Cuivre River
Cuivre River Buffalo River, Copper River, Cuvier River, Quiver River, Quivre River | |
---|---|
Etymology | Georges Cuvier |
Native name | Rivière aux Boeufs (French) |
Location | |
Country | United States |
State | Missouri |
Region | Lincoln & St. Charles Counties |
Cities & village | Troy, Moscow Mills, Chain of Rocks, Old Monroe |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Confluence of North Fork and West Fork |
• coordinates | 39°01′02″N 90°59′34″W / 39.01722°N 90.99278°W |
• elevation | 470 feet (140 m) |
Mouth | Mississippi River |
• coordinates | 38°56′00″N 90°41′13″W / 38.93333°N 90.68694°W |
• elevation | 423 feet (129 m) |
Length | 41.6 miles (66.9 km) |
Basin features | |
Landmarks | Cuivre River State Park |
Tributaries | |
• left | Lead Creek |
• right | Big Creek |
The Cuivre River is a 41.6-mile-long (66.9 km)
Path
The stream headwaters are the North and West forks which merge just west of
Name
The Cuivre River received its name from French-speaking settlers in French Louisiana. The name means "copper", though none is present along the river, and it is thought to have been named after Baron Georges Leopold Cuvier,[7] a French naturalist and paleontologist, who was first to do comparative anatomy and the classification of animals and fossils. When France acquired the territory west of the Mississippi River, Cuvier sent two of his students to America to get specimens of flora and fauna and to assess the climate and topography of the new acquisition. When the young men reached the river in what is now the Lincoln County area, it was known to the local French as Rivière aux Boeufs because of the numerous bison roaming its banks.[8] The two scientists decided a more impressive name for the stream would be "Cuvier", and labeled it such on their maps. When the English-speaking settlers arrived, the spelling was changed to "Cuivre" and the pronunciation anglicized to "Quiver".[9]
Variant names for the stream include Buffaloe River, Copper River, Cuvier River, La Quevr, Queevere River, Quiver River, Quivre River, Riviere au Boeuf, Riviere au Cuivre, Riviere aux Boeuf, and Riviere aux Cuivre.[2]
History
The Battle of the Sink Hole was fought near the mouth of the Cuivre at the end of the War of 1812.
References
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed May 13, 2011
- ^ a b c U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Cuivre River
- ^ Okete, Missouri, 7.5 Minute Topographic Quadrangle, USGS, 1975 (1984 rev.)
- ISBN 0-89933-224-2
- ^ Winfield, Missouri, 7.5 Minute Topographic Quadrangle, USGS, 1954 (1983 rev.)
- ^ "USGS Surface-Water Annual Statistics for Missouri: Cuivre River near Troy, MO". United States Geological Survey. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
- ISBN 9780826210210.
- ^ "State Historical Society of Missouri: St. Charles County". Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
- ^ State Historical Society of Missouri: Lincoln County