The Walnut River is a
tributary of the
Arkansas River, long,
[U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data]
The National Map
accessed March 29, 2011 in the
Flint Hills region of
Kansas in the
United States. Via the Arkansas, it is part of the
Mississippi River watershed
Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to:
Hydrology
* Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins
* Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...
.
According to the
GNIS, the river has also been known in the past as the "Little
Verdigris River".
Course
The Walnut River rises in northern
Butler County and flows generally southward through Butler and
Cowley Counties, past the towns of
El Dorado
El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...
,
Augusta,
Winfield Winfield may refer to:
Places Canada
* Winfield, Alberta
* Winfield, British Columbia
United States
* Winfield, Alabama
* Winfield, Arkansas
* Winfield, Georgia
* Winfield, Illinois
* Winfield, Indiana
* Winfield, Iowa
* Winfield, Kansas
* Winfi ...
and
Douglass. It joins the Arkansas River at
Arkansas City. The Walnut's principal tributaries are the
Whitewater River, which joins it at Augusta, and the
Little Walnut River
Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt
* ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film
*The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...
, which joins it in southern Butler County. The Walnut River drainage basin comprises in an ecoregion characterized by rocky, rolling hills and prairie. Elevations range from in the basin. Average precipitation, mostly summer rainfall, varies from annually.
Tallgrass prairie is the most common vegetation, covering 66 percent of the land. Crop land covers 23 percent and woodlands cover five percent. Major crops are wheat, soybeans, cotton, hay, sorgum, and corn. Cattle are the most important livestock.
["Walnut River Basin." http://www.kwo.org/Kansas%20Plan/SWP/KWP_2008/Vol_III_Docs/WAL/Rpt_WAL_Basin_Description_KWP2009.pdf]
Upstream of El Dorado, a
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dam causes the river to form
El Dorado Lake
El Dorado Lake is a reservoir on the Walnut River (Kansas), Walnut River northeast of El Dorado, Kansas, El Dorado in the Flint Hills region of Kansas. Built and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it is used for flood control, recreatio ...
, along which a Kansas
state park
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...
has been designated. The lake consists of about of water with another 8,000 acres of land along its shores designated as park and wildlife areas.
The other large lake in the Walnut River basin is Winfield City Lake with of water surrounded by of parkland. Both lakes offer recreational opportunities including fishing, boating, hunting, camping, and wildlife observation.
In Winfield, the east side of the old Tunnel Mill Dam is a public fishing spot. It is staged directly near the old Kickapoo Corral. The west side of the dam and the Kickapoo Corral are both privately owned and closed to the public. A whirlpool is created by a hole in solid limestone about down on the river bed directly off the cliffs of the Corral. The bottom is sandy and somewhat rocky.
Historical sites
Near the mouth of the Walnut River, in eastern
Arkansas City, are a large number of archaeological sites, including the historical city of
Etzanoa, a
Wichita settlement that flourished between 1450 and 1700 and housed perhaps 20,000 people. This site was visited in 1601 by
New Mexico governor
Juan de Oñate.
Festival
The
Walnut Valley Festival is held along the banks in Winfield.
See also
*
List of Kansas rivers
Sources
Columbia Gazetteer of North America entry*
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 ...
(2003). ''Kansas Atlas & Gazetteer''. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. .
External links
Corps of Engineers' El Dorado Lake websiteEl Dorado State Park website
*
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Rivers of Kansas
Rivers of Butler County, Kansas
Rivers of Cowley County, Kansas