Jan 29
The Waterways We Love - The Western Tributaries of the Mighty Mississippi (Part 12)
- Richard Crowder
- 11 hours ago
- 6 min read
In Part 10 of the Waterways We Love series, we spoke of the mighty Mississippi River, its role in completing The Great Loop, the navigation along the Upper Mississippi from Minneapolis/St. Paul to St. Louis, and the naturally flowing Lower Mississippi from St. Louis to New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. Within this lower section, several major tributaries feed the Mississippi while being themselves navigable for pleasure boats. This Part 12 is about these major tributary rivers of the mighty Mississippi that flow into it from the west.
Missouri River
The Missouri River is the most northerly of the great tributaries to the west of the Mississippi. It joins about 20 miles (32 km) south of the confluence of the Illinois River and immediately north of St. Louis. At roughly 2,540 miles (4,080 km) long, it is the longest river on the North American continent -- some 200 miles (322 km) longer than the Mississippi. It boasts some of the greatest rivers flowing into it including its largest tributary the Yellowstone River, which borders Yellowstone National Park and which at 692 miles (1,114 km) long is the longest free-flowing undammed river in the continental United States.
The Missouri River originates in the Rocky Mountains near Three Forks, Montana at an elevation of some 9,100 feet (2,800 m) above sea level and flows northeast through Great Falls, MT to within 100 miles of the Canadian border near Williston, North Dakota. It then turns south and passes through Bismarck, ND and Sioux City, Iowa before taking a sharp turn east at Kansas City to finally join the Mississippi in St. Louis.
Navigation on the Missouri flourished during the fur-trading era. The river was the main route followed during the western expansion of the United States in the early 1800s following the glowing reports of explorers Lewis and Clark. Development continued during the steamboat era when over 100 mostly side-wheelers supplied regular passenger and freight service between St. Louis and Kansas City, a distance of about 370 miles (595 km) and some as far as Sioux City during the first part of the 1900s. Sadly, drought, flooding and the growth of railroads gradually caused the decline of marine commerce.
During this period, dozens of hydroelectric dams were built in the upper Missouri River and its tributaries between its source and Sioux City. But drought and flooding still occurred, resulting in Congress, through the Flood Control Act of 1944, authorizing the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to supervise the construction of 15 flood-control dams in the upper Missouri while also producing hydroelectric power.
Six of these dams, ranging from 74 to 250 feet (23 to 76 m) high, are among the largest in the world by volume and can store more than three years’ worth of the river’s total flow in their reservoirs. These massive reservoir “lakes” are pleasure boating havens and support all forms of watersports and fishing. But, there are no locks joining them and so no through-boating is available between them.
Around this same time, USACE enacted the Missouri River Bank Stabilization and Navigation Project to enlarge the navigation channel to 300 feet (91 m) wide and nine feet (2.7 m) deep between St. Louis and Sioux City, a distance of some 735 miles (1,183 km). There are no dams or locks along this delightful pleasure boating section referred to as the 'Lower Missouri.,' but like the Mississippi has dozens of wing dams, rock dikes, and levees to direct the water flow and control sedimentation.
The Lower Missouri offers pleasant relaxing boating for 735 miles (1,183 km) through the Central Plains comprising part of the breadbasket of America between Sioux City and St. Louis.
Arkansas River
Although its source is high in the Rocky Mountains near Leadville, Colorado roughly 100 miles (160 km) southwest of Denver, the Arkansas River meanders mostly southeasterly some 1,470 miles (2,365 km) to its confluence with the Mississippi River.
Its mouth is about 350 miles (560 km) south of where the Ohio River joins and roughly 440 miles (710 km) north of the Gulf of Mexico. The nearest town to its mouth is the historic Arkansas Post located about 15 miles (25 km) straight west of the Mississippi River as the crow flies (60 miles or almost 100 km if you follow the Arkansas River’s meandering). Once again, just for reference, by the time the Arkansas River has reached the Mississippi it has passed through Dodge City and Wichita, Kansas, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Little Rock, Arkansas.
The river is shallow and meandering and it wasn’t until 1971 that the USACE completed an eight-year construction of the 445-mile (715 km) long McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System (MKARNS) consisting of 18 locks and dams between the Mississippi River and the Port of Catoosa in Tulsa. The 18 locks and dams vary between 14 and 54-feet (4.3–16.5 m) in lift to account for the 420-foot (130 m) drop in water level along its length. The resulting navigation channel is minimum nine feet (2.7 m) deep by 250 feet (76 m) wide and each lock is the standard 110-foot (34 m) wide by 600-foot (180 m) long to accommodate commercial barge traffic.
To alleviate some of the kinks in the river, MKARNS utilized the Verdigris River in the western section nearest Tulsa and the White River and the channel of the original Arkansas Post Canal between the Mississippi and the community of Arkansas Post. This eliminated several miles of the winding main river. The Arkansas River provides one more detour of 444 miles (715 km) for you to boat each way west to Tulsa while cruising the length of the Mississippi.
Red River of the South
Named because of its reddish colour and not to be confused with the Red River of the North, which is the backbone of the Red River Valley, and which forms the border between North Dakota and Minnesota.
The Red River of the South forms at the joining of two small rivers on the border between Texas and Oklahoma some 125 miles (200 km) southwest of Oklahoma City and 155 miles (250 km) northwest of Dallas/Ft Worth. Along its 1,360 miles (2,190 km) length it drains onto some of the most fertile lands of the Great Plains.
It forms the border between Texas and Oklahoma and a short section between Texas and Arkansas. It turns south near Fulton, Arkansas, just northeast of Texarkana, and flows into Louisiana where it joins the Atchafalaya River. It once drained into the Mississippi River, but the ever-evolving delta changed the course of the river. It is technically navigable for some 450 miles (725 km) upstream from its mouth, but sometimes only for a few months of the year due to shallow water. The lower 35 mile (56 km) section of the river is mostly navigable mostly year round.
Between the mighty Mississippi River and its mighty tributary rivers, there are literally thousands of miles of stunning scenery to be explored that can only be accomplished by boating. Enjoy every moment and every mile. The Mississippi watershed is indeed a boating paradise. You might also like:
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