Walnut River (Kansas)

<h2 id="course">Course</h2>
<p>The Walnut River rises in northern <a href="/facts/Butler_County,_Kansas/buPNacnu">Butler County</a> and flows generally southward through Butler and <a href="/facts/Cowley_County,_Kansas/vmuMXMc9">Cowley</a> Counties, past the towns of <a href="/facts/El_Dorado,_Kansas/fsUo0e0G">El Dorado</a>, <a href="/facts/Augusta,_Kansas/SunjXzIk">Augusta</a>, <a href="/facts/Winfield,_Kansas/KtA4TPwb">Winfield</a> and <a href="/facts/Douglass,_Kansas/ujAKLJYL">Douglass</a>.  It joins the Arkansas River at <a href="/facts/Arkansas_City,_Kansas/DILUAPL6">Arkansas City</a>.  The Walnut's principal tributaries are the <a href="/facts/Whitewater_River_(Kansas)/4en5SnkT">Whitewater River</a>, which joins it at Augusta, and the Little Walnut River, which joins it in southern Butler County. The Walnut River drainage basin comprises 2,380 square miles (6,200 km2) in an ecoregion characterized by rocky, rolling hills and prairie. Elevations range from 1,050 to 1,625 feet (320 to 495 m) in the basin. Average precipitation, mostly summer rainfall, varies from 32 to 38 inches (810 to 970 mm) annually. <a href="/facts/Tallgrass_prairie/zgnU4FJc">Tallgrass prairie</a> is the most common vegetation, covering 66 percent of the land.  Crop land covers 23 percent and woodlands cover five percent. Major crops are wheat, soybeans, cotton, hay, sorgum, and corn. Cattle are the most important livestock.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a>
</p><p>Upstream of El Dorado, a <a href="/facts/U.S._Army_Corps_of_Engineers/m92nc6gR">U.S. Army Corps of Engineers</a> <a href="/facts/Dam/BroJFhEI">dam</a> causes the river to form <a href="/facts/El_Dorado_Lake/5pRme0F8">El Dorado Lake</a>, along which a Kansas <a href="/facts/State_park/yVKpXFt8">state park</a> has been designated. The lake consists of about 8,000 acres (3,200 ha) of water with another 8,000 acres of land along its shores designated as park and wildlife areas.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a>  The other large lake in the Walnut River basin is Winfield City Lake with 1,250 acres (510 ha) of water surrounded by 1,150 acres (470 ha) of parkland.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a>  Both lakes offer recreational opportunities including fishing, boating, hunting, camping, and wildlife observation.
</p><p>In Winfield, the east side of the old Tunnel Mill Dam is a public fishing spot. It is staged directly near the old Kickapoo Corral. The west side of the dam and the Kickapoo Corral are both privately owned and closed to the public. A whirlpool is created by a hole in solid limestone about 15 feet (4.6 m) down on the river bed directly off the cliffs of the Corral. The bottom is sandy and somewhat rocky.
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<h2 id="historical-sites">Historical sites</h2>
<p>Near the mouth of the Walnut River, in eastern <a href="/facts/Arkansas_City,_Kansas/DILUAPL6">Arkansas City</a>, are a large number of archaeological sites, including the historical city of <a href="/facts/Etzanoa/yCGWpnB2">Etzanoa</a>, a <a href="/facts/Wichita_people/BRy68DB1">Wichita</a> settlement that flourished between 1450 and 1700 and housed perhaps 20,000 people.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> This site was visited in 1601 by <a href="/facts/Santa_Fe_de_Nuevo_M%C3%A9xico/JuDRvgl0">New Mexico</a> governor <a href="/facts/Juan_de_O%C3%B1ate/fqDmbf8W">Juan de Oñate</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a>
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<h2 id="festival">Festival</h2>
<p>The <a href="/facts/Walnut_Valley_Festival/5dqtNplh">Walnut Valley Festival</a> is held along the banks in Winfield.
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<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/List_of_Kansas_rivers/hCqhp72R">List of Kansas rivers</a></li></ul>
<h2 id="sources">Sources</h2>

<ul><li><a href="http://reference.allrefer.com/gazetteer/W/W00577-walnut-river.html">Columbia Gazetteer of North America entry</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/DeLorme/hrqSx4oQ">DeLorme</a> (2003).  <i>Kansas Atlas & Gazetteer</i>.  Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme.  <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 0-89933-342-7.</li></ul>
<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://www.swt.usace.army.mil/recreat/OPSField.CFM?tblOPSField__LakeName=El%20Dorado%20Lake">Corps of Engineers' El Dorado Lake website</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.kdwp.state.ks.us/news/state_parks/locations/el_dorado">El Dorado State Park website</a></li>
<li><a href="https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/search/names/470063">U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Walnut River</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed March 29, 2011 <a href="https://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/" target="_blank">https://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>"Walnut River Basin." http://www.kwo.org/Kansas%20Plan/SWP/KWP_2008/Vol_III_Docs/WAL/Rpt_WAL_Basin_Description_KWP2009.pdf <a href="http://www.kwo.org/Kansas%20Plan/SWP/KWP_2008/Vol_III_Docs/WAL/Rpt_WAL_Basin_Description_KWP2009.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.kwo.org/Kansas%20Plan/SWP/KWP_2008/Vol_III_Docs/WAL/Rpt_WAL_Basin_Description_KWP2009.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>"Walnut River Basin." http://www.kwo.org/Kansas%20Plan/SWP/KWP_2008/Vol_III_Docs/WAL/Rpt_WAL_Basin_Description_KWP2009.pdf <a href="http://www.kwo.org/Kansas%20Plan/SWP/KWP_2008/Vol_III_Docs/WAL/Rpt_WAL_Basin_Description_KWP2009.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.kwo.org/Kansas%20Plan/SWP/KWP_2008/Vol_III_Docs/WAL/Rpt_WAL_Basin_Description_KWP2009.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>"Winfield City Lake". <a href="http://www.naturalkansas.org/winfield.htm" target="_blank">http://www.naturalkansas.org/winfield.htm</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>Kelly, David (19 August 2018). "Archaeologists explore a rural field in Kansas, and a lost city emerges". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 December 2018. <a href="https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-kansas-lost-city-20180819-htmlstory.html" target="_blank">https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-kansas-lost-city-20180819-htmlstory.html</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:6"><p>Vehik, Susan C. "Oñate's Expedition to the Southern Plains: Routes, Destinations, and Implications for Late Prehistoric Cultural Adaptations." Plains Anthropologist, Vol 31, No. 111, 1986, 13-33 <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:7"><p>Hawley, Marlin F. "European Contact and Southwestern Artifacts in the Lower Walnut Focus Sites at Arkansas City, Kansas", Plains Anthropologist, Vol 45, No. 173, August 2000, 237-255 <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:8"><p>"OAS - Oklahoma's Past". Ou.edu. Retrieved 2010-11-13. <a href="http://www.ou.edu/cas/archsur/counties/kay.htm" target="_blank">http://www.ou.edu/cas/archsur/counties/kay.htm</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
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Walnut River (Kansas) open-in-new

Walnut River (Kansas)