Big Sioux River

Big Sioux River
The falls of the Big Sioux River at Sioux Falls, South Dakota
The course and watershed of the Big Sioux River.
EtymologyLakota people
Native nameTehankasandata (Lakota)
Location
CountryUnited States
StateSouth Dakota, Iowa
Physical characteristics
SourceCoteau des Prairies
 • locationRoberts County, South Dakota
MouthMissouri River
 • location
Sioux City, Iowa
 • coordinates
42°29′27″N 96°26′44″W / 42.490805°N 96.445490°W / 42.490805; -96.445490
Length419 mi (674 km)
Basin size9,006 sq mi (23,330 km2) [1]
Basin features
Progressiongenerally southwardly
Tributaries 
 • leftMahoney Creek, Rock River, Broken Kettle Creek
 • rightSkunk Creek

The Big Sioux River is a tributary of the Missouri River in eastern South Dakota and northwestern Iowa in the United States.[2] It flows generally southwardly for 419 mi (674 km),[3] and its watershed is 9,006 sq mi (23,330 km2).[1] The United States Board on Geographic Names settled on "Big Sioux River" as the stream's name in 1931.[4] The river was named after the Lakota people[5] which was known by them as Tehankasandata, or Thick Wooded River.[6]

The Big Sioux River rises in Roberts County, South Dakota[4] on a low plateau known as the Coteau des Prairies and flows generally southwardly through Grant, Codington, Hamlin, Brookings, Moody, and Minnehaha counties, past the communities of Watertown, Castlewood, Bruce, Flandreau, Egan, Trent, Dell Rapids, and Baltic to Sioux Falls, where it passes over a waterfall in Falls Park, which gives that city its name. Downstream of Sioux Falls and the community of Brandon, the Big Sioux defines the boundary between South Dakota and Iowa, flowing along the eastern borders of Lincoln and Union counties in South Dakota, and the western borders of Lyon, Sioux and Plymouth counties in Iowa, past the communities of Canton, Fairview, Hudson, Hawarden, North Sioux City, and Dakota Dunes in South Dakota and Beloit, Hawarden and Akron in Iowa. It joins the Missouri River from the north at Sioux City, Iowa.[7][8]

This excerpt from the Lewis and Clark map of 1814 shows the rivers of western Iowa and eastern South Dakota. The Big Sioux River ("Sioux") is seen near the center of the map.

The Big Sioux River, at the USGS station in Sioux City, Iowa, has a mean annual discharge of approximately 3,793 cubic feet per second.[9]

  1. ^ a b Frank D. Amundson and Neil C. Koch (1985). "Drainage areas in the Big Sioux River basin in eastern South Dakota". Open-File Report. USGS. p. plate 1. doi:10.3133/ofr85348. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
  2. ^ "Columbia Gazetteer of North America entry". Archived from the original on 2006-02-25. Retrieved 2006-06-06.
  3. ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed March 30, 2011
  4. ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Big Sioux River
  5. ^ Federal Writers' Project (1940). South Dakota place-names, v.3. University of South Dakota. p. 4.
  6. ^ State Department of History (1924). South Dakota Historical Collections Volume XII. Pierre, South Dakota: Hipple Printing Company. p. 304. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  7. ^ DeLorme (1998). Iowa Atlas & Gazetteer. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. ISBN 0-89933-214-5
  8. ^ DeLorme (2001). South Dakota Atlas & Gazetteer. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. ISBN 0-89933-330-3
  9. ^ USGS station