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34-719: The Nishnabotna River ( / n ɪ ʃ n ə ˈ b ɑː t n ə / ) is a tributary of the Missouri River in southwestern Iowa , northwestern Missouri and southeastern Nebraska in the United States . It flows for most of its length as two parallel streams in Iowa, the East Nishnabotna River and the West Nishnabotna River . The east and west branches are each about 120 miles (190 km) long; from their confluence

68-473: A contract with the Hamburg, Iowa, schools provided for the education of the eleven pupils living on the island then." The old school house was used as a polling place. The Hamburg school meant that students had to travel from Nebraska and go through Missouri before attending school in Iowa. Most of the island's land was under 2 to 10 feet of water during the 2011 Missouri River Flood , as levees protecting it from

102-400: A new river, to be given its own name, perhaps one already known to the people who live upon its banks. Conversely, explorers approaching a new land from the sea encounter its rivers at their mouths, where they name them on their charts, then, following a river upstream, encounter each tributary as a forking of the stream to the right and to the left, which then appear on their charts as such; or

136-400: A river or stream that branches off from and flows away from the main stream. Distributaries are most often found in river deltas . Right tributary , or right-bank tributary , and left tributary , or left-bank tributary , describe the orientation of the tributary relative to the flow of the main stem river. These terms are defined from the perspective of looking downstream, that is, facing

170-623: Is 506 cubic feet per second. The West Nishnabotna River rises in southwestern Carroll County and also flows generally south-southwestwardly through Crawford , Shelby , Pottawattamie , Mills and Fremont Counties, past the towns of Manning , Irwin , Kirkman , Harlan , Avoca , Hancock , Oakland and Carson . At Harlan it collects the West Fork West Nishnabotna River , which rises in southwestern Carroll County and flows southwestwardly through Crawford and Shelby Counties, past Manilla and Defiance . Near Avoca it collects

204-446: Is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream ( main stem or "parent" ), river, or a lake . A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean . Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they flow, drain the surrounding drainage basin of its surface water and groundwater , leading the water out into an ocean. The Irtysh is a chief tributary of the Ob river and

238-411: Is also the longest tributary river in the world with a length of 4,248 km (2,640 mi). The Madeira River is the largest tributary river by volume in the world with an average discharge of 31,200 m /s (1.1 million cu ft/s). A confluence , where two or more bodies of water meet, usually refers to the joining of tributaries. The opposite to a tributary is a distributary ,

272-493: Is not a true enclave, since it is physically attached to Nebraska through the river. It is more accurately described as a pene-exclave or practical exclave. A dispute over whether Missouri or Nebraska had jurisdiction was determined in a 1904 United States Supreme Court decision, but it was not until 1999 that the two states entered an interstate compact , with the approval of the United States Congress , that enacted

306-478: Is officially called McKissick Island on the Geographic Names Information System . The island is northeast of the line that otherwise forms Nemaha County/Otoe County, but is considered a precinct (equivalent of a township ) of Nemaha County. Maps interchangeably refer to it under both McKissick Island and McKissick's Island. The Supreme Court ruling uses the name McKissick's Island. A map of

340-399: Is thus bounded is subject to loss by the same means which may add to his territory; and as he is without remedy for his loss, in this way, he cannot be held accountable for his gain." The court told the states to either accept the boundaries surveyed in 1895 or ask for a new survey. The boundary was not further defined until 1999 when the states agreed to have Midland Surveying, Inc. conduct

374-512: The East Branch West Nishnabotna River , which rises in southwestern Carroll County and flows southwestwardly through Audubon, Shelby and Pottawattamie Counties. The West Nishnabotna was the topic of a humorous song "Four Wheel Drive" on the 1975 C.W. McCall album Wolf Creek Pass . At Randolph, Iowa , the river averages 747 cubic feet per second. The East and West rivers merge in southwestern Fremont County and continue as

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408-578: The Richter magnitude scale ) occurred 130 miles from the island, shaking Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. The quake was near the Nemaha Ridge . While there was no reported direct connection to the earthquake and the rerouting of the Missouri River, some residents have said it may have contributed. On July 5, 1867, a little more than four months after Nebraska entered the union, a flood avulsion dug out

442-423: The slough on the west side of the island, straightening its flow around the oxbow meander . The channel separating it from mainland Nebraska deepened following an 1880s flood. In the meantime, the riverbed that had flowed to the east of the river dried up, and the land became tillable and de facto connected by land to Missouri, while those from Nebraska had to access it by ferry (no bridges had been built nearby at

476-519: The Missouri and caused the Nishnabotna to flow about two miles further to reach the Missouri. The Nishnabotna forms roughly the southeastern border of the 5,000 acre McKissick Island which was the land Nebraska and Missouri both claimed. The Supreme Court in 1904 officially drew the border with Nebraska getting the land although it is east of Nebraska's normal eastern border which is the river. At Hamburg,

510-460: The Nishnabotna River for its short course past Hamburg and into northwestern Atchison County, Missouri , where it flows into the Missouri River 2 mi (3 km) west of Watson . In the last mile of the river it flows from Missouri to Nebraska and back to Missouri before entering the Missouri river in west central Atchison County, MO. This is because an 1867 flood straightened a bend in

544-430: The Nishnabotna flows approximately another 16 miles (26 km). Several sections of the rivers' courses have been straightened and heavily channelized . In March 2024 a fertilizer spill killed much of the aquatic life across a 60-mile stretch of the Nishnabotna river in Iowa and Missouri, leaving an estimated 789,000 fish dead in one of the region’s most ecologically devastating chemical spills on record. The source of

578-539: The area in the 1840s before Missouri's borders with Nebraska and Iowa had been finalized with those states' entry into the union. The family were among the first settlers of Fremont County, Iowa , where they founded McKissick's Grove about one mile north of the McKissick Island, thinking it was in Missouri. When Iowa entered the union in 1846, that grove near today's Hamburg, Iowa was determined to be in Iowa. The McKissicks moved to California in 1861. The island

612-491: The border was not surveyed at the time). Nebraska argued that its borders were surveyed when it entered the union. Justice John Marshall Harlan delivered the opinion, saying, "The question is well settled at common law, that the person whose land is bounded by a stream of water, which changes its course gradually by alluvial formations, shall still hold by the same boundary, including the accumulated soil. No other rule can be applied on just principles. Every proprietor whose land

646-570: The boundary into law. The area is about 5,000 acres in size and has always had a small population. As of 2006 it was reported that only one house was on the island. The only road sign on it uses the Nemaha County street grid of 647A Avenue and 739A Road rather than the Atchison County, Missouri grid which surrounds it. The island derives its name from the McKissick family, who bought land in

680-421: The direction the water current of the main stem is going. In a navigational context, if one were floating on a raft or other vessel in the main stream, this would be the side the tributary enters from as one floats past; alternately, if one were floating down the tributary, the main stream meets it on the opposite bank of the tributary. This information may be used to avoid turbulent water by moving towards

714-568: The east fork (see "Paddling Iowa" by Nate Hoogeveen). The Wabash Trace Nature Trail crosses both forks. At its crossing of the west fork one can see the wreckage of a freight train that derailed and went into the drink in the 1960s. According to the Geographic Names Information System , the river has also been known as: Other literature sources cite many of the above name in addition to: 40°30′52″N 95°40′38″W  /  40.5145°N 95.6773°W  / 40.5145; -95.6773 Tributary A tributary , or an affluent ,

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748-446: The first-order tributary being typically the least in size. For example, a second-order tributary would be the result of two or more first-order tributaries combining to form the second-order tributary. Another method is to list tributaries from mouth to source, in the form of a tree structure , stored as a tree data structure . McKissick Island It is sometimes described as a Nebraska enclave within Missouri, although it

782-451: The handedness is from the point of view of an observer facing upstream. For instance, Steer Creek has a left tributary which is called Right Fork Steer Creek. These naming conventions are reflective of the circumstances of a particular river's identification and charting: people living along the banks of a river, with a name known to them, may then float down the river in exploration, and each tributary joining it as they pass by appears as

816-465: The name comes from the Osage language and means "spouting wellspring." The East Nishnabotna rises in southwestern Carroll County and flows generally south-southwestwardly through Audubon , Cass , Pottawattamie , Montgomery , Page and Fremont Counties, past the towns of Exira , Brayton , Atlantic , Lewis , Elliott , Shenandoah , Red Oak and Riverton . At Red Oak, the river's average discharge

850-462: The opposite bank before approaching the confluence. An early tributary is a tributary that joins the main stem river closer to its source than its mouth, that is, before the river's midpoint ; a late tributary joins the main stem further downstream, closer to its mouth than to its source, that is, after the midpoint. In the United States, where tributaries sometimes have the same name as

884-551: The river attributed to Robert E. Lee in 1837 showed the island on the Nebraska side. On March 1, 1867, Nebraska entered the union with officially recognized boundaries including McKissick's Island. Missouri had extended its border to the Missouri River in northwest Missouri in 1836 in the Platte Purchase and did not claim the island when those borders were drawn. On April 24, 1867, the 1867 Manhattan, Kansas earthquake (5.1 on

918-452: The river has a mean annual discharge of 1,441 cubic feet per second. Parks along the river include Botna Bend in Hancock, Willow Slough Wildlife Management Area 3 miles southwest of Henderson, and Riverton Wildlife Management Area, just north of Riverton. Canoe rentals are available at Botna Bend. The best paddling is between Hancock and Carson on the west fork and between Lewis and Griswold on

952-643: The river into which they feed, they are called forks . These are typically designated by compass direction. For example, the American River in California receives flow from its North, Middle, and South forks. The Chicago River 's North Branch has the East, West, and Middle Fork; the South Branch has its South Fork, and used to have a West Fork as well (now filled in). Forks are sometimes designated as right or left. Here,

986-418: The smaller stream designated the little fork, the larger either retaining its name unmodified, or receives the designation big . Tributaries are sometimes listed starting with those nearest to the source of the river and ending with those nearest to the mouth of the river . The Strahler stream order examines the arrangement of tributaries in a hierarchy of first, second, third and higher orders, with

1020-506: The spill originated when a valve was left open on a storage tank over the weekend of March 9-11 at NEW Cooperative, an agricultural business in Red Oak, Iowa. The leak drained approximately 265,000 gallons of liquid nitrogen fertilizer into the nearby East Nishnabotna River. Traditionally, it has been assumed that the name "Nishnabotna" comes from an Otoe (Chiwere) word meaning "canoe-making river." However, it has been proposed more recently that

1054-432: The streams are seen to diverge by the cardinal direction (north, south, east, or west) in which they proceed upstream, sometimes a third stream entering between two others is designated the middle fork; or the streams are distinguished by the relative height of one to the other, as one stream descending over a cataract into another becomes the upper fork, and the one it descends into, the lower ; or by relative volume:

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1088-713: The survey. This in turn led to the Missouri-Nebraska Compact, which the states and Congress approved in 1999. The two closest Missouri River bridges offering access were built in the 1930s when the northerly route via Waubonsie Bridge (subsequently replaced by the Nebraska City Bridge ) in 1930 and the southerly route through the Brownville Bridge opened in 1939. The Nebraska City route requires one to travel through Otoe County, cross into Iowa and then come back through Missouri. The Brownville Bridge (which

1122-517: The time). In 1895 the county surveyors of Nemaha County and Atchison County surveyed the abandoned bed of the Missouri River. On February 24, 1904, Missouri filed a claim with the Supreme Court claiming jurisdiction. Nebraska filed a cross suit. Missouri argued that when Congress approved the extension of borders under the Platte Purchase, the border was to be the middle of the river (although

1156-629: Was actually paid for by Atchison County) connects Nemaha County and Atchison County at Brownville, Nebraska . Prior to the 1920s the only non-rail land access between the sides involved either going to Omaha, Nebraska to the Ak-Sar-Ben Bridge or to Kansas City, Missouri to the ASB Bridge . The island at various times had a Methodist church (built in 1897) and a school. In 1907 it had "30 families with 56 children, 36 of which were enrolled in school. In 1966 there were seven families living there, and

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