The One Hundred and Two River is a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

of the Platte River of MissouriU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed March 30, 2011 in northwestern

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It flows from source tributaries in southwestern

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

about to the Platte. Via the Platte, it is part of the watershed of the Missouri River. Much of the river's course has been straightened and channelized. DeLorme (1998). ''Iowa Atlas & Gazetteer''. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. .* DeLorme (2002). ''Missouri Atlas & Gazetteer''. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. . According to the

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...

, it is also known as the Hundred and Two River, and

MoDOT The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT, ) is a state government organization in charge of maintaining public roadways of the U.S. state of Missouri under the guidance of the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission. MoDOT designs, ...

simply uses 102 River. According to the

National Atlas The ''National Atlas of the United States'' was an atlas published by the United States Department of the Interior from 1874 to 1997. Older editions were printed, but the most recent edition was available online. Since it is a publication of t ...

the river begins northwest of Hopkins, at the confluence of the East Fork One Hundred and Two River and the Middle Fork One Hundred and Two River. It is joined southwest of Hopkins by the West Fork One Hundred and Two River. All three of the forks originate in

. At Bolckow, the river has a mean annual discharge of 605 cubic feet per second.

Origin of name

The beginning point of the

Sullivan Line The Sullivan Line originally marked in 1816 forms three quarters of the border between Missouri and Iowa and an extension of it forms the remainder. The line was initially created to establish the limits of Native Americans in the United States ...

(the Missouri-Iowa border) is near

Sheridan, Missouri Sheridan is a city in northwest Worth County, Missouri, United States, near the Platte River. The population was 195 at the 2010 census. History A post office called Sheridan has been in operation since 1887. Sheridan was the name of a local fam ...

, and is exactly 100 miles north of the confluence of the Missouri River and

Kansas River The Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, is a river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is the southwesternmost part of the Missouri River drainage, which is in turn the northwesternmost portion of the extensive Mississippi River dr ...

(north of

Kaw Point Kaw Point is the point where the Kansas River (Kaw River) terminates at the Missouri River in the West Bottoms area of Kansas City, Kansas. It is also where the Missouri River ceases its southerly course and turns to flow generally east throug ...

in Kansas City, Missouri). From that point, the Sullivan Line was surveyed east to the

Des Moines River The Des Moines River () is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the upper Midwestern United States that is approximately long from its farther headwaters.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe Na ...

in 1816, and it was extended west in 1836 during the

Platte Purchase The Platte Purchase was a land acquisition in 1836 by the United States government from American Indian tribes of the region. It comprised lands along the east bank of the Missouri River and added to the northwest corner of the state of Miss ...

, when Native American territory was purchased by the federal government and annexed to Missouri. The Sullivan Line was used as the starting point for surveys in western Missouri, and the Missouri portion of the One Hundred and Two River is situated entirely within the Platte Purchase area. The three forks of the river cross the western extension of the Sullivan Line at points between 101 and 102 miles north of the Kansas-Missouri confluence. Through the years, writers have speculated on etymologies other than the Sullivan Line coordinates: *Author Homer Croy who chronicled life in Nodaway County speculated that it had something to do with Mormon Trail migration of 1847 in which the river was 102 miles from its previous camp. These coordinates do not fit the coordinates for

Mount Pisgah (Iowa) Mount Pisgah was a semi-permanent settlement or way station from 1846 to 1852 along the Mormon Trail between Garden Grove and Council Bluffs, in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is located near the small community of Thayer in Jones Township, Unio ...

which is less than 100 miles from the river although they would be close in relation to the distance from Hopkins to Kanesville, Iowa which was the outfitting point for the Mormon Trail. Another version of this story says that

Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as ch ...

told his followers that the river was the 102nd they had crossed since leaving Nauvoo. * Robert L. Ramsay who wrote etymologies for the names of many place names in Missouri speculated it was English translation for the earlier French name ''Rivière Cent Deux'', this in turn being a corruption of the Osage ''Çondse'', meaning 'Upland Forest' (however the traditional area of Osage control was well south of the 102 River).

Headwaters and course

The three forks of the river rise in Iowa: *The West Fork One Hundred and Two River rises near Corning in Adams County and flows generally southwardly through Taylor County, collecting streams known as the West and Middle ''Branches'' of the One Hundred and Two River. *The Middle Fork One Hundred and Two River rises near Sharpsburg in Taylor County, and flows generally south-southwestardly, past the town of

Gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...

. *The East Fork One Hundred and Two River rises near Lenox in Taylor County and flows generally southwestwardly, past the towns of Conway and

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

. Each of the forks enters

Nodaway County, Missouri Nodaway County is a County (United States), county located in the northwest part of Missouri. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the population was 23,370. Its county seat is Maryville, Missouri, Maryville. The county was organize ...

, from Taylor County, Iowa, and converge near the town of Hopkins. From this confluence the One Hundred and Two River flows generally southwardly, through Nodaway,

Andrew Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...

and Buchanan Counties, past the towns of Arkoe,

Barnard Barnard is a version of the surname Bernard, which is a French and West Germanic masculine given name and surname. The surname means as tough as a bear, Bar(Bear)+nard/hard(hardy/tough) __NOTOC__ People Some of the people bearing the surname Ba ...

, Maryville, and Rosendale, in a heavily channelized streambed. It joins the Platte River 6 mi (9.7 km) east of St. Joseph.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Missouri Rivers of Andrew County, Missouri Rivers of Buchanan County, Missouri Rivers of Nodaway County, Missouri Tributaries of the Missouri River

Origin of name

Headwaters and course

See also

References