Prairie Dog Town Fork Red River is a sandy-braided stream about long, formed at the confluence of
Palo Duro Creek
Palo Duro Creek is formed in Texas from the junction of North Palo Duro Creek and South Palo Duro Creek north of Morse, Texas. The creek continues generally northeast until it becomes a tributary of the Beaver River (North Canadian River) in Okl ...
and
Tierra Blanca Creek
Tierra Blanca Creek is an ephemeral stream about long, heading in Curry County, New Mexico, flowing east-northeast across northern portions of the Llano Estacado to join Palo Duro Creek to form the Prairie Dog Town Fork Red River southeast of Amar ...
, about northeast of
Canyon
A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cut ...
in
Randall County, Texas
Randall County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 140,753. Its county seat is Canyon. The county was created in 1876 and later organized in 1889. It is named for Horace Randal, a Confeder ...
, and flowing east-southeastward to the
Red River about east of the
100th meridian, south-southwest of
Hollis, Oklahoma.
[United States Board on Geographical Names. 1960. Decisions on Geographical Names in the United States and Puerto Rico, Decisions rendered in May, June, July, and August, 1959, Decision list no. 5903, United States Department of the Interior, Washington DC, p. 51.]
Geography
The Prairie Dog Town Fork Red River is the southernmost of two major forks which form the headwaters of the Red River. It begins as an ephemeral stream on the level surface of the
Llano Estacado
The Llano Estacado (), sometimes translated into English as the Staked Plains, is a region in the Southwestern United States that encompasses parts of eastern New Mexico and northwestern Texas. One of the largest mesas or tablelands on the North A ...
in
Randall County, about northeast of
Canyon, Texas
Canyon is a city in, and the county seat of, Randall County, Texas, United States. The population was 14,836 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Amarillo, Texas, metropolitan statistical area. Canyon is the home of West Texas A&M University a ...
. The stream initially runs northeastward then southeastward across Randall County, flowing through
Palo Duro Canyon, where it is fed by springs, providing a base flow that is often increased significantly by runoff from rainstorms. It provides the water for Lake Tanglewood and River Falls prior to flowing through the Palo Duro Canyon State Park.
[Brune, G.M. 1981. Springs of Texas. Fort Worth, TX: Branch-Smith, p. 377-380.] The stream continues in a southeasterly direction through southern
Armstrong and northeastern
Briscoe County, where it exits
Palo Duro Canyon and starts across the rolling
red-bed country of central
Hall County, where it merges with the
Little Red River. The stream continues across
Hall
In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...
and
Childress Counties, merging with Buck Creek and forming the Red River proper, south-southwest of
Hollis, Oklahoma.
[ When the Prairie Dog Town Fork crosses the 100th meridian at the eastern edge of Childress County, its south bank becomes the state boundary between ]Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
and Oklahoma.
Proper name
According to a 1959 decision by the United States Board on Geographical Names, this main tributary of the Red River is properly called the Prairie Dog Town Fork Red River, and should not be called the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River, Prairie Dog Town Fork of Red River, or the South Fork of the Red River.[
]
See also
*Adams–Onís Treaty
The Adams–Onís Treaty () of 1819, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty, the Florida Purchase Treaty, or the Florida Treaty,Weeks, p.168. was a treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819 that ceded Florida to the U.S. and defined t ...
* Double Mountain Fork Brazos River
* Little Red River (Texas)
*Llano Estacado
The Llano Estacado (), sometimes translated into English as the Staked Plains, is a region in the Southwestern United States that encompasses parts of eastern New Mexico and northwestern Texas. One of the largest mesas or tablelands on the North A ...
* Washita River
* Palo Duro Canyon
*Pease River
The Pease River is a river in Texas, United States. It is a tributary of the Red River that runs in an easterly direction through West Texas . It was discovered and mapped for the first time in 1856 by Jacob de Córdova, who found the river whi ...
* Salt Fork Red River
*List of rivers of Texas
The list of rivers of Texas is a list of all named waterways, including rivers and streams that partially pass through or are entirely located within the U.S. state of Texas. Across the state, there are 3,700 named streams and 15 major rivers acc ...
References
External links
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Rivers of Oklahoma
Rivers of Texas
Tributaries of the Red River of the South
Rivers of Randall County, Texas
Rivers of Armstrong County, Texas
Rivers of Briscoe County, Texas
Rivers of Hall County, Texas
Rivers of Childress County, Texas
Rivers of Harmon County, Oklahoma