada by the British.[18]
- ^ Arkansas Post is said to have been the first European settlement in the Mississippi Valley,[18]
- ^ Fort Gibson had been built in 1824 on the bank of the Verdigris River in what had been called the "Three Forks" area of Indian Territory.
See also
- Ackerman Island
- Kansas v. Colorado
- List of crossings of the Arkansas River
- List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem)
- Listing of rivers for each state: Arkansas
- McClellan–Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System
References
- ^ a b c "Arkansas River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. April 30, 1980. Retrieved September 20, 2010.
- ^ The mouth has changed since plotting by USGS to Mississippi River Mile 580 from Mile 582 in the 1980 survey.
- ^ The mouth has changed since plotting by USGS.
- ^ a b See watershed maps: 1 Archived October 27, 2004, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b "USGS Gage #07263500 Arkansas River at Little Rock, AR". National Water Information System. U.S. Geological Survey. 1927–1970. Retrieved October 19, 2018.
- ^ J.C. Kammerer (May 1990). "Largest Rivers in the United States". United States Geological Survey. Archived from the original on March 21, 2007. Retrieved April 5, 2007.
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(help) - ^ "Chaffee County Colorado Gold Production". Westernmininghistory.com. February 13, 2007. Retrieved November 15, 2012.
- ^ Random House Dictionary
- ^ Yarborough, India. "Can you pronounce these 10 city names correctly? If so, there's a good chance you're from Kansas". The Topeka Capital-Journal. Retrieved August 13, 2023.
- S2CID 55514410
- ^ Kellogg, Karl S.; et al. (2017). Geologic Map of the Upper Arkansas River Valley Region, North-Central Colorado. Reston, VA: U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved January 31, 2018.
- ^ a b c O'Dell, Larry. Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. "Arkansas River. Archived May 30, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c Kansas v. Colorado 514 U.S. 673 (1995), 185 U.S. 125 (1902)
- ^ "McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System 2016 Inland Waterway Fact Sheet". Oklahoma Department of Transportation. 2016. Accessed June 16, 2017.
- ^ "Arkansas - Verdigris River Navigation" (PDF). American Canal Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 13, 2015. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
- ^ a b c Odell, George H. "Lasley Vore Site." Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Accessed January 26, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e Wright, Muriel H. "Early Navigation and Commerce along the Arkansas and Red Rivers in Oklahoma." Chronicles of Oklahoma. Volume 8, Number 1, March, 1930. p. 65. Accessed September 29, 2017.
- ^ "Treaty with the Western Cherokee, 1828". Oklahoma State University Library. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
- ^ "A New Treaty" (PDF). Cherokee Phoenix. 1 (20). University of North Dakota. July 9, 1828. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 14, 2016. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
- ^ National Park Service
- ^ a b "History of the Arkansas River (1540 to 2000)". South Central Service Cooperative. 2017.[permanent dead link] Accessed June 4, 2017.
- ^ Harris, William C. (September 1892). "The Trouts of Colorado and Utah". The American Angler. 21 (12): 515–528.
- ISBN 1-59228-585-6.
- ^ Campbell, Duncan (1960). 88 Top Trout Streams of the West. Newport Beach, CA: Western Outdoors. pp. 64–65.
- ISBN 978-1-885106-56-8.
- ^ Colorado Division of Wildlife Fishing Reports Archived March 7, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Experts Close In On What Killed Fish - NW Arkansas News Story - KHBS NW Arkansas". KHBS. January 3, 2011. Archived from the original on January 11, 2011. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
- ^ a b "Arkansas River Fish Kill Investigation Continues". Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. January 3, 2011. Archived from the original on August 8, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
- ^ "Gas Bubble Trauma likely cause of fish kills". Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Archived from the original on August 8, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
External links
- Colorado-Kansas Arkansas River Compact
- Friends of the Arkansas River
- Aquifer saturation map for Equus Beds Aquifer Recharge Project
- Arkansas River Coalition
- Full Scale Map
- Santa Fe Trail Research
- Wichita Water Center Tours
- Animated Map of navigation system
- Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Arkansas River
- Oklahoma Digital Maps: Digital Collections of Oklahoma and Indian Territory
- Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. .
- New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
.
- Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (9th ed.). 1878. Arkansas River is discussed at the end of this article. .
- The American Cyclopædia. 1879.
.
- "Historic Floods Along Arkansas River," (which mostly describes effects, on normal flows, of climate, geology, and human diversions of the river and its waters), Kansas Water Science Center, USGS.