Spring River (Missouri)

Coordinates: 36°47′31″N 94°45′10″W / 36.79194°N 94.75278°W / 36.79194; -94.75278
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the Spring River in south-central Missouri and north-central Arkansas, see Spring River (Arkansas).
Spring River from Riverside Park in Baxter Springs, Kansas
La Russell, Jasper County
, Missouri.

The Spring River is a 129-mile-long (208 km)[1] waterway located in southwestern Missouri, southeastern Kansas, and northeastern Oklahoma.

The headwaters of Spring River arise in northern

Grand Lake of the Cherokees west of Wyandotte.[4]

History

The Spring River takes its name from the many seeps and springs that provide its baseflow. Big Spring in Lawrence County is the largest spring in the Spring River basin, discharging 12.3 million gallons of water per day. The spring flows from the base of a high bluff of Burlington Keokuk limestone known as Baptist Hill, and enters the Spring River about 200 feet away.[5] The river forms the western boundary of the Ozarks in southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas. All of the Ozark area in southeast Kansas is contained within the Spring River basin.

The river was important to Native American tribes and later European-American settlers in

millrace, which fed into an industrial basin on north Main street. The concentration of industry there continues to affect the water quality in the river.[6][7]

Spring River was one of the "Seven Bulls," a term used by Native American tribes to describe the rivers of southwest Missouri.[citation needed]

At Quapaw, the river has a mean annual discharge of 2,209 cubic feet per second (62.6 cubic metres per second).[8]

Ecology

The Neosho madtom, Noturus placidus, is one of several threatened species found in the Spring River basin, Spring River Missouri

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks currently has a health advisory against the consumption of fish, shellfish and aquatic wildlife of Spring River from the confluence of

mine tailings and active mining sites, dairy operations, poultry husbandry, sedimentation from erosion in disturbed watersheds, sludge application from sewage treatment facilities, seepage from septic tanks, and runoff from urban areas. A health advisory, recommending against the consumption of fish from the Spring River from Verona, Missouri to Hoberg, Missouri because of dioxin contamination from runoff at a manufacturing plant, was issued during the late 1980s, but was lifted in 1993.[10]

Eighty-six fish species and thirty-five mussel species have been collected in the Spring River basin. Common sportfish include smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, spotted bass, white crappie, rock bass and channel catfish. There are several state or federally listed threatened and endangered species, including the

Neosho mucket, bluntface shiner, and western slim minnow.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed May 31, 2011
  2. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Spring River (Missouri)
  3. ISBN 0899332242
  4. ISBN 0-89933-283-8
  5. ^ Jerry D. Vineyard and Gerald L. Feder. Springs of Missouri. Missouri Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Geological Survey. 1974 (revised 1982).
  6. ^ Redden, Susan. Plan to focus on health of Spring River watershed. The Joplin Globe. April 21, 2009.
  7. ^ Spellman, Derek. "Tribe urges swimmers to stay clear of Lost Creek, Spring River for now" Archived 2013-01-11 at archive.today, The Joplin Globe, July 16, 2009.
  8. ^ "USGS Surface Water data for Oklahoma: USGS Surface-Water Annual Statistics".
  9. ^ http://www.kdheks.gov/news/web_archives/2013/01082013a.htm | Kansas Department of Health and Environment
  10. ^ http://mdc.mo.gov/landwater-care/stream-and-watershed-management/missouri-watersheds/spring-river-southwest-missouri | Missouri Department of Conservation
  11. ^ http://mdc.mo.gov/landwater-care/stream-and-watershed-management/missouri-watersheds/spring-river-southwest-missouri | Missouri Department of Conservation

External links

36°47′31″N 94°45′10″W / 36.79194°N 94.75278°W / 36.79194; -94.75278

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