Marais des Cygnes River
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The Marais des Cygnes River (muhr-ee duh SEEN) is a principal tributary of the Osage River, about 140 mi (225 km) long, in eastern Kansas and western Missouri in the United States. Via the Osage and Missouri Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River. The name Marais des Cygnes means 'Marsh of the Swans' in French (presumably in reference to the Trumpeter Swan, which was historically common in the Midwest.) The river is notorious for flash flooding.
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[edit] Course
The Marais des Cygnes is formed about 3 mi (5 km) north of Reading in western Lyon County, Kansas by the confluence of Elm Creek and One Hundred Forty Two Mile Creek, and flows generally east-southeastwardly through Osage, Franklin, Miami and Linn Counties in Kansas, and Bates County in Missouri, past the Kansas towns of Melvern, Quenemo, Ottawa, Osawatomie and La Cygne and through the Marais des Cygnes National Wildlife Refuge. In Missouri, it joins the Little Osage River at the boundary of Bates and Vernon Counties to form the Osage River, 6 mi (9.7 km) west of Schell City.
In Osage County, Kansas, a US Army Corps of Engineers dam causes the river to form Melvern Lake, which is the site of Eisenhower State Park.
[edit] Floods
The Marais des Cygnes River has a history of flooding. One of the first such floods that has been noted is the Great Flood of 1844 known as "Big Water" in Native American legend. Though no measurements were taken, it is estimated to have crested at 40 feet.
After the 1844 flood, there were many floods, and some of the more notable ones include the 1909 flood, cresting at 36.3 feet; the 1915 flood, cresting at 31 feet; the 1928 flood, cresting at 38.65 feet which was a record until the 1951 flood; and the 1944 flood, cresting at 36.5 feet.
One of the most famous happened in the months of June and July 1951, is the Great Flood of 1951 which crested at 42.25 feet. 41 people were killed and was estimated to cost millions worth of damage. Other rivers that were affected by the flood are the Kansas River and Neosho River.
As a result of the 1951 floods, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers built levees and flood control systems on the Marais des Cygnes in the 1960s. These levees and pumping stations would help minimize the effects of a major flood.
[edit] Variant names
The United States Board on Geographic Names settled on "Marais des Cygnes River" as the name in 1971. According to the Geographic Names Information System, the river has also been known as:
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[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Columbia Gazetteer of North America entry
- DeLorme (2003). Kansas Atlas & Gazetteer. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. ISBN 0-89933-342-7.
- DeLorme (2002). Missouri Atlas & Gazetteer. Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. ISBN 0-89933-353-2.
- USGS GNIS: Marais des Cygnes River
