Spring River (Missouri)
The Spring River is a 129-mile-long (208 km)[1] waterway located in southwestern Missouri, southeastern Kansas, and northeastern Oklahoma. It begins in northern Barry County, Missouri south of Aurora, flows north of Verona and turns west across Lawrence and Jasper counties, passing through Carthage, before crossing into Cherokee County, Kansas, where it widens considerably. It flows past the east sides of Riverton and Baxter Springs before emptying into the Grand Lake o' the Cherokees in Ottawa County, Oklahoma.
The Spring River takes its name from the many seeps and springs that provide its baseflow. Big Spring in Lawrence County is the largest spring in the Spring River basin discharging 12.3 million gallons of water per day. The spring flows from the base of a high bluff of Burlington Keokuk limestone known as Baptist Hill and enters the Spring River about 200 feet away.[2] The river forms the western boundary of the Ozarks in southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas. All of the Ozark area in southeast Kansas is contained within the Spring River basin.
The river was important to settlers in Lawrence and Jasper County, especially around Carthage, where it was not yet too wide to dam. Scores of grist and sawmills established on the river in those counties beginning as early as the 1840s. A dam erected northeast of Carthage in 1875 provided water power to mills and other industry through a mile-long millrace that fed into an industrial basin on north Main street. The concentration of industry there continues to impact water quality in the river.[3][4]
Spring River was one of the "Seven Bulls," a term used by Native American tribes to describe the rivers of southwest Missouri.
[edit] References
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed May 31, 2011
- ^ Jerry D. Vineyard and Gerald L. Feder. Springs of Missouri. Missouri Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Geological Survey. 1974 (revised 1982).
- ^ Redden, Susan. Plan to focus on health of Spring River watershed. The Joplin Globe. April 21, 2009.
- ^ Spellman, Derek. Tribe urges swimmers to stay clear of Lost Creek, Spring River for now. The Joplin Globe. July 16, 2009.
[edit] External links
Coordinates: 36°47′31″N 94°45′10″W / 36.79194°N 94.75278°W
