, image = James River in Jamestown, N.D.jpg
, image_caption = Flowing through
Jamestown, North Dakota
Jamestown is a city in Stutsman County, North Dakota, United States. It is the county seat of Stutsman County. The population was 15,849 at the 2020 census, making it the ninth largest city in North Dakota. Jamestown was founded in 1883 and is ...
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, map = JamesCourseWatershed1.png
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, map_caption = The course and watershed of the James River.
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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 ...
, subdivision_type2 = State
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North Dakota
North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...
,
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...
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Jamestown, ND,
Aberdeen, SD,
Huron, SD,
Mitchell, SD,
Yankton, SD
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Scotland, SD
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Wells County,
North Dakota
North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...
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, mouth =
Missouri River
, mouth_location =
Yankton County, near
Yankton,
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...
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The James River (also known as the Jim River or the Dakota River) is a tributary of the
Missouri River, approximately 710 miles (1,140 km) long, draining an area of 20,653 square miles (53,490 km
2) in the U.S. states of
North Dakota
North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...
and
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...
. About 70 percent of the drainage area is in South Dakota.
The river provides the main drainage of the flat lowland area of the Dakotas between the two
plateau
In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...
regions known as the
Missouri Coteau and the
Coteau des Prairies
The Coteau des Prairies is a plateau approximately 200 miles in length and 100 miles in width (320 by 160 km), rising from the prairie flatlands in eastern South Dakota, southwestern Minnesota, and northwestern Iowa in the United States. ...
. This narrow area was formed by the James lobe of the
Laurentide Ice Sheet
The Laurentide Ice Sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered millions of square miles, including most of Canada and a large portion of the Northern United States, multiple times during the Quaternary glacial epochs, from 2.58 million year ...
during the last
ice age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...
, and as a consequence the watershed of the river is slender and it has few major tributaries for a river of its length.
The James drops approximately per , and this low gradient sometimes leads to reverse flow. Reverse flow occurs when high inflow from tributaries leads to James River water flowing upstream for several miles above the joining water. This happens most frequently north of
Huron, South Dakota.
[
The river arises in ]Wells County, North Dakota
Wells County is a county in the U.S. state of North Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,982. Its county seat is Fessenden.
History
The Dakota Territory legislature created the county on January 4, 1873. Its government was ...
, approximately 10 mi (16 km) northwest of Fessenden Fessenden may refer to:
People
* Fessenden (surname)
* Larry Fessenden (born March 23, 1963), an American actor, producer, writer, director, film editor, and cinematographer
* Fessenden Nott Otis (1825-c. 1900), American pioneer in the medical fie ...
. It flows briefly east towards New Rockford, then generally SSE through eastern North Dakota, past Jamestown, where it is first impounded by a large reservoir (the Jamestown Dam), and then joined by the Pipestem River. It enters northeastern South Dakota in Brown County, where it is impounded to form two reservoirs northeast of Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
.
At Columbia, it is joined by the Elm River. Flowing southward across eastern South Dakota, it passes Huron and Mitchell, where it is joined by the Firesteel Creek. South of Mitchell, it flows southeast and joins the Missouri just east of Yankton.
The James River flows fully across the state of South Dakota, the only river other than the Missouri to do so.
River conditions during normal years include still water on both the James and its tributaries as well as flooding. Floods occur after snowmelt or heavy rains, as water easily breaches the James' low banks, and such floods tend to cover a significant portion of the floodplain. When the river is still, water quality drops.
History
Originally called ''E-ta-zi-po-ka-se Wakpa'' ("unnavigable river") in the Sioux language, the river was given the name ''Riviere aux Jacques'' in 1794 by Jean Trudeau, a French trader. This name was subsequently anglicized to James River, which was the name used by local whites at the time Dakota Territory
The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of N ...
was incorporated. However, the Dakota Territory Organic Act
In United States law, an organic act is an act of the United States Congress that establishes a territory of the United States and specifies how it is to be governed, or an agency to manage certain federal lands. In the absence of an organ ...
of 1861 renamed it the ''Dakota River''. The new name failed to gain popular usage and the river retains its pre-1861 name.
Unrelated to the name of the river, the settlement of Jamestown, North Dakota
Jamestown is a city in Stutsman County, North Dakota, United States. It is the county seat of Stutsman County. The population was 15,849 at the 2020 census, making it the ninth largest city in North Dakota. Jamestown was founded in 1883 and is ...
was named by Thomas L. Rosser, a former Confederate general who helped to build the Northern Pacific Railroad
The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, whi ...
across what became North Dakota, after the English colony of Jamestown in his native Virginia.
See also
* New Rockford Bridge
* List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem)
The longest rivers of the United States include 38 that have main stems of at least long. The main stem is "the primary downstream segment of a river, as contrasted to its tributaries". The United States Geological Survey (USGS) defines a main- ...
* List of rivers of North Dakota
This is a list of rivers in the state of North Dakota in the United States.
Alphabetically
*Bois de Sioux River
*Cannonball River
* Cedar Creek
*Cut Bank Creek
* Deep River
*Des Lacs River
* Elm River (North Dakota), tributary of Red River of the ...
* List of rivers of South Dakota
This is a list of rivers in the state of South Dakota in the United States.
By tributary
Minnesota River watershed
* Little Minnesota River
** Jorgenson River
*Whetstone River
*North Fork Yellow Bank River
*South Fork Yellow Bank River
*West Bran ...
References
{{Authority control
Rivers of North Dakota
Rivers of South Dakota
Tributaries of the Missouri River
Bodies of water of Wells County, North Dakota
Bodies of water of Eddy County, North Dakota
Bodies of water of Stutsman County, North Dakota
Rivers of Brown County, South Dakota
Rivers of Beadle County, South Dakota
Rivers of Davison County, South Dakota
Rivers of Yankton County, South Dakota
Rivers of Spink County, South Dakota