The Yahara 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 drainage ...

of the Rock River in southern

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. It is about longU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed May 13, 2011 (including the distance across intervening lakes), and drains an area of .U.S. Geological Survey.

National Hydrography Dataset The National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) is a digital database of surface water features used to make maps. It contains features such as lakes, ponds, streams, rivers, canals, dams and stream gages for the United States. Description Cartographers ...

. Area data for Yahara River watershed, 10-digit

Hydrologic Unit Code A hydrological code or hydrologic unit code is a sequence of numbers or letters (a '' geocode'') that identify a hydrological unit or feature, such as a river, river reach, lake, or area like a drainage basin (also called watershed in North Ameri ...

s 0709000205, 0709000206, 0709000207, 0709000208, and 0709000209
The National Map
retrieved 2014-03-12 Via the Rock River, it is part of the watershed of 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 f ...

. The Yahara River links the lakes around which the city of

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

was built.

Description

The river begins in

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

in northern

Dane County Dane County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 561,504, making it the second-most populous county in Wisconsin. The county seat is Madison, which is also the state capital. Dane County is the ...

and flows for a short distance in the town of

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

in Columbia County, then returns to Dane County and flows southward through the villages of DeForest and Windsor, and the towns of

Burke Burke is an Anglo-Norman Irish surname, deriving from the ancient Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of Burgh. In Ireland, the descendants of William de Burgh (–1206) had the surname ''de Burgh'' which was gaelicised ...

and Westport into

Lake Mendota Lake Mendota is a freshwater eutrophic lake that is the northernmost and largest of the four lakes in Madison, Wisconsin. The lake borders Madison on the north, east, and south, Middleton on the west, Shorewood Hills on the southwest, Maple Bl ...

in the city of Madison. Downstream from Lake Mendota, the river is channelized through the Madison Isthmus southeastward, and flows through

Lake Monona Lake Monona is a freshwater drainage lake in Dane County, Wisconsin, surrounded on three sides by the city of Madison, Wisconsin, and on the south east side by the city of Monona, Wisconsin. It is the second-largest of a chain of four lakes along ...

Lake Waubesa Lake Waubesa is one of the four major lakes in Dane County, Wisconsin that surround the city of Madison. The lake has a surface area of and a max depth of . In 2013, the Wisconsin state record Yellow bass was caught in Lake Waubesa. It was ...

and

Lake Kegonsa Lake Kegonsa State Park is a state park of Wisconsin, United States, on the northeast shore of Lake Kegonsa. It is located in Dane County southeast of Madison, Wisconsin. The park consists of forest, prairie, and wetlands. Known for its camp ...

, passing through the city of Monona, the village of

McFarland McFarland may refer to: People *McFarland (surname) Places in the United States *McFarland, California, a city *McFarland, Kansas, a city *McFarland, Missouri, a ghost town *McFarland, Wisconsin, a village Other uses * USS ''McFarland'' (DD-237) ...

, the towns of Dunn and Pleasant Springs, the city of Stoughton and the town of

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.Porter Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian regional airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc., ...

(including the unincorporated community of Stebbinsville) and

Fulton Fulton may refer to: People * Robert Fulton (1765–1815), American engineer and inventor who developed the first commercially successful steam-powered ship * Fulton (surname) Given name * Fulton Allem (born 1957), South African golfer * Fult ...

(including the unincorporated community of

) in northern Rock County. It joins the Rock River in the town of Fulton, approximately northwest of Janesville.The National Map
accessed 2014-02-14 The

U.S. Board on Geographic Names The United States Board on Geographic Names (BGN) is a federal body operating under the United States Secretary of the Interior. The purpose of the board is to establish and maintain uniform usage of geographic names throughout the federal govern ...

(USBGN) issued a decision clarifying "Yahara River" as the stream's name in 1903. 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 has also been known historically as "Catfish River" ( Sauk "Myan-mek",

Potawatomi The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a m ...

"Gooskehawn" 'Gishkzhigwen'' and

Ho-Chunk The Ho-Chunk, also known as Hoocągra or Winnebago (referred to as ''Hotúŋe'' in the neighboring indigenous Iowa-Otoe language), are a Siouan-speaking Native American people whose historic territory includes parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iow ...

"Gahara" 'howį́ǧera''. The USBGN's 1903 investigation noted that the name "Catfish River" was in widespread use in Rock County at that time, and that "Yahara River" was more commonly used in Dane County. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, a

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

gasoline tanker A tanker (or tank ship or tankship) is a ship designed to transport or store liquids or gases in Bulk liquids, bulk. Major types of tankship include the oil tanker, the chemical tanker, and gas carrier. Tankers also carry commodities such as ve ...

, the USS ''Yahara'' (AOG-37), was named after the river.

Etymology

The river's name comes from the river's

name "mąą’ii yahara", meaning 'catfish river'.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Wisconsin Rivers of Dane County, Wisconsin Rivers of Columbia County, Wisconsin Rivers of Rock County, Wisconsin Bodies of water of Madison, Wisconsin

Description

Etymology

See also

References