The North River is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed May 13, 2011 river in northeastern

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 ...

, 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 rises in Knox County at (northwest of

Novelty Novelty (derived from Latin word ''novus'' for "new") is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual. Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an ...

) and flows southeast and east through Shelby and

Marion Marion may refer to: People *Marion (given name) *Marion (surname) *Marion Silva Fernandes, Brazilian footballer known simply as "Marion" *Marion (singer), Filipino singer-songwriter and pianist Marion Aunor (born 1992) Places Antarctica * Mario ...

counties, emptying into the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

at between West Quincy and Hannibal. The North River

drainage area A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

is , with a median flow of and a

mean flow In fluid dynamics, the fluid flow is often decomposed into a mean flow and deviations from the mean. The averaging can be done either in space or in time, or by ensemble averaging In machine learning, particularly in the creation of artificial ...

of based on 72 years of record at the USGS Palmyra gaging station. Record flow was on April 21, 1973 at . During droughts flow sometimes drops to or less.

Tributaries

Named tributaries of North River include Lazy Branch, Sidnor Creek (Palmyra Big Spring Branch), Lick Creek, Big Branch, Little North River, Hawkins Branch, Merrills Branch, Tiger Fork, Weldons Branch, Looney Creek, Clear Creek, Mesner Branch, Garnett Branch, and Owl Creek.

History of name

The river is believed to be a candidate for the "River Jeffreon" that was referenced in the 1804 Treaty of St. Louis presided over by

William Henry Harrison William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was an American military officer and politician who served as the ninth president of the United States. Harrison died just 31 days after his inauguration in 1841, and had the shortest pres ...

with the

Sac and Fox The Sac and Fox Nation ( ''Mesquakie'' language: ''Othâkîwaki / Thakiwaki'' or ''Sa ki wa ki'') is the largest of three federally recognized tribes of Sauk and Meskwaki (Fox) Indian peoples. Originally from the Lake Huron and Lake Michigan ...

Zebulon Pike Zebulon Montgomery Pike (January 5, 1779 – April 27, 1813) was an American brigadier general and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado was named. As a U.S. Army officer he led two expeditions under authority of President Thomas Jefferson ...

identified this river as the Jeffreon in his August 19

journal entry A journal entry is the act of keeping or making records of any transactions either economic or non-economic. Transactions are listed in an accounting journal that shows a company's debit and credit balances. The journal entry can consist of sev ...

with the spelling "Jauflione", although no distinction other than "The Jauflione is about 30 yards wide at its mouth, and bears from the Mississippi about S.W." serves to distinguish it from the nearby Fabius Rivers or South River. The island across the Mississippi River from the outlet of these tributary rivers is labeled "Jeffreon" on Pike's map. The River Jeffreon marked the northern border of Sac and Fox land ceded in Missouri (extending north from the mouth of the

Gasconade River The Gasconade River is about longU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 31, 2011 and is located in central and south-central Missouri. The Gasconade River begins in the Oz ...

on the Missouri River and then down the river to the Mississippi. In the same treaty the tribes ceded much of northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin on the east side of the Mississippi.The boundary line appears on the Lewis and Clark 1814 map. It goes to the next river north of the Salt River (which in some accounts was reported as the River Jefferon). Several legal cases stemming from the 1804 treaty have identified North River as the River Jeffreon. It derived its current name from its position relative to

Palmyra, Missouri Palmyra is a city in and the county seat of Marion County, Missouri, United States. The population was 3,595 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Hannibal Micropolitan Statistical Area. History Palmyra was platted in 1819, and named after P ...

. The North River flows north of that town and the South River flows south of it, with the outlets into the Mississippi being shared at times in the past and still within of each other. On some maps from the early 19th century, these rivers are labeled as "North Two Rivers" and "South Two Rivers".

References

External links

National Water Information System: Web Interface, USGS 05501000 North River at Palmyra, MO
{{authority control Rivers of Missouri Quincy–Hannibal area Rivers of Knox County, Missouri Rivers of Shelby County, Missouri Rivers of Marion County, Missouri