Sunflower River

Last updated
Sunflower River west of Ruleville, Mississippi. Sunflower River.jpg
Sunflower River west of Ruleville, Mississippi.

The Sunflower River (also known as the Big Sunflower River) is one of the main tributaries of the Yazoo River in the U.S. state of Mississippi. It is navigable by barge for 50 miles. It rises in DeSoto County, Mississippi near the Tennessee border and flows south for 100 miles to the Yazoo River, a major tributary of the Mississippi River. At Clarksdale, the county seat of Coahoma County, the annual Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival is held.

Contents

The United States Army Corps of Engineers maintains a navigation channel, thirty miles in length. Built in 1976, the channel is used by barges and pleasure craft.

According to the USGS, variant names include Hushpuckaman Creek. [1] [2] The Hushpuckena River drains the northwestern part of the Sunflower River Basin, Quiver River drains the northeastern portion, and Bogue Phalia drains the west central portion of the watershed, all of which lies in the alluvium soil of the Yazoo Delta. [3] At Sunflower, Mississippi, the river flow measures approximately 1,099 cubic feet per second. [4]

Water quality

Like the Yazoo, this river is silt laden. The river collects mud from runoff in the bayous and small streams that feed it. The river has a distinct "Clear-Mud Line" where it meets the Yazoo, showing that the Big Sunflower is muddier than the Yazoo at their confluence.

Archaeology

Early investigators of Native American culture identified many mound sites along the river. With what is now known of the cultures in the Southeast, scholars believe these earthwork mounds to have been built by cultures that existed before the emergence of the Choctaw and Chickasaw peoples. Clarence B. Moore conducted notable studies of the earthworks on the river near Holly Bluff, about a half a mile from the entrance to Lake George. [5]

Wildlife refuges

Land use along the river and in the watershed is predominantly agricultural, with many large-scale, industrial-style farms. From the antebellum period into the 20th century, cotton was the major commodity crop. [6]

Three forested areas have been designated as national wildlife refuges, the Holt Collier National Wildlife Refuge, the Dahomey National Wildlife Refuge, and the Panther Swamp National Wildlife Refuge; all are managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. [6]

In August 2023 the largest state alligator of record was killed in the river. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missouri River</span> Major river in central United States

The Missouri River is the longest river in the United States. Rising in the Eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitteroot Range of the Rocky Mountains of Southwestern Montana, the Missouri flows east and south for 2,341 miles (3,767 km) before entering the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, Missouri. The river drains a sparsely populated, semi-arid watershed of more than 500,000 square miles (1,300,000 km2), which includes parts of ten U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. Although a tributary of the Mississippi, the Missouri River is slightly longer and carries a comparable volume of water. When combined with the lower Mississippi River, it forms the world's fourth longest river system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cache River (Arkansas)</span> River in Arkansas, United States

The Cache River is a tributary of the White River, 213 mi (343 km) long, in northeastern Arkansas in the United States. Its headwaters also drain a small portion of southeastern Missouri. Via the White River, the Cache is part of the Mississippi River watershed, placing the river and surrounding watershed in the Arkansas Delta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tombigbee River</span> River in Alabama and Mississippi, United States

The Tombigbee River is a tributary of the Mobile River, approximately 200 mi (325 km) long, in the U.S. states of Mississippi and Alabama. Together with the Alabama, it merges to form the short Mobile River before the latter empties into Mobile Bay on the Gulf of Mexico. The Tombigbee watershed encompasses much of the rural coastal plain of western Alabama and northeastern Mississippi, flowing generally southward. The river provides one of the principal routes of commercial navigation in the southern United States, as it is navigable along much of its length through locks and connected in its upper reaches to the Tennessee River via the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaskaskia River</span> River in the United States

The Kaskaskia River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 325 miles (523 km) long, in central and southern Illinois in the United States. The second largest river system within Illinois, it drains a rural area of farms, as well as rolling hills along river bottoms of hardwood forests in its lower reaches. The lower reaches of the river have been canalized to allow barge traffic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Williamson River (Oregon)</span> River in Oregon, United States

The Williamson River of south-central Oregon in the United States is about 100 miles (160 km) long. It drains about 3,000 square miles (7,800 km2) east of the Cascade Range. Together with its principal tributary, the Sprague River, it provides over half the inflow to Upper Klamath Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Oregon. The lake's outlet is the Link River, which flows into Lake Ewauna and the Klamath River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swan River (Montana)</span> River in Montana, United States

The Swan River is a 95-mile (153 km) long, north-flowing river in western Montana in the United States. The river drains a long isolated valley, known as the Swan Valley, between the Swan Range on the east and the Mission Mountains to the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noxubee River</span> River in Alabama and Mississippi, United States

The Noxubee River (NAHKS-uh-bee) is a tributary of the Tombigbee River, about 90.6 miles (145.8 km) long, in east-central Mississippi and west-central Alabama in the United States. Via the Tombigbee, it is part of the watershed of the Mobile River, which flows to the Gulf of Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Muddy River</span> River in Southern Illinois

The Big Muddy River is a 156-mile-long (251 km) river in southern Illinois. It joins the Mississippi River just south of Grand Tower. The Big Muddy has been dammed near Benton, forming Rend Lake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crow River (Minnesota)</span> River in Minnesota, United States

The Crow River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in south-central Minnesota in the United States. It drains a watershed of 2,756 square miles (7,140 km2).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sweetwater River (California)</span> River in California, United States

The Sweetwater River is a 55-mile (89 km) long stream in San Diego County, California.

The Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge is a 12,941 acre (52.4 km2) National Wildlife Refuge located in Washington County, Mississippi. Named after the Yazoo tribe, it was established to provide waterfowl and other migratory birds in the Mississippi Flyway with nesting, feeding, brooding, and resting habitat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Francis River (Minnesota)</span> River in Minnesota, United States

The Saint Francis River is a 79.0-mile-long (127.1 km) tributary of the Elk River in east-central Minnesota in the United States. Via the Elk River, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area historically characterized by mixed hardwood and coniferous forests on flat to rolling till plains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow Bank River</span> River in the United States of America

The Yellow Bank River is a 12.0-mile-long (19.3 km) tributary of the Minnesota River in western Minnesota in the United States. It is formed by the confluence of two longer streams, the North Fork Yellow Bank River and the South Fork Yellow Bank River, which also flow in northeastern South Dakota. Via the Minnesota River, the Yellow Bank River is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River, draining an area of approximately 460 square miles (1,190 km²) in an agricultural region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holly Bluff site</span> Archaeological site in Yazoo County, Mississippi, United States

The Holly Bluff site, sometimes known as the Lake George Site, and locally as "The Mound Place," is an archaeological site that is a type site for the Lake George phase of the prehistoric Plaquemine culture period of the area. The site is on the southern margin of the Mississippian cultural advance down the Mississippi River and on the northern edge of that of the Cole's Creek and Plaquemine cultures of the South." The site was first excavated by Clarence Bloomfield Moore in 1908 and tested by Philip Phillips, Paul Gebhard and Nick Zeigler in 1949.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little River (Red River tributary)</span> River in Oklahoma and Arkansas, United States

The Little River is a tributary of the Red River, with a total length of 217 miles (349 km), 130 miles (210 km) within the Choctaw Indian Reservation in southeastern Oklahoma and 87 miles (140 km) in 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 Mud River is a 21.0-mile-long (33.8 km) stream of northwestern Minnesota in the United States. It flows from a point east of Grygla westwards to the Agassiz National Wildlife Refuge and the large wetlands complex surrounding Agassiz Pool. It is part of the Thief River watershed, which drains via the Red Lake River, the Red River of the North, Lake Winnipeg, and the Nelson River to Hudson Bay.

Winding Gulf is a 15.5-mile (24.9 km) long tributary of the Guyandotte River in Raleigh County, West Virginia. Winding Gulf is part of the Mississippi River watershed via the Guyandotte and Ohio Rivers, and drains an area of 21.63 square miles (56.0 km2) in a rural area on the Allegheny Plateau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Limestone Creek</span> River in Alabama, United States

Limestone Creek is 45.5 miles (73.2 km) long with a drainage area of 144.3 square miles (374 km2), and is a tributary to the Tennessee River. The river rises in Lincoln County, Tennessee, and flows south into Madison County, Alabama before flowing through Limestone County, Alabama, where most of the river's watershed is located. In fact, Limestone Creek is where Limestone County gets its name. Limestone Creek terminates in the Tennessee River at Arrowhead Landing, which is the southeasternmost point of Limestone County's Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. The land within this watershed is predominantly agricultural, but has experienced significant recent residential growth from the city of Huntsville.

The Spanish Fort Site (22-SH-500) is an archaeological site in the Delta region of the U.S. state of Mississippi. It is one of three major earthwork sites in the far southern portion of the Yazoo River valley, and it has been designated a historic site because of its archaeological value. Despite its name, the site was not built by the Spanish, and its original purpose is believed to have been ceremonial, not martial.

References

  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Big Sunflower River
  2. La Tourette, John. An Accurate Map or Delineation of the State of Mississippi, with a Large Portion of Alabama and Louisiana. Mobile, Alabama, 1839; and Map of the State of Alabama and West Florida. Montgomery, Alabama, 1856.
  3. Speers, Paul et al. (1964). "Low-Flow Characteristics of Streams in the Miss Embayment in Miss. and Ala.: Water Resources of the Mississippi Embayment." Geological Survey Professional Paper 448-1. Washington: GPO. pp. I-29
  4. "USGS Surface Water data for Mississippi: USGS Surface-Water Annual Statistics".
  5. Brown, Calvin S. (1926). Archeology of Mississippi. 1992 ed. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. p. 73. ISBN   0-87805-603-3
  6. 1 2 Barlow, J.R.B.; Coupe, R.H. (2014). "Occurrence and transport of nitrogen in the Big Sunflower River, northwestern Mississippi, October 2009–June 2011". U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report. Scientific Investigations Report. 5107: 3–4. doi: 10.3133/sir20145107 .
  7. AP staff. (30 August 20230. "Longest alligator in Mississippi history captured by hunters". AP website Retrieved 20 October 2023.

32°40′13″N90°40′4″W / 32.67028°N 90.66778°W / 32.67028; -90.66778