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 is a tributary of the Arkansas River in southeastern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma in the United States. It is about 280 miles (451 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." In the treaty of 1834 with the Cherokee Indians the river was named as a part of the boundary of their lands.^[1]

Coffeyville Resources, based in Kansas City, Kan., experience flooding of the Verdigris River in July 2007 with the sweeping away of about 1,700 barrels of crude oil from its subsidiary's refinery at Coffeyville.

Dams and transportation

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.

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 both streams and allows commercial navigation between the Tulsa area and the Mississippi River.

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

References