South Platte River

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South Platte River[1]
South Platte River in Douglas County, Colorado
Native name	Wašíŋ Wakpá (Lakota)
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Confluence of South Fork and Middle Fork
• coordinates	39°00′40″N 105°44′25″W / 39.01111°N 105.74028°W / 39.01111; -105.74028
Mouth
• location	Confluence with North Platte River
• coordinates	41°06′50″N 100°40′33″W / 41.11389°N 100.67583°W / 41.11389; -100.67583
• elevation	2,762 ft (842 m)
Length	439 mi (707 km)[2]
Discharge
• average	174 cu ft/s (4.9 m3/s)
Basin features
Progression	Platte—Missouri—Mississippi
Discharge range	0 to 4,640 cu ft/s (0 to 131 m3/s)[3]

The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/Mountain West. Its drainage basin includes much of the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, much of the populated region known as the Colorado Front Range and Eastern Plains, and a portion of southeastern Wyoming in the vicinity of the city of Cheyenne. It joins the North Platte River in western Nebraska to form the Platte, which then flows across Nebraska to the Missouri. The river serves as the principal source of water for eastern Colorado. In its valley along the foothills in Colorado, it has permitted agriculture in an area of the Colorado Piedmont and Great Plains that is otherwise arid.