Platte River, Missouri

Platte River Little Platte River
Map of the rivers in Northern Missouri
Data
location	Iowa , Missouri (USA)
River system	Mississippi River
Drain over	Missouri River  → Mississippi River  → Gulf of Mexico
source	at Creston , Union County, Iowa, 41 ° 8 ′ 57 ″  N , 94 ° 23 ′ 0 ″  W
muzzle	south of Farley on the Missouri River Coordinates: 39 ° 15 ′ 51 "  N , 94 ° 50 ′ 15"  W 39 ° 15 ′ 51 "  N , 94 ° 50 ′ 15"  W
Mouth height	228  m
length	275 km
Drain	MQ	54.5 m³ / s
Right tributaries	One Hundred and Two River
Small towns	Platte City
The Platte River at Platte City , Missouri.
The Platte River at its confluence with the Missouri River at Farley
Detail from the map of Lewis and Clark from 1814, on which the river as "Little River Plate" is designated

The Platte River is a 275 km left tributary of the Missouri River in southwest Iowa and northwest Missouri in the United States .

It is often referred to as the Little Platte River to distinguish it from the larger Platte River , which is also a tributary of the Missouri River and is located in nearby Nebraska . However, the larger Platte River itself has a tributary known as the Little Platte River .

Run

The Platte River has its source near Creston in Union County and flows south through Adams , Ringgold Counties , and Taylor Counties , Iowa, and Worth , Nodaway , Andrew , Buchanan, and Platte Counties of Missouri. Along its course, it passes the cities of Maloy , Blockton and Athelstan in Iowa, as well as Sheridan , Parnell , Ravenwood , Conception Junction , Guilford , Tracy , Platte City and Farley in Missouri. The Platte River joins the Missouri River near Farley, downstream from Leavenworth .

Several sections of the river have been straightened and channeled .

Tributaries

Near its headwaters in Iowa, the Platte receives various smaller arms known as the West Platte River , Middle Platte River , and East Platte River .

In Buchanan County, Missouri, the One Hundred and Two River and the Third Fork flow , which rises in Gentry County and flows south through DeKalb County past Union Star . The Little Third Fork flows into the Third Fork and flows south through the DeKalb and Buchanan Counties and past Clarksdale .

In Platte County the Little Platte River flows , which rises in DeKalb County and leads in a south-southwest direction through the Clinton and Clay past Plattsburg and Smithville . In the vicinity of Smithville there is a dam which the United States Army Corps of Engineers built and which dams the Little Platte River to Smithville Lake .

history

When Missouri joined the Union in 1821, Missouri's western border between Arkansas and Iowa was determined by the confluence of the Kansas River and Missouri River in the West Bottoms in Kansas City. The land that is now northwest Missouri was settled by the Indians of the Iowa , Sauk and Fox tribes .

Settlers, the most famous of them was Joseph Robidoux in St. Joseph , began to spread across the country and later settlers in northern Missouri were upset about being cut off from the rest of the state.

In 1836, William Clark led the Indian tribes to sell their land in northwest Missouri. This deal, known as the Platte Purchase , was named after the river. The treaty was ratified in 1837 and the Indian tribes were paid $ 7,500 for an area roughly the size of Delaware and Rhode Island . The area was then annexed to Missouri.

Then in 1838 the settlers used the river and also the Nodaway River to reach the newly available land. Today the Platte River is not used for transport purposes, but the steam boats used to call at Tracy .

On September 3, 1861, guerrillas burned down a bridge over the river in St. Joseph and derailed a train on the Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad . Between 17 and 20 people were killed and 200 injured in the Platte Bridge railway tragedy. It was one of the worst attacks on a passenger train during the American Civil War . Union forces burned Platte City in 1861 and 1864 while trying to get residents to surrender Silas M. Gordon , who was suspected of instigating the attack on the train.

The river is the most powerful in the area of ​​the then purchase and flows through the Kansas City Metropolitan Area . The river is an eighth order river .

At the water level at mile 25.1, the average flow rate is 54.5 m³ / s. The highest flow was measured on July 26, 1993 during the Great Flood of 1993 with 1070 m³ / s. The lowest value was 0.33 m³ / s during a dry period in August 1989.

Web links

• Missouri Department of Conservation profile of the river (English)
• Website Smithville Lake (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Platte River in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey
2. ↑ Columbia Gazetteer of North America entry for "Little Platte River" ( Memento of the original from March 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) 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. 
3. ↑ Little Platte River in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey
4. ↑ ^{a b c} DeLorme (1998). Iowa Atlas & Gazetteer . Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. ISBN 978-0-89933-214-7 .
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} DeLorme (2002). Missouri Atlas & Gazetteer . Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. ISBN 978-0-89933-353-3 .
6. ↑ West Platte River in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey
7. ^ Middle Platte River in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey
8. ^ East Platte River in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey
9. ^ Third fork in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey
10. ↑ Little Third Fork in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey