St. Francis River

St. Francis River
The St. Francis River at Lake City, Arkansas is placid and silt-laden.
Map of the St. Francis River watershed. The Castor/Whitewater headwaters (darker shade on the map) were historically part of the St. Francis watershed but are now diverted to the Mississippi.
Location
CountryUnited States
StateMissouri, Arkansas
RegionOzark Plateau, Mississippi Alluvial Plain
DistrictSt. Francois Mountains, Crowleys Ridge
CitiesFarmington, Missouri, Fisk, Missouri, Lake City, Arkansas, Marked Tree, Arkansas
Physical characteristics
SourceElephant Rocks State Park
 • locationIron County, St. Francois Mountains, Ozark Plateau, Missouri
 • elevation1,568 ft (478 m)
MouthMississippi River
 • location
Near Helena-West Helena, Phillips County, Mississippi Alluvial Plain, Arkansas
 • coordinates
34°37′28″N 90°35′31″W / 34.62444°N 90.59194°W / 34.62444; -90.59194[1]
 • elevation
171 ft (52 m)[1]
Length426 mi (686 km)
Basin size7,550 sq mi (19,600 km2)[2]
Discharge 
 • locationLatitude of Wittsburg
 • average8,976 cu ft/s (254.2 m3/s)[3]
Basin features
Tributaries 
 • leftLittle St. Francis River, 12-Mile Creek, Blue Spring, Mingo Ditch, Little River
 • rightStouts Creek, Marble Creek, Big Creek, Otter Creek, L'Anguille River

The St. Francis River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, about 426 miles (686 km) long,[4] in southeastern Missouri and northeastern Arkansas in the United States. The river drains a mostly rural area and forms part of the Missouri-Arkansas state line along the western side of the Missouri Bootheel.

  1. ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: St. Francis River
  2. ^ Senator Pryor Announces Arkansas Projects in Water Resources Development Bill Archived 2009-08-13 at the Wayback Machine, Senator Mark Pryor Press Releases
  3. ^ "USGS Surface Water data for Arkansas: USGS Surface-Water Annual Statistics".
  4. ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed March 9, 2011