| Kansas River Kaw River, Padouca River, Riviere de Commanches o Padocas[1] | |
|---|---|
 The Kansas River atDe Soto, Kansas | |
 Map of the Kansas River drainage basin | |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Kansas |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source confluence | |
| • location | Junction City, Kansas |
| • coordinates | 39°03′35″N96°48′04″W / 39.05972°N 96.80111°W /39.05972; -96.80111 |
| • elevation | 1,041 ft (317 m) |
| Mouth | Missouri River |
• location | Kansas City, Kansas |
• coordinates | 39°06′55″N94°36′38″W / 39.11528°N 94.61056°W /39.11528; -94.61056[1] |
• elevation | 718 ft (219 m) |
| Length | 148 mi (238 km) |
| Basin size | 60,114 sq mi (155,690 km2) |
| Discharge | |
| • average | 7,240 cu ft/s (205 m3/s) |
| • minimum | 353 cu ft/s (10.0 m3/s) |
| • maximum | 133,172 cu ft/s (3,771.0 m3/s) |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Republican River,Big Blue River, Delaware River |
| • right | Smoky Hill River,Wakarusa River |
TheKansas River, also known as theKaw, is a meanderingriver in northeasternKansas in theUnited States. It is potentially the southwestern most part of theMissouri River drainage, which is sometimes in turn the northwesternmost portion of the extensiveMississippi River drainage. Its two names both come from theKanza (Kaw) people who once inhabited the area;Kansas was one of theanglicizations of theFrench transcriptionCansez (IPA:[kɑ̃ze]) of the originalkką:ze.[2] The city ofKansas City, Missouri, was named for the river,[3] as was later the state of Kansas.[4][5]
Theriver valley averages 2.6 miles (4.2 km) in width, with the widest points being betweenWamego andRossville, where it is up to 4 miles (6.4 km) wide, then narrowing to 1 mile (1.6 km) or less in places belowEudora andDe Soto. Much of the river'swatershed is dammed forflood control, but the Kansas River is generally free-flowing and has only minor obstructions, including diversionweirs and one low-impacthydroelectric dam.
Beginning at the confluence of theRepublican andSmoky Hill rivers, just east of aptly namedJunction City (1,040 feet or 320 metres), the Kansas River flows some 148 miles (238 km)[6] generally eastward to join theMissouri River atKaw Point (718 feet or 219 metres) inKansas City, Kansas. Dropping 322 feet (98 m) on its journey seaward, the water in the Kansas River falls less than 2 feet per mile (38 cm/km). The Kansas Rivervalley is only 115 miles (185 km) long;[6] the surplus length of the river is due tomeandering across thefloodplain. The river's course roughly follows the maximum extent of aPre-Illinoian glaciation, and the river likely began as a path of glacial meltwater drainage.[7][better source needed]
The Kansas drains 34,423 square miles (89,160 km2) of land in Kansas (almost all of the northern half), along with 16,916 square miles (43,810 km2) inNebraska and 8,775 square miles (22,730 km2) inColorado, making a total of just over 60,000 square miles (160,000 km2).[8] When including the Republican River and its headwater tributaries, the Kansas River system has a length of 743 miles (1,196 km), making it the 21st longest river system in the United States.[9] Its highest headwaters are at about 6,000 feet (1,800 m) and extend nearly toLimon, Colorado. Much of the drainage of the river lies within theGreat Plains, but the river itself exists entirely within theMid-Continent Region. The majority of the rest of the state is drained by theArkansas (and its tributaries, theNeosho,Cimarron, andVerdigris, all three of which drain into the Arkansas inOklahoma). A portion of central-eastern Kansas is drained by theMarais des Cygnes River, which flows intoMissouri to meet the Missouri River. A small area in the extreme northeast part of the state drains directly into the Missouri. In the Kansas City metro area, some streams drain east into theBlue River tributary of the Missouri.
The Kansas River flows through what is known as the Stable Interior region. Since this region is near the center of theNorth American Plate, it has not experienced any extensivegeologic faulting,folding, ormountain building in recentgeologic time. From the confluence at Junction City, the river flows throughlimestone,shale,mudstone, and occasionalsandstonestrata that, except fordiagenesis, remain largely undisturbed sincedeposition in shallowCarboniferous andPermian seas. The age of therock exposed by the river becomes progressively older as the river moves downstream for two main reasons. First, downstream areas experience moreerosion from increased flow, and second because the slight uplift of theOzarkdome to the southeast caused the strata in Kansas todip very slightly to the west. TheSmoky Hill River andRepublican River tributaries reach far to the west into theCretaceous deposits of theWestern Interior Seaway and theNeogene Period deposits of material from the uplift of theRocky Mountains, which created theOgallala Formation.[10]
All of the rocks in the eastern Kansas valley aresedimentary, ranging fromLate Pennsylvanian (300 million years ago) through the Permian, with three notable exceptions from theQuaternary Period. The first is riversand andgravel deposits, which have been carried in largely from erosion of the Ogallala and Cretaceous rocks by the western extents of the Kansas River tributaries. Second, the retreat of theKansan glaciation left behind a combination of ice- and meltwater-depositedsediments known as drifta, a poorly sorted mixture of clay, sand, gravel, and even large boulders that cover parts the Kansas River basin from theBig Blue River and eastward. The third isloess, a finesilt that may have originally been deposited by the melting water of the receding glaciers, then redeposited by the wind. The thickest loess deposits can be found in the northwest and north-central part of the Kansas River basin from southern Nebraska into northwest Kansas, as well as near the river's mouth.[8]
The first map showing the Kansas River is FrenchcartographerGuillaume de L'Isle's "Carte de la Louisiane," which was drawn about 1718. On it, the "Grande Riviere des Cansez" flows into theMissouri River at about the 39thparallel.[11] This map, with virtually no changes except for the translation of French into English, was subsequently published by John Senex, aLondon cartographer and engraver, in 1721.
From June 26 through 29, 1804, theLewis and Clark Expedition camped atKaw Point at the Kansas River's mouth. They praised the scenery in their accounts and noted the area would be a good location for a fort.
In August 1819, Maj. Stephen H. Long steered the firststeamer into the Kansas River with his 30-ton boatWestern Engineer. He made it scarcely a mile up the river before turning back, citing mud bars from the recent floods.
The mouth of the Kansas River in theWest Bottoms area of Kansas City (at alongitude of 94 degrees 36 minutes West) was the basis for Missouri's western boundary fromIowa toArkansas when it became a state in 1821 (Kansas entered theUnion in 1861.) South of the Missouri River, that longitude still remains the boundary between Kansas and Missouri. North of the Missouri River, the state of Missouri extended its boundary further to the west in 1836 with thePlatte Purchase. The river has moved slightly since this designation, but the state boundary has remained the same. This line is known as the Osage Boundary.[12]
From the 1840s through the early 1870s, the southernridgelines of the lower section of the Kansas River were the beginnings of theOregon,California, andSanta Fe trails as they left Kansas City.
Beginning in 1854, steamboats operated regularly from Kansas City to Lawrence and Topeka, and sometimes as far asManhattan, Junction City, andFort Riley.[13] This traffic continued through the territorial period and the early years of statehood, falling off rapidly about 1860. The last steamer to travel the Kansas was the Alexander Majors, which was chartered in 1866 to run between Kansas City and Lawrence until the railroad bridge at the mouth of the river, which had been destroyed by floods, could be rebuilt. This traffic into statehood gave the Kansas legal status as anavigable stream in the eyes of the Federal government. In the 1860s, the country's goods were increasingly transported by the extensive and comparatively efficientrailroad system.
On February 25, 1864, the state legislature declared the Kansas River nonnavigable, allowing railroad and bridge companies to build bridges and dams without restriction. The first train to operate in Kansas south of the Kansas River did so by crossing the river in Lawrence on November 1, 1867.[14] This law remained in effect until 1913, when, after it had been characterized as "a crime against the public welfare of Kansas", it was finally repealed and the river's status was restored to a navigable stream. The status has not since changed, though modern commercial navigation on the river is largely confined todredging.
Recreation along the Kansas River includesfishing,canoeing andkayaking, androwing. There are 18 public access points along the river. The Friends of the Kaw organizes many float trips down the river each year (as well as cleanup efforts), and the Lawrence KOA rents canoes for self-guided trips. At least two rowing teams regularly use the river: TheUniversity of Kansas rowing team uses the pool above the Bowersock Dam for their training, and the Kansas City Boat Club as well asUniversity of Missouri-Kansas City rows in the final stretches of the river, near its mouth and the connection to the Missouri River.[15]
TheU.S. Army Corps of Engineers and theBureau of Land Management operate manyreservoirs within thewatershed of the Kansas River for local and Mississippi Riverflood control, with secondary recreational uses.
The river is featured prominently in the 2017 documentaryWhen Kings Reigned. The film talks about life along the Kansas River in the late 1800s, and the trials that the fishermen on the river faced.[17]
Étienne de Veniard Sieur de Bourgmont's expedition into the Kansas River valley and the history of theKanza people in their villages along the river is discussed inThe Last Wild Places of Kansas, a book by George Frazier.[18]
InSara Paretsky's 2017 detective novel "Fallout", in which Paretsky's Chicago-based private detectiveV.I. Warshawski carries out an investigation inLawrence, Kansas, a Lawrence resident tells her: "You should always say 'The Kaw' when you speak of our river. Only strangers and Google Maps call it 'The Kansas River'"(Ch. 32).
Johnny Kaw is a fictional Kansas settler created in a series oftall tale publications started in 1955 — one of his fictional feats was to have dug the Kansas River Valley.
The "Kaw River" is mentioned as a location in the western seriesWagon Train, in the opening scene ofThe Tom Tuckett Story episode (March 2, 1960).
(Listed from mouth upstream)
| City | Elevation | |
|---|---|---|
| ft | m | |
| Kansas City | 730 | 220 |
| Shawnee | 732 | 223 |
| Edwardsville | 741 | 226 |
| Bonner Springs | 762 | 232 |
| De Soto | 764 | 233 |
| Lawrence | 791 | 241 |
| Lecompton | 820 | 250 |
| Perry | 820 | 250 |
| Tecumseh | 840 | 260 |
| Topeka | 852 | 260 |
| Willard | 889 | 271 |
| Belvue | 911 | 278 |
| Wamego | 955 | 291 |
| St. George | 977 | 298 |
| Manhattan | 990 | 300 |
| Ogden | 1,023 | 312 |
| Ft. Riley | 1,040 | 320 |
| Junction City | 1,047 | 319 |
| Boldface denotes a major city | ||
... the State. During the territorial days of Kansas steamboats came up the river to Manhattan and as far as Junction City and should the Mississippi, Missouri, and Kansas rivers, under the fostering care of the General Government, receive bountiful appropriations, the bulky products of the soil are likely lo be transported in floating barges down these improved navigable streams to the Gulf of Mexico, where they may be readily shipped to the Old World.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
