Verdigris River

The Verdigris River near Lenapah, Oklahoma The Verdigris River at Coffeyville, Kansas Newt Graham Lock and Dam on the Verdigris River in Wagoner County, Oklahoma Map of the Verdigris watershed

The Verdigris River (pronounced /ˈvɜrdɨɡrɪs/) is a tributary of the Arkansas River in southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma in the United States. It is about 310 miles (500 km) long. Via the Arkansas, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed.

Course

The Verdigris is formed near Madison, Kansas, by the convergence of two short headwaters streams, its North and South forks, and flows generally southward throughout its course. South of Coffeyville, the river enters Oklahoma. It joins the Arkansas River near Muskogee, about a mile upstream of the mouth of the Neosho River.

History

The river is mentioned in accounts by Zebulon Pike (1806), Thomas Nuttall (1818), and because of the fur trade had numerous trading posts along its route. The name is derived from the Spanish words verde, meaning "green," and gris, meaning "grey." According to the Encyclopædia Britannica the name may be derived from a gray-green substance resembling a copper ore. In the treaty of 1834 with the Cherokee Indians, the river was named as a part of the boundary of their lands.

Coffeyville Resources, based in Kansas City, Kan., experienced flooding by the Verdigris River in July 2007, releasing about 1,700 barrels of crude oil from its refinery at Coffeyville, Kansas.

Dams and transportation

Several dams built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cause the Verdigris to form Toronto Lake near Toronto, Kansas and Oologah Lake near Oologah, Oklahoma. More dams and reservoirs are downsteam along the Arkansas River.

From just north of Catoosa, Oklahoma to its confluence with the Arkansas, barge traffic is maintained on the river as part of the McClellan-Kerr Navigation System, which consists of a series of locks and dams on the Arkansas River and the Verdigris River and which enables commercial navigation between the Tulsa, Oklahoma, area and the Mississippi River, and thence to the Gulf of Mexico.

Tributaries

In Kansas, the Verdigris collects the Fall River at the town of Neodesha and the Elk River at the town of Independence. In Oklahoma it collects the Caney River in Rogers County.

Cities and towns along the river

• Altoona, Kansas
• Benedict, Kansas
• Catoosa, Oklahoma
• Coffeyville, Kansas
• Independence, Kansas
• Madison, Kansas
• Neodesha, Kansas
• Okay, Oklahoma
• Oologah, Oklahoma
• Toronto, Kansas
• Nowata, Oklahoma

See also

• List of Kansas rivers
• List of Oklahoma rivers
• Port of Catoosa
• Nowata