Everything about Arkansas River totally explained
The
Arkansas River is a major
tributary of the
Mississippi River. The Arkansas generally flows to the east and southeast, and traverses the states of
Colorado,
Kansas,
Oklahoma, and
Arkansas.
At 1,469 miles (2,364 km) it's 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
Colorado Rockies in
Lake County near
Leadville, and its outlet is at the historic site of
Napoleon, Arkansas. The Arkansas River drainage basin covers nearly 195,000 sq mi (505,000 km²). (See
watershed maps:
1
) In terms of volume, the river is smaller than both the
Missouri and
Ohio, with a mean discharge of 8,460 ft³/s (240 m³/s).
General description
The Arkansas has three distinct characters 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 4600 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.
Below the
Royal Gorge, 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's a typical
Great Plains riverway, with wide shallow banks, subject to seasonal flooding. Tributaries include the
Cimarron River (flowing from northeastern
New Mexico) and the
Salt Fork Arkansas River.
Below Tulsa, and continuing to its mouth, the river is navigable by barges and large river craft thanks to a series of dams that turn it into reservoirs. (Above Tulsa, it's navigable only by small craft such as rafts, canoes, and kayaks.)
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 due to 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.
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.
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 1450 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 Arkansas
The Arkansas River, in central Colorado, provides some of the best
brown trout fishing in the west. The Arkansas starts just north of Leadville, Colorado. The first 150 miles of the river, from Leadville to Pueblo, is prime trout water. Conditions vary widely along this section so the river is broken up into 4 sections; Leadville to Buena Vista, Buena Vista to Salida, Salida to Canon City, Canon City to Pueblo. The Arkansas drops over 5000 feet in elevation over this 150 mile stretch from Leadville to Pueblo. Seasons are quite different on each of these sections. The Arkansas through Canon City may be experiencing Spring conditions, while the Leadville area is still full blown winter. Due to this sudden change in climate and elevation, fishing conditions vary depending on which section of the river you plan to fish, and at what time of year you plan to be there. The Arkansas boasts high catches of browns and
rainbows to 20 inches. Browns dominate the fishery.
Pronunciations
Though many in the state of
Kansas pronounce it as (as the city of
Arkansas City, Kansas is pronounced), people in the state of
Arkansas pronounce it /ˈɑrkənsɔː/ (as the state of
Arkansas is pronounced according to a state law passed in 1881). People in the
Southern United States pronounce it /ˈærkənsɔː/.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Arkansas River'.
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