Canadian River
| Canadian | |
| River | |
 Canadian River south of Logan, New Mexico.
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| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| States | Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas |
| Source | Rocky Mountains |
| - location | Las Animas County, Colorado |
| - elevation | 2,900 m (9,514 ft) |
| - coordinates | 37°01′11″N 105°04′33″W / 37.01972°N 105.07583°W |
| Mouth | Arkansas River |
| - location | Haskell County, Oklahoma |
| - elevation | 142 m (466 ft) |
| - coordinates | 35°27′12″N 95°01′58″W / 35.45333°N 95.03278°WCoordinates: 35°27′12″N 95°01′58″W / 35.45333°N 95.03278°W |
| Length | 906 mi (1,458 km) |
| Basin | 47,576 sq mi (123,221 km2) |
| Discharge | for Whitefield, Oklahoma |
| - average | 6,434 cu ft/s (182 m3/s) |
| - max | 281,000 cu ft/s (7,957 m3/s) |
| - min | 357 cu ft/s (10 m3/s) |
 Canadian River Watershed
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| Website: Handbook of Texas: Canadian River | |
The Canadian River is the longest tributary of the Arkansas River. It is about 906 miles (1,458 km) long, starting in Colorado and traveling through New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and Oklahoma. The drainage area is about 47,700 square miles (124,000 km2).
The Canadian is sometimes referred to as the South Canadian River to differentiate it from the North Canadian River that flows into it.
It is unclear why the river is called the Canadian. On John C. Fremont's route map of 1845, the river's name is listed as "Goo-al-pah or Canadian River" from the Comanche and Kiowa name for the river (Kiowa gúlvàu, (IPA: [gúdl-p'ɔː]) 'red river'). In 1929 Muriel H. Wright wrote that the Canadian River was named about 1820 by French traders who noted another group of traders from Canada (Canadiens) had camped on the river near its confluence with the Arkansas River.
According to the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Spanish explorers in the 17th and 18th centuries called it the Rio Buenaventura and the Magdalena. The upper part was called Rio Colorado by the Spanish.
A more recent explanation comes from William Bright, who wrote that the name is "probably derived from Río Canadiano", a Spanish spelling of the Caddo word káyántinu, which was the Caddos' name for the nearby Red River.
The name could be of Spanish origin from the word cañada (meaning "glen"), as the Canadian River formed a steep canyon in northern New Mexico and a somewhat broad canyon in Texas. A few historical records document this explanation. Edward Hale, writing in 1929, considered the French origin of the name most probable.
The first European to explore the Canadian River was Juan de Oñate, the Spanish Governor of New Mexico, who followed the river from its origin to the western plains of what is now Oklahoma in 1701. Spanish traders and hunters were soon actively working in this area. French voyageurs were active along the lower Canadian. Bénard de la Harpe explored between the mouth of the river and the Kiamichi Mountains in 1715. Pierre and Paul Mallet followed the entire length of the river in 1740, as did another expedition led by Fabry de La Bruyere in 1741. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 resulted in all of the land east of the New Mexico border being acquired by the United States.
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Wikipedia