Cottonwood River, Minnesota
| Cottonwood River | ||
 Cottonwood River in Flandrau State Park (2007) |
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| Data | ||
| Water code | US : 641538 | |
| location | Minnesota (USA) | |
| River system | Mississippi River | |
| Drain over | Minnesota River → Mississippi River → Gulf of Mexico | |
| source |
Coteau des Prairies in Rock Lake Township , Lyon County 44 ° 12 ′ 6 ″ N , 95 ° 56 ′ 6 ″ W |
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| Source height | 504 m | |
| muzzle |
Minnesota River near New Ulm , Brown County Coordinates: 44 ° 17 ′ 5 " N , 94 ° 24 ′ 55" W 44 ° 17 ′ 5 " N , 94 ° 24 ′ 55" W. |
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| Mouth height | 241 m | |
| Height difference | 263 m | |
| Bottom slope | 1.1 ‰ | |
| length | 245 km | |
| Catchment area | 3401 km² | |
| Drain |
MQ |
11 m³ / s |
| Left tributaries | Sleepy Eye Creek | |
| Right tributaries | Plum Creek , Dutch Charley Creek | |
| Small towns | New Ulm | |
| Communities | Springfield | |
 Location of the Cottonwood River in the Minnesota River Basin |
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The Cottonwood River is a 245 km long right tributary of the Minnesota River and is located in the southwest of the US state Minnesota .
About the Minnesota River it is part of the catchment area of the Mississippi River and drains an area of 3401 km² in an agricultural region. The name of the river is a translation of the name Waraju from the Sioux languages for the Canadian black poplar ("Cottonwood Tree"), which is widespread along the rivers of the prairie . A historical name for the river was also Big Cottonwood River .
The Cottonwood River flows in a generally easterly direction in its course. It rises southwest of Lake Balaton in Rock Lake Township in the south of Lyon County , as an irregular water-bearing river on the Coteau des Prairies , a moraine - Plateau , the river basin of the Mississippi River and the Missouri River from each other. The river leaves the plateau through a wooded valley in the southeast of Lyon County, where it drops 60 m in height within five kilometers. Then it reaches a ground moraine level and flows through the southern part of Redwood County , the northeast corner of Cottonwood County and the north of Brown County , past the places Sanborn and Springfield . In a wooded valley, the river flows through Flandrau State Park and flows into the Minnesota River southeast of New Ulm . The river was originally converted into a lake within the park by dams, which, however , were washed away after floods in 1965 and 1969 and were no longer built.
Due to the northeast flank of the Coteau des Prairies and the presence of a terminal moraine on the north side of the river, the Cottonwood River has few tributaries from the north. The largest of these is 82 km long Sleepy Eye Creek , which flows east through Counties Redwood and Brown. Southern tributaries are the 56 km long Plum Creek , which passes through Murray County and Redwood Counties with a north-easterly course , and the 74 km long Dutch Charley Creek , which flows through the counties Murray, Cottonwood and Redwood in a northeast direction.
About 84% of the land in the Cottonwood River basin is used for agriculture, mainly for monocultures of corn and soybeans . The wetlands in the area have been extensively drained, leaving less than 16 km² of it.
Flow rate
At the gauge of the United States Geological Survey near New Ulm, 5.2 km above the river mouth, the annual average runoff between 1909 and 2005 was 11 m³ / s. The highest measured value was recorded on April 10, 1969 with 813 m³ / s and the lowest amount of water carried the river on November 27, 1952 with less than 0.05 m³ / s.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Cottonwood River in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey
- ↑ a b Cottonwood River Major Watershed. . Minnesota River Basin Data Center. Minnesota State University, Mankato . S. Streams within the Cottonwood River Major Watershed . June 6, 2000. Retrieved June 3, 2007.
- ^ Cottonwood River Major Watershed. . Minnesota River Basin Data Center. Minnesota State University, Mankato . See General Description . June 6, 2000. Retrieved June 3, 2007.
- ^ A b G. B. Mitton, KG Guttormson, GW Stratton, ES Wakeman: Water Resources Data in Minnesota, Water Year 2005 Annual Report. . United States Geological Survey . S. Cottonwood River near New Ulm, MN (PDF; 149 kB). Retrieved June 3, 2007.
- ^ A b c Thomas F. Waters: The Southwest: Rivers of the Coteau des Prairies . In: The Streams and Rivers of Minnesota . University of Minnesota Press , Minneapolis 2006, ISBN 0-8166-0960-8 , pp. 288-303.
- ↑ a b c Watersheds of the Minnesota River Basin. . Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. S. Minnesota River - Cottonwood River Watershed . December 1, 2005. Archived from the original on February 5, 2007. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 3, 2007.
- ^ A b Minnesota Atlas & Gazetteer . DeLorme , Yarmouth, Me. 1994, ISBN 0-89933-222-6 , pp. 20, 29-31.
