The Arkansas River flows through Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and
Arkansas.
The
Arkansas River is a major
tributary of the
Mississippi River.
The Arkansas generally
flows to the east and southeast and traverses the U.S. states of Colorado
, Kansas
, Oklahoma
, and
Arkansas
.
At
1,469 miles (2,364 km) it is the sixth longest river in
the United
States
, the second-longest tributary in the
Mississippi-Missouri
system, and
the 45th longest river in the
world. Its origin is in the Rocky Mountains in Lake County,
Colorado
, near Leadville
, and its mouth is at Napoleon, Arkansas
. The Arkansas River drainage basin covers
nearly 195,000 sq mi (505,000 km²). In terms of volume, the
river is smaller than both the Missouri and
Ohio Rivers, with a mean discharge of
8,460 ft³/s (240 m³/s).
The Arkansas from its headwaters down to the
100th meridian west formed part of the
US-Mexico border from the
Adams-Onís Treaty (in force 1821)
until the
Texas Annexation or
Treaty of Guadelupe
Hidalgo.
Pronunciations
Though many in the state of Kansas pronounce it , people in the
state of Arkansas pronounce it according to a state law passed in
1881).
Hydrography
The headwaters of the Arkansas near
Leadville, Colorado
The Arkansas has three distinct sections in its long path through
central
North America.
At its headwaters the Arkansas runs as a steep mountain torrent
through the Rockies in its narrow valley, dropping 4,600 feet
(1.4 km) in 120 miles (193 km). This section
(including
The Numbers,
Brown's Canyon, and the
Royal Gorge) sees extensive
whitewater rafting in the spring and
summer.
At
Cañon City,
Colorado
, the Arkansas River valley widens and flattens
markedly. Just west of Pueblo, Colorado
, the river enters the Great Plains
.Through the rest of Colorado, through Kansas,
and through northern Oklahoma to Tulsa
, it is a
typical Great Plains riverway, with wide shallow banks subject to
seasonal flooding. Tributaries include the Canadian River and the Cimarron River (both flowing from
northeastern New
Mexico
) and the Salt
Fork Arkansas River.
The river is navigable by barges and large river craft to Muskogee,
Oklahoma due to a series of locks and dams referred to below
(
McClellan-Kerr
Arkansas River Navigation System). Above Muskogee, the Arkansas
River waterway itself is navigable only by small craft such as
rafts or canoes.
Through Arkansas, the river valley is home to high, isolated,
flat-topped mesas, buttes, ormonadnocks such as Mount Nebo and
Petit Jean Mountain, and the highest point in thestate: Mount
Magazine.
Water flow in the Arkansas River (as measured in central Kansas)
has dropped from approximately 248 cubic feet per second
(7 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 include Pueblo, Colorado; Wichita,
Kansas
; Tulsa,
Oklahoma; Fort
Smith
and Little Rock, Arkansas
.
The I-40
Bridge Disaster
of May 2002 took place on I-40's crossing of Kerr
Reservoir on the Arkansas River near Webbers Falls,
Oklahoma
.
Lower Arkansas River
Riverway commerce
The
McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System
begins at the Tulsa Port of Catoosa
on the Verdigris
River, and runs via an extensive Lock and Dam system to the
Mississippi River.
Through Oklahoma and Arkansas, dams artificially deepen and widen
this modest sized river to build it into a commercially navigable
body of water.
From the mouth of the Verdigris until the
McClellan-Kerr system moves over to the White River near Arkansas
Post
, the Arkansas sustains commercial barge traffic and
offers passenger and recreational use and is little more than a
series of reservoirs.
Watershed trails
Many nations of
Native Americans lived
near or along the Arkansas in its 1,450 mile (2334 km)
stretch, but the first Europeans to see the river were members of
the
Coronado
expedition on June 29, 1541. Also in the 1540s
Hernando de Soto discovered the
junction of the Arkansas with the Mississippi. The name "Arkansas"
was first applied by Father
Jacques
Marquette, who called the river
Akansa in his journal
of 1673.
From 1819
the Adams-Onís Treaty set the
Arkansas as part of the frontier between the United States and
Spanish Mexico
, which it
remained until the annexation of Texas
and Mexican-American War in
1846.
Later,
the Santa Fe Trail followed the
Arkansas through much of Kansas except for the Cimarron Cutoff from Cimarron,
Kansas
, to Cimarron, New Mexico
, via Cimarron County, Oklahoma
along the Cimarron
River.
Angling
The headwaters of the Arkansas River, in central Colorado, has been
known for exceptional trout fishing, particularly
fly fishing, since the 19th century when
Cutthroat trout dominated the river.
Today,
Brown trout dominate the river
which also contains
Rainbow trout and
Trout Unlimited considers the
Arkansas one of the top 100 trout streams in America, a reputation
the river has had as far back as the 1950s.. From Leadville to
Pueblo the Arkansas river is serviced by numerous fly shops and
guides operating in Buena Vista, Salida, Cañon City and Pueblo, and
the Colorado Division of Wildlife provides regular online fishing
reports for the river.
Gallery
Image:Wichita pan 1.jpg|Arkansas River
passing through Wichita,
KansasImage:Arkansas River, Looking Across To
North Little Rock 423757092.jpg|Arkansas River, looking across to
North Little
Rock
Image:Dry Arkansas River.jpg|Drought can
reduce the Arkansas River so much that trees along the river cannot
survive.
Image:USACE John Martin Dam Arkansas
River.jpg|John Martin Dam and Reservoir on the Arkansas River in
Bent County,
Colorado
Image:Kerr-McClellan map.png|Inland waterway
system with McClellan-Kerr Navigational Channel shown in
red.Image:Scouting -Big.jpg|
Whitewater kayaking on the Arkansas
River
Image:Tulsa, Oklahoma.jpg|The Arkansas River
in Tulsa,
Oklahoma.Image:Fly Fishermen on the Arkansas River
Near Salida Colorado.jpg|Fly Fishermen on the Arkansas River near
Salida,
Colorado
Image:Natural landing.jpg|The Arkansas River
in Natural
Steps, Arkansas
See also
References
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