Canadian River
| Canadian River | ||
 Catchment area / course |
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| Data | ||
| Water code | US : 1101881 | |
| location | Colorado , New Mexico , Texas , Oklahoma (USA) | |
| River system | Mississippi River | |
| Drain over | Arkansas River → Mississippi River → Gulf of Mexico | |
| source | in the Sangre de Cristo Range 37 ° 1 ′ 0 ″ N , 105 ° 3 ′ 0 ″ W. |
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| Source height | 2926 m | |
| muzzle | in the Robert S Kerr Reservoir in the Arkansas River Coordinates: 35 ° 27 '12 " N , 95 ° 1' 58" W 35 ° 27 '12 " N , 95 ° 1' 58" W
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| length | 1458 km | |
| Left tributaries | North Canadian River | |
| Reservoirs flowed through | Conchas Lake , Lake Logan , Ute Lake , Lake Meredith , Eufaula Lake | |
 Canadian River at Calvin, OK |
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The Canadian River is a river in the United States that flows through the states of Colorado , New Mexico , Texas, and Oklahoma . It is to be distinguished from its tributary North Canadian River , which flows into it at Eufaula Lake .
At 1,458 km, the Canadian River is the longest tributary of Arkansas . It rises at ( 37 ° 1 ′ 0 ″ N , 105 ° 3 ′ 0 ″ W ) at 2926 m above sea level in the Sangre de Cristo Range in Las Animas County , Colorado . 2.5 km further south it reaches New Mexico in Colfax County . It flows through several canyons southeast until it is dammed for the first time at Conchas Lake , from there it flows east. The Canadian is then dammed in the reservoirs of Lake Logan and Ute Lake .
It then flows on through the Texas Panhandle , where it forms the northern boundary of the Llano Estacado . Then it is dammed in Lake Meredith , which is administered as Lake Meredith National Recreation Area by the National Park Service . The Alibates Flint Quarries National Monument connects to it.
The river continues to flow through the plains of Oklahoma, where it forms numerous bays and meanders with islands of quicksand. In Eufaula Lake it is dammed again before it flows into the Arkansas River in Haskell County at ( 35 ° 27 ′ 12 ″ N , 95 ° 1 ′ 58 ″ W ) .
The first European in what is now Texas was the Spanish conqueror Francisco Vásquez de Coronado in 1541. In 1601, the Spanish governor of New Mexico, Don Juan de Oñate , undertook an expedition to the plains of Oklahoma, naming the river Rio Magdalena .
He received the name Canadian from French explorers who were looking for a route from Mississippi to Santa Fe . They assumed the river would flow north to Canada.
According to the tradition of the Jicarilla , along with the Arkansas River , the Rio Grande and the Rio Pecos, it is one of the four sacred rivers that bordered their land.
See also: List of the longest rivers on earth
Web links
- Handbook of Texas Online - Canadian River (in English)
