The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, about long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed March 30, 2011 in southwestern Iowa and northwestern Missouri in the United States. It is sometimes known as the Little Platte River to distinguish it from the larger Platte River, also a tributary of the Missouri, in nearby Nebraska; the Platte River of Missouri itself has a tributary known as the "Little Platte River".

Course

The Platte River rises near Creston in

Union County, Iowa Union County is a county located in the southern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,138. The county seat is Creston. Organized at a time of tensions before the Civil War, the county was named in 1853 ...

, and flows generally southwardly through

Adams Adams may refer to: * For persons, see Adams (surname) Places United States *Adams, California *Adams, California, former name of Corte Madera, California *Adams, Decatur County, Indiana *Adams, Kentucky *Adams, Massachusetts, a New England town ...

, Ringgold and Taylor Counties in Iowa; and Worth, Nodaway, Andrew,

Buchanan Buchanan may refer to: People * Buchanan (surname) Places Africa * Buchanan, Liberia, a large coastal town Antarctica * Buchanan Point, Laurie Island Australia * Buchanan, New South Wales * Buchanan, Northern Territory, a locality * Buchanan ...

and Platte Counties in Missouri. Along its course it passes the Iowa towns of

Maloy Maloy can refer to: * Thomas Joel Maloy, American naval officer, posthumous recipient of the Navy Cross * Mike Maloy, American professional basketball player * Maloy Lozanes, Philippine-born recording artist in Germany known as MaLoY * USS Maloy ...

, Blockton and Athelstan; and the Missouri towns of

Sheridan Sheridan may refer to: People Surname *Sheridan (surname) *Philip Sheridan (1831–1888), U.S. Army general after whom the Sheridan tank is named *Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816), Irish playwright (''The Rivals''), poet and politician ...

, Parnell, Ravenwood, Conception Junction,

Guilford Guildford is a town in Surrey, England. It gives its name to the Borough of Guildford, the Diocese of Guildford and the Parliamentary constituency of Guildford. Guildford, Guilford, or Gildford may also refer to: Places Australia * Guildfor ...

, Tracy,

Platte City Platte City is a city in and the county seat of Platte County, Missouri within the United States. The population was 4,691 at the 2010 census. The city is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. History Platte City was founded by Zadock ...

and Farley. The Platte flows into the Missouri River near Farley, downstream of

Leavenworth, Kansas Leavenworth () is the county seat and largest city of Leavenworth County, Kansas, United States and is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 37,351. It is located on the west bank of t ...

DeLorme DeLorme is the producer of personal satellite tracking, messaging, and navigation technology. The company’s main product, ''inReach'', integrates GPS and satellite technologies. ''inReach'' provides the ability to send and receive text messages ...

(1998). ''Iowa Atlas & Gazetteer''. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. .

(2002). ''Missouri Atlas & Gazetteer''. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. . Several sections of the

river's course A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long large streams are ...

have been straightened and

channelized Channelized in a telecommunications environment means that the line that communications have been transmitted over contains more than one message thread, separated in some fashion. Typical channelization methods include packetizing, frequency-d ...

Tributaries

*Near its headwaters in Iowa the Platte collects minor branches known as the West Platte River, Middle Platte River, and East Platte River. *In Buchanan County, Missouri, it collects the One Hundred and Two River and the Third Fork, which rises in Gentry County and flows southwardly through DeKalb County, past Union Star. The Third Fork collects the Little Third Fork, which flows southwardly through DeKalb and Buchanan Counties, past Clarksdale. Before leaving Buchanan County

Castile Creek Castile Creek is a stream in Buchanan, Clinton and DeKalb counties the U.S. state of Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territo ...

enters from the northeast. *In Platte County, Missouri, it collects the Little Platte River, which rises in DeKalb County and flows south-southwestwardly through

Clinton Clinton is an English toponymic surname, indicating one's ancestors came from English places called Glympton or Glinton.Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. ''A Dictionary of Surnames''. Oxford University Press, 1988 Clinton has frequently been used as a given ...

and Clay Counties, past

Plattsburg Plattsburg may refer to: * Plattsburg, Indiana, U.S. * Plattsburg, Missouri , U.S. * USS ''Plattsburg'' (ID-1645), a United States Navy auxiliary cruiser See also * * * Plattsburgh (disambiguation) * Pittsburg (disambiguation) * Pittsburgh ...

and Smithville. Near Smithville, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dam causes the Little Platte River to form

Smithville Lake Smithville Lake is a reservoir on the Little Platte branch of the Platte River in Clay County, Missouri near Smithville. It provides the water supply for Smithville, Missouri and Plattsburg, Missouri. Kansas City, Missouri has reserved a por ...

History

When Missouri entered the union in 1821, the western border of Missouri from Arkansas to Iowa was based on the confluence of the Kansas River and Missouri River in the West Bottoms in Kansas City. Land in what is now the northwest Missouri was deeded to the Ioway,

Sac SAC or Sac may refer to: Organizations Education * Santa Ana College, California, US * San Antonio College, Texas, US * St. Andrew's College, Aurora, Canada * Students' Administrative Council, University of Toronto, Canada * SISD Student Activiti ...

and

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

tribes. However, settlers (most notably Joseph Robidoux in St. Joseph, Missouri) began encroaching on the land. Further settlers in northern Missouri were upset about being cut off from the Missouri. In 1836, William Clark (of

Lewis and Clark Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * "Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohead ...

) persuaded the tribes to sell their lands in northwest Missouri. The deal known as 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 ...

was named for the river was ratified in 1837 and the tribes were paid $7,500 for an area about the combined size of Delaware and Rhode Island. The land was then annexed to Missouri. In 1838 settlers used the river (and the Nodaway River) to reach the heart of the newly available land. The Platte River is not used for transportation in modern times although Missouri River steam boats did call on Tracy, Missouri. On September 3, 1861, bushwhackers burned a bridge over the river at St. Joseph, Missouri, derailing a Hannibal & St. Joseph Railroad train killing between 17 and 20 and injuring 200 in one of the worst attacks on a passenger train in the

Platte Bridge Railroad Tragedy The Platte Bridge Railroad Tragedy was a bushwhacker attack on the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad during the American Civil War on September 3, 1861, in which the train derailed on a bridge over the Platte River east of St. Joseph, Missour ...

during the American Civil War. Union forces were to burn Platte City, Missouri in 1861 and 1864 as they tried to force the residents to give up

Silas M. Gordon Silas M. Gordon (1835–1888) was an anti-United States Federal government guerrilla who indirectly caused Platte City, Missouri, to be burned twice by forces during the American Civil War. The town of Gordonville, Texas, is named for him. Confe ...

, the suspected ringleader of the attack. The river is the biggest river in the Platte Purchase area and it flows through the

Kansas City Metropolitan Area The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more th ...

as well as St. Joseph, Missouri metropolitan area. The river is an eighth order river. Average flow at mile 25.1 is 1,925 cubic feet second (54.5 m³/s). The highest flow was 37,800 ft³/s (1070 m³/s) during the Great Flood of 1993 on July 26, 1993. The lowest flow was 12 ft³/s (0.33 m/s) during a drought in August 1989.

References

External links

Missouri Department of Conservation Profile of the River
* {{Authority control Rivers of Iowa Rivers of Missouri Tributaries of the Missouri River Rivers of Platte County, Missouri Rivers of Buchanan County, Missouri Rivers of Andrew County, Missouri Rivers of Nodaway County, Missouri Rivers of Worth County, Missouri Bodies of water of Taylor County, Iowa Bodies of water of Ringgold County, Iowa Bodies of water of Adams County, Iowa Bodies of water of Union County, Iowa