Platte
Platte 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
- 41.04°, -98.04°
About Platte
The Platte River () is a major river in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is about 310 mi (500 km) long; measured to its farthest source via its tributary, the North Platte River, it flows for over 1,050 miles (1,690 km). The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, which itself is a tributary of the Mississippi River, which flows to the Gulf of Mexico. The Platte over most of its length is a broad, shallow, meandering stream with a sandy bottom and many islands—a braided stream.
The Platte is one of the most significant tributary systems in the watershed of the Missouri, draining a large portion of the central Great Plains in Nebraska and the eastern Rocky Mountains in Colorado and Wyoming. The river valley played an important role in the westward expansion of the United States, providing the route for several major emigrant trails, including the Oregon, California, Mormon, and Bozeman trails. The first Europeans to see the Platte were French explorers and fur trappers about 1714; they first called it the Nebraskier (Nebraska), a transliteration of the name given by the Otoe people, meaning "flat water".
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Platte River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Platte in Depth
Geography
The Platte River is formed in western Nebraska east of the city of North Platte, Nebraska by the confluence of the North Platte and the South Platte Rivers, which both arise from snowmelt in the eastern Rockies east of the Continental Divide.
In central northern Colorado is the North Park valley, ringed by mountains over 12,000 feet (3,700 m) high; this is where the North Platte River originates. The head of the North Platte River is essentially all of Jackson County; its boundaries are the continental divide on the west and south and the mountain drainage peaks on the east—the north boundary is the state of Wyoming. The nearest Colorado town is Walden, the county seat.
History
Varying cultures of indigenous peoples lived intermittently along the Platte for thousands of years before European exploration. Historical tribes claimed various territories in the region. The Indian tribes typically visited different areas in different seasons, following the bison herds during hunting seasons. The introduction of horses, which had escaped from early Spanish explorers in the 1540s, dramatically changed life in the Great Plains. Indian tribes could more easily follow the buffalo herds as they migrated from north to south and back. Before 1870, herds of several hundred thousand bison (buffalo) periodically migrated across the Platte in following seasonal grazing. The animals often waded or swam across the Platte.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Platte River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Platte: Key Facts
| Length | 499 km |
|---|---|
| Average discharge | 199 m³/s |
| Drainage basin | 241,000 km² |
| Source | North Platte River |
| Mouth | Missouri River |
| Drainage system | Platte River basin |
| Tributaries | Elkhorn River, Loup River, Salt Creek, North Platte River, South Platte River, Wood River |
Facts from Wikidata Q655754 (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
Platte: Quick Answers
- Where is Platte?
- Platte is located in United States, at 41.0381° N, 98.0427° W.
- Are there dams on the Platte?
- No dam on the Platte is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.