List of rivers in Arkansas (U.S. state).
For a list of dams and reservoirs in Arkansas, see List of Arkansas dams and reservoirs Rivers are listed by drainage basin, by size, and alphabetically.
This list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries indented under each larger stream's name.
Rivers are measured by their mean annual flow of water in cubic feet per second (cfs). One cubic foot equals .0283 cubic meters.
| River | cubic feet per second flow | Location of monitoring station | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mississippi River | 671,500 | near Vicksburg, Mississippi | |
| Arkansas River | 47,970 | Murray Dam, near Little Rock | |
| White River | 26,760 | near De Valls Bluff | |
| Red River | 19,230 | near Spring Bank | |
| Ouachita River | 11,012 | near Louisiana border | |
| St. Francis | 10,000 | below junction with L'Anguille River | estimated from limited data from US Army Corps of Engineers. See notes, below |
| Black River | 9,893 | near Elgin Ferry | |
| Little River | 4,621 | near Millwood Lake | no measurement gauge nearby; probably 1,000 – 2,000 cfs higher flow |
| Current River | 2,802 | near Doniphan, Missouri | |
| Saline River | 2,629 | near Rye | |
| Little Red River | 1,777 | near Dewey | |
| Spring River | 1,432 | near Imboden | |
| Buffalo River | 1,379 | near Harriet | |
| Cache River | 1,369 | near Cotton Plant | |
| Bayou Bartholomew | 1,221 | near Portland | |
| Eleven Point River | 1,157 | near Ravenden Springs | |
| L'Anguille River | 1,085 | near Palestine | |
| Petit Jean River | 828 | near Danville | |
| Crooked Creek | 669 | near Yellville | |
| Illinois River | 622 | near Siloam Springs | larger downstream in Oklahoma |
| Kings River | 582 | near Berryville | |
| Mulberry River | 557 | near Mulberry | |
| Lee Creek | 531 | near Van Buren | |
| Big Piney Creek | 481 | near Dover | |
| Smackover Creek | 415 | near Smackover | |
| Saline River | 385 | near Lockesburg | |
| Illinois Bayou | 379 | near Scottsville | |
| Mammoth Spring | 351 | near Mammoth Spring | |
| War Eagle Creek | 295 | near Hindsville | |
| Antoine Creek | 278 | near Antoine | |
| Cadron Creek | 271 | near Guy | |
| Caddo River | 266 | near Caddo Gap | upper course, larger downstream |
| West Fork Point Remove Creek | 257 | near Hattieville | |
| Moro Creek | 256 | near Fordyce | |
| Bayou Macon | 240 | near Eudora | |
| South Fork of Little Red River | 238 | near Clinton | |
| Cossatot River | 187 | near Vandervoort | upper course, larger downstream |
| Richland Creek | 179 | near Goshen | |
| West Fork White River | 166 | near Fayetteville | |
| Little Missouri River | 148 | near Langley | |
| James Fork | 147 | near Hackett | |
| Osage Creek | 134 | near Elm Springs | |
| Richland Creek | 118 | near Witts Spring | |
| Bear Creek | 108 | near Silver Hill | |
| Rolling Fork River | ? | no measurement gauge, but hundreds of cfs | |
| Strawberry River | ? | no measurement gauge, but hundreds of cfs |
Notes and sources: There are two Richland Creeks and two Saline Rivers in Arkansas. Flow of rivers differs substantially between years and seasons. Source for all rivers except St. Francis is the "USGS Water-Data Report – 2012" at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ar/nwis/current/?type=flow&group_key=basin_cd; The flow of the St. Francis River flow is estimated from US Army Corps of Engineers data at https://archive.today/20130708123645/http://w3.mvm.usace.army.mil/hydraulics/docs/historic/sfdata/sf13284d
The Ouachita National Forest is a vast congressionally-designated National Forest that lies in the western portion of Arkansas and portions of extreme-eastern Oklahoma, USA.
The Ouachita Mountains, simply referred to as the Ouachitas, are a mountain range in western Arkansas and southeastern Oklahoma. They are formed by a thick succession of highly deformed Paleozoic strata constituting the Ouachita Fold and Thrust Belt, one of the important orogenic belts of North America. The Ouachitas continue in the subsurface to the northeast, where they make a poorly understood connection with the Appalachians and to the southwest, where they join with the Marathon uplift area of West Texas. Together with the Ozark Plateaus, the Ouachitas form the U.S. Interior Highlands. The highest natural point is Mount Magazine at 2,753 feet.
The Saline River, also known as Saline Creek, is a 202-mile-long (325 km) tributary of the Ouachita River in the south central portion of the U.S. state of Arkansas. It is the longest river that flows entirely within the state of Arkansas.
The Ouachita River is a 605-mile-long (974 km) river that runs south and east through the U.S. states of Arkansas and Louisiana, joining the Tensas River to form the Black River near Jonesville, Louisiana. It is the 25th-longest river in the United States.
The Cossatot River is an 89-mile-long (143 km) river in Howard, Polk and Sevier counties in the U.S. state of Arkansas.
The Fourche La Fave River is a tributary of the Arkansas River, approximately 151 miles (243 km) long, in western Arkansas in the United States. It drains part of the northern Ouachita Mountains west of Little Rock.
The Poteau River is a 141-mile (227 km) long river located in the U.S. states of Arkansas and Oklahoma. It is the only river in Oklahoma that flows north and is the seventh largest river in the state. It is a tributary of the Arkansas River, which itself is a tributary of the Mississippi River. During the Indian Territory period prior to Oklahoma's statehood (1838-1906), the stream served as the boundary between Skullyville County and Sugar Loaf County, two of the counties making up the Moshulatubbee District of the Choctaw Nation.
The Fourche Creek watershed is arguably the most important urban watershed in the state of Arkansas in the United States for ecological, economic, and social reasons.
The Little River is a tributary of the Red River, with a total length of 217 miles (349 km), 130 miles (210 km) in southeastern Oklahoma and 87 miles (140 km) in southwestern Arkansas. in southeastern Oklahoma and southwestern Arkansas in the United States. Via the Red, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River. Six large reservoirs impound the Little River and its tributaries. The drainage basin of the river totals 4,204 square miles (10,890 km2), 2,204 square miles (5,710 km2) in Oklahoma and 2,036 square miles (5,270 km2) in Arkansas. The Little River and its upper tributaries are popular for recreational canoeing and kayaking.
The geography of Arkansas varies widely. The state is covered by mountains, river valleys, forests, lakes, and bayous in addition to the cities of Arkansas. Hot Springs National Park features bubbling springs of hot water, formerly sought across the country for their healing properties. Crowley's Ridge is a geological anomaly rising above the surrounding lowlands of the Mississippi embayment.
The Flatside Wilderness is a 9,507-acre protected area in the U.S. state of Arkansas. It is one of six wilderness areas in the Ouachita National Forest and also the easternmost. Outdoor enthusiasts can enjoy the area in a number of ways, including an 8.9-mile section of the Ouachita National Recreation Trail.
The South Fourche La Fave River is a stream in the Ouachita Mountains of Perry and Yell counties of Arkansas. It is a tributary of the Fourche La Fave River.
