Platte River facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Platte River |
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Platte River at Mahoney State Park
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Map showing the Platte River watershed, including the North Platte and South Platte tributaries
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| Other name(s) | Nebraska River, Shallow River, Plato/Chato (spa), Meneo'hé'e (chy), Ñíbraxge (iow), Pȟaŋkéska Wakpá (lkt), Ní Btháska (oma), Kíckatus (paw) |
| Country | United States |
| State | Nebraska |
| Region | Great Plains |
| Cities | North Platte, Kearney, Grand Island, Fremont, Omaha |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Main source | North Platte River Confluence of Grizzly Creek and Little Grizzly Creek, Jackson County, Colorado 8,050 ft (2,450 m) 40°38′23″N 106°24′19″W / 40.63972°N 106.40528°W |
| 2nd source | South Platte River Confluence of Middle Fork and South Fork South Platte Rivers, Park County, Colorado 8,785 ft (2,678 m) 39°00′40″N 105°44′25″W / 39.01111°N 105.74028°W |
| River mouth | Missouri River Cass / Sarpy counties, at Plattsmouth, Nebraska 942 ft (287 m) 41°03′14″N 95°52′53″W / 41.05389°N 95.88139°W |
| Length | 310 mi (500 km), West-east |
| Basin features | |
| River system | Missouri River basin |
| Basin size | 84,910 sq mi (219,900 km2) |
| Tributaries |
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The Platte River is a very important river in the state of Nebraska in the United States. It flows for about 310 mi (500 km). If you measure from its farthest starting point, the North Platte River, it stretches over 1,050 miles (1,690 km). The Platte River eventually joins the Missouri River, which then flows into the Mississippi River and finally to the Gulf of Mexico.
For most of its journey, the Platte River is wide and shallow. It has a sandy bottom and many islands, looking like a "braided stream" with many small channels weaving together.
The Platte River system is one of the most significant parts of the Missouri River's watershed. It drains a large area of the central Great Plains in Nebraska and the eastern Rocky Mountains in Colorado and Wyoming. The river valley was a crucial pathway for people moving west in the United States. Famous trails like the Oregon Trail, California Trail, Mormon Trail, and Bozeman Trail all followed the Platte.
French explorers and fur trappers were the first Europeans to see the Platte around 1714. They called it Nebraskier, based on the Otoe people's name meaning "flat water." This is very similar to the French phrase "rivière platte," also meaning "flat river," which is how the river got its current name.
Contents
Geography of the Platte River
Where the Platte River Begins: Headwaters
The Platte River officially starts in western Nebraska, just east of the city of North Platte, Nebraska. Here, two other rivers, the North Platte River and the South Platte River, meet. Both of these rivers begin high up in the eastern Rocky Mountains from melting snow.
The North Platte River's Journey
The North Platte River starts in a valley called North Park in northern Colorado. This valley is surrounded by tall mountains, some over 12,000 feet (3,700 m) high! From there, the North Platte flows north for about 200 miles (320 km) into Wyoming, passing near Casper, Wyoming. Then, it turns southeast and flows for about 350 miles (560 km) until it reaches North Platte, Nebraska. In Colorado and Wyoming, the North Platte is faster and narrower. But once it reaches Nebraska, it becomes a slow, shallow, braided stream.
People have built about eight dams on the North Platte River in Wyoming and Nebraska. These dams help store water and provide it for farming. The upper parts of the river in the Rockies are popular for fun activities like rafting and fly fishing. You can catch fish like rainbow trout, brown trout, and cutthroat trout there. In western Nebraska, the river's banks and bed create a green, fertile area in an otherwise dry region. Today, much water is taken from the North Platte for irrigation, so it's much smaller by the time it reaches Paxton, Nebraska. Long ago, it was often a mile (1.6 kilometres (0.99 mi)) wide!
The South Platte River's Journey
The South Platte River collects water from about 28,000 square miles (73,000 km2) in northeastern Colorado, parts of southeastern Wyoming, and a small piece of southwestern Nebraska. It drains a large section of the Front Range mountains in Colorado. The South Platte River itself forms in Park County, Colorado, southwest of Denver. It begins where the South Fork South Platte River and Middle Fork South Platte River meet, approximately 15 miles (24 km) southeast of Fairplay, Colorado.
After these forks join, the South Platte flows east-southeast, then turns sharply to flow northeast through Denver and on to Greeley, Colorado. From Greeley, it flows east for about 200 miles (320 km) to meet the North Platte River near North Platte, Nebraska.
Many dams, around 20, have been built on the South Platte River in Colorado. These dams store water for drinking and farming. In fact, there might be over 1,000 dams in the entire South Platte area! This river is the main water source for the dry eastern part of Colorado. Historically, the South Platte River valley was also an important path for pioneers traveling to Denver.
The Main Platte River Channel
Once the North Platte and South Platte rivers combine, they form the main Platte River. For most of its length, it's a wide, shallow, sandy, and braided river. Its many shallow channels, islands, and constantly shifting sandbars made it very hard to navigate boats. Because of this, it was never a major route for water transportation.
The Platte River flows in a big curve across Nebraska. It goes east-southeast near Fort Kearny, then east-northeast past Grand Island and on to Columbus. Near Columbus, another river, the Loup River, joins the Platte from the north. The Loup River is about 70-mile-long (110 km). From Columbus, the Platte flows east past North Bend and Fremont.
Near Fremont, the Platte turns south and then east, making a large "L" shape around Omaha. It flows south-southeast towards Waterloo, Nebraska, then almost due south. About 30 miles (48 km) from where it meets the Missouri River, the Elkhorn River joins the Platte from the north. The Elkhorn River is about 290-mile-long (470 km) and starts in the eastern Sandhills of Nebraska. It's one of the Platte River's largest tributaries.
After the Elkhorn joins, the Platte continues south for about 7 miles (11 km) before turning sharply east for about 20 miles (32 km) until it meets the Missouri River. The Platte-Missouri River meeting point is about 10 miles (16 km) south of Omaha.
Including the North Platte River, the entire Platte River system stretches over 850 miles (1,400 km). Its drainage basin covers about 90,000 square miles (230,000 km2). The Platte River flows through one of the driest parts of the Great Plains. This means its water flow is much lower than other rivers of similar length in North America.
In the past, people often joked that the Platte was "a mile wide at the mouth, but only six inches deep." During the California Gold Rush, some even said it was "too thick to drink, too thin to plow"! Despite this, the river's banks and bed in western Nebraska create a green, fertile area in an otherwise dry region. The central Platte River valley is a vital resting spot for many migratory water birds, like the whooping crane and sandhill crane. They stop here every year during their long journeys along the Central Flyway. Scientists have found fossils showing that cranes have been stopping here for over 10 million years!
Since the mid-1900s, the Platte River has become much smaller. This is mainly because its water is used for farming (irrigation) and by the growing population in Colorado.
History of the Platte River Valley
For thousands of years before Europeans arrived, different groups of indigenous peoples lived along the Platte River. These tribes often moved around, following the large bison herds during hunting seasons. When horses, which had escaped from early Spanish explorers, became available in the 1540s, life on the Great Plains changed dramatically. Native American tribes could then follow the bison herds much more easily as they migrated. Before 1870, huge herds of bison, sometimes hundreds of thousands, would cross the Platte River during their seasonal travels.
The first European known to see the Platte River was the French explorer Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont, in 1714. He named it Nebraskier, based on the Oto name for "flat water." Later, the French word plate (meaning flat) was used for the river.
Both Spain and France claimed the Platte River territory, as they both wanted to control the Great Plains. Spain had claimed the entire Great Plains after an expedition in 1541–42. A Spanish scout named Jose Naranjo reportedly reached the Platte River three times by 1714. He later guided a Spanish expedition in 1720 to try and stop French expansion. However, a combined attack by Pawnee and Otoe warriors defeated the Spanish forces. After this, the Spanish left the Great Plains to the Native Americans.
After a big war called the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), France gave up its lands east of the Mississippi River to the British. Spain took over the lands west of the Mississippi. Since there weren't many valuable fur-bearing animals along the Platte, French and British fur traders didn't pay much attention to the area for a while.
The Louisiana Purchase and Western Trails
During the Napoleonic Wars, France briefly got the land west of the Mississippi River back from Spain. But in 1804, Napoleon sold this huge area to the United States in what was called the Louisiana Purchase. This deal nearly doubled the size of the U.S. for about $15 million.
In 1820, the U.S. Army sent Major Stephen H. Long to explore and map the Platte River area. Long described the region as a "great American desert" because it seemed hard to farm. Because of this and other reports, the U.S. wasn't very interested in settling the plains at first. People thought the best land was further west in Oregon or California.
The Native American trail along the Platte, North Platte River, and Sweetwater River was first written about in 1811 by Wilson Price Hunt. He was returning from the Pacific Ocean to the Missouri River. Later, in 1823, Jedediah Smith and other trappers "rediscovered" this route. It quickly became a major path for fur traders traveling to their summer meetings, called Rocky Mountain Rendezvous. By 1832, fur traders had improved this trail into a rough wagon road from the Missouri River all the way to the Green River in Wyoming.
Following the fur traders, many important wagon train trails were established along both sides of the Platte and North Platte Rivers. These included the Oregon Trail (used from 1843–1869), California Trail (1843–1869), Mormon Trail (1847–1869), and the Bozeman Trail (1863–68). This network of trails is sometimes called the Emigrant Trails or the Great Platte River Road.
The Platte River valley offered an easy path for wagons. It gradually sloped upwards as it went west from the Missouri River. Along the route, travelers could find water, grass for their animals, and bison for food. They even used dried bison droppings, called "buffalo chips," as fuel for fires. The Platte's water was often silty and didn't taste great, but it was usable if left to sit for a while.
Historians estimate that about 400,000 pioneers followed these trails along the Platte. This huge number of travelers put a lot of stress on the local environment. In 1846, a Lakota chief named They Fear Even His Horses expressed concerns to the U.S. President about the damage Americans were causing to the Platte. The increased travel also brought an epidemic of cholera that caused illness and hardship for many Native Americans, including the Lakota people, between 1848 and 1849. In response, the United States met with the Lakota and other Plains Indians for the Treaty of Fort Laramie.
Later, the Pony Express (1860–61) and the First Transcontinental Telegraph (completed in 1861) also followed these same trails along the Platte. The telegraph made the Pony Express unnecessary because it could send messages much faster. In 1866, the Union Pacific Railroad built its portion of the first Transcontinental Railroad along the Platte River, starting west from Omaha. In the 20th century, the Lincoln Highway and later Interstate 80 were also built through the Platte Valley, running parallel to the river for much of its length in Nebraska.
Many of Nebraska's larger cities, like Omaha (founded 1854), Fort Kearny (founded 1848), Grand Island (founded 1857), and North Platte (founded 1869), started near the Platte River because it was an important transportation route. In 1859, settlers built the first irrigation ditch to use the Platte's water for farming.
In March 1924, the U.S. Army Air Corps used airplanes to bomb a large ice jam that was threatening bridges near the town of North Bend.
Platte River Ecosystem
Birds of the Central Flyway
The Platte River is right in the middle of the Central Flyway. This is a main north-south path that millions of migratory birds use every year. They travel from their summer homes in places like Alaska and Canada to warmer areas for winter, and then return in the spring.
Many different bird species use this flyway. These include trumpeter swans, tundra swans, over a million Canada geese, greater white-fronted geese, and two types of sandhill cranes (the lesser and greater sandhill cranes). Other birds like canvasback ducks, bald eagles, herons, and several kinds of ducks also migrate through the Platte River area, though some travel shorter distances.
Some birds that use the flyway are considered endangered, meaning their populations are very low and they need protection. These include the whooping crane, piping plover, and the interior least tern. There's a special group called the Platte River Endangered Species Partnership that works to protect these birds.
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Plants and Animals of the Platte River Area
Common plants found in the Platte River area include tall grasses like big and little bluestem, switch grass, and large cottonwood trees. The area is also home to animals like white-tailed deer, many types of catfish, Canada geese, and bald eagles.
The Platte River area has always supported many different animal species. However, in recent times, the number of some animals has decreased. This is due to urbanization (more cities and towns) and farming, which have caused a loss of their natural homes. Some animals, like Canada geese, have adapted to living near farms. They find a lot of their food from leftover grains in fields. Many have even stopped migrating and now live year-round in suburban areas.
Managing the Platte River's Water
The Platte River flows through a dry part of the Midwest, and its water has been used a lot. Sometimes, especially in drier years, there isn't enough water to meet everyone's needs.
To help understand and manage the river better, a study called the Platte River Cooperative Hydrology Study (COHYST) began in 2004. This study, with help from groups like the United States Geological Survey, aims to learn more about the Platte River basin. This knowledge helps create plans for how to share the river's water for people to use and how to protect the endangered species that depend on it.
See also
In Spanish: Río Platte para niños
- List of Nebraska rivers
- Morning Star Lake (Nebraska)
- Platte River State Park
