Chariton River
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Chariton River is a 280-mile long tributary to the Missouri River in southeast Iowa and northeast Missouri.
It has been called Missouri's "Grand Divide" because streams west of the Chariton flow into the Missouri and streams east of it flow into the Mississippi River.[1]
The river is believed to have been named for Joseph Chorette who accompanied French Jean Baptiste Trudeau expedition up the Missouri in 1795 and drown while swimming in it. Variations of the name are Choret, Care and Carrette.[2]
The river forms in southeastern Clarke County, Iowa. It is dammed at 11,000-acre Rathbun Reservoir in Appanoose County, Iowa and then flows 30 miles before entering Missouri where it forms the boundary between Putnam County, Missouri and Schuyler County, Missouri. It enters the Missouri at Chariton County, Missouri below Keytesville, Missouri.
112 miles are in Missouri and 168 miles are in Iowa [3]
Below the Highway 136 bridge at Livonia, Missouri the river has been channelized and dredged. According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, "public use of Chariton River watershed streams is very low, largely because instream habitat has been so adversely affected by channelization and sedimentation".[4]
Major tributaries are Mussel Fork Creek and Shoal Creek. Because of extensive channeling the Little Chariton River, formerly a tributary, now flows directly into the Missouri about a mile from the main branch.
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