Platte River

Catchment area of ​​the Platte River with South and North Platte River

A Canada heron and a non- adult Bald Eagles on the Platte River in Nebraska.

The Platte River [ plæt ] is a 499 km long right tributary of the Missouri River in the U.S. state of Nebraska.

Its river system is one of the most important components of the watershed of the Missouri River, and drained much of the Great Plains in Nebraska and the eastern Rocky Mountains in Colorado and Wyoming. The river had in the expansion of the United States to the west a major importance since proceeded on its course along the main travel routes, including the Oregon Trail and the Mormon Trail. In the 18th century the river at the French fur traders was also known as Nebraska River.

Run

The river arises in the western Nebraska in North Platte by the confluence of its headwaters North Platte River and South Platte River, which originate in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado near the Continental Divide. In a large bow he initially flows to the southeast and then in a northeasterly direction, passing on his way the cities of Gothenburg, Cozad, Kearney and Grand Iceland. Eight kilometers southeast of Columbus opens the Loup River a. The Platte River then flows east to Northbend over to Fremont and then bends to the south. After it is over flowed south to Omaha, it opens a few kilometers north of Plattsmouth in the Missouri River.

The catchment area of ​​the plate is about 233 100 square kilometers. Together with the North Platte River, he is 1593 km long. The Platte River drains one of the driest areas in the Great Plains, and therefore its volume of water is significantly lower than the other rivers of North America comparable length. In the largest part of its course it is a broad but shallow river.

In the early days of the Platte River, " one mile to its mouth wide, but only six inches deep " was humorous as described and this was transferred to a native of Nebraska politician William Jennings Bryan.

In the West Nebraska bank and riverbed are an oasis in the otherwise semi-arid region. The central portion of the Platte River is an important resting place for migrating birds of waterfowl on the Mittlerer Vogelflugweg North America, for example, whooping cranes and sandhill cranes.

The river has shrunk significantly over the past seven decades, partly dating back to irrigation, but is due to the larger in the construction of dams. These are used for abstraction of drinking water for the growing population of Colorado, which is no longer sufficient for the use of groundwater.

History

The first European who explored the Platte River, was the French explorer Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourg Mont, the river gave the name " Nebra skis " 1714. The word is derived from the language of the Oto word meaning " flat water ". Later, the river was named after the French word for flat, " plate ". For the French, the river was a valuable transport in the fur trade with the Indians of the tribes of the Pawnee and Oto.

The river was in a gray area between Spanish and French claims on the Great Plains. Joseph Naranjo, an explorer African- Indian descent, also visited up to the plate and later led the expedition Villasur here to stop the French expansion. This expedition was the farthest advance of the Spaniards in the great plains.

After the area was ceded by the Louisiana Purchase to the United States, explored and mapped in 1820 Major Stephen Harriman Long the river. He played an important role in the train to the West in the 19th century. Both the Oregon Trail and the Mormon Trail followed the course of the board and North Platte River. During the 1860s, the two rivers formed the route of the Pony Express ' and later for the portion of the Union Pacific Railroad in the construction of the first rail crossing in North America. In the 20th century, the valley of the route of the Lincoln Highway and later Interstate 80 was used, which runs parallel to the plate and North Platte River through most of Nebraska.

Literary references

The epic novel " The Colorado Saga " author James A. Michener is about the development of the West from prehistoric to modern times. It plays in the wider area of the fictional town of Centennial, located on the Platte River, where the history of the Great Plains and the plate is told. The river as a resting place for cranes play an important role in the novel " The Echo of Memory" by Richard Powers.

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