Canadian
Canadian is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- 35.86°, -99.67°
About Canadian
The Canadian River is the longest tributary of the Arkansas River. Entirely within the United States, it is about 1,026 miles (1,651 km) long, starting in Colorado and traveling through New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and Oklahoma. The drainage area is about 47,700 square miles (124,000 km2).
The Canadian is sometimes referred to as the South Canadian River to differentiate it from its tributary the North Canadian River.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Canadian River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Canadian in Depth
Course
The river rises on the east side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, around 9,600 ft (2,900 m) above sea level, in remote southwestern Las Animas County, Colorado, roughly 1.5 mi (2.4 km) north of the New Mexico border. An upper tributary of the Vermejo River heads around 12,000 feet (3,700 m) in elevation in the Culebra Range and has a confluence with the Canadian south of Maxwell, New Mexico. Overall, the meandering course is 1,026 miles (1,651 km) from its origin to its confluence with the Arkansas River. The main tributaries are the North Canadian, Little, and Deep Fork Rivers.
After rising in Colorado, the Canadian flows east-southeast across the New Mexico border, then south, passing west of Raton, New Mexico. It forms a deep canyon south of Springer, New Mexico.
History
The first European to explore the Canadian River was Juan de Oñate, the Spanish governor of New Mexico, who followed the river from its origin to the western plains of what is now Oklahoma in 1601. Spanish traders and hunters were soon actively working in this area. French voyageurs were active along the lower Canadian. Bénard de la Harpe explored between the mouth of the river and the Kiamichi Mountains in 1715. Pierre and Paul Mallet followed the entire length of the river in 1740, as did another expedition led by Fabry de la Bruyère in 1741. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 resulted in all of the land east of the New Mexico border being acquired by the United States.
The Treaty of Doak's Stand in 1820, made the Canadian River the northern boundary of the Choctaw Nation.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Canadian River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Canadian: Key Facts
| Length | 1,458 km |
|---|---|
| Average discharge | 200 m³/s |
| Drainage basin | 124,000 km² |
| Source | Rocky Mountains |
| Mouth | Arkansas River |
| Drainage system | Arkansas River basin |
| Tributaries | Cimarron River, North Canadian River, Vermejo River |
Facts from Wikidata Q597753 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Canadian: Quick Answers
- Where is Canadian?
- Canadian is located in United States, at 35.8633° N, 99.6728° W.
- Are there dams on the Canadian?
- No dam on the Canadian is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.