Kaskaskia River
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The Kaskaskia River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 320 mi (515 km) long, in central and southern Illinois in the United States. The second largest river system within Illinois, it drains a rural area of farms, as well as rolling hills along river bottoms of hardwood forests in its lower reaches.
Description
It rises in east central Illinois in several farm ditches along the west side of Champaign. It flows south across rural Champaign and Douglas counties, then southwest across southern Illinois, past Vandalia. It joins the Mississippi from the north approximately 10 mi (16 km) northwest of Chester and 40 mi SSE of St. Louis, Missouri. The watershed of the river encompasses approximately 5,746 square miles (14,950 km²), approximately 10.2% of the entire state of Illinois.
The rivers is impounded in Shelby County to form Lake Shelbyville. It isis impounded in Clinton County southwest of Vandalia to form Carlyle Lake. .
In the 19th century the river joined the Mississippi at Chester. In 1881 the Mississippi changed its channel to flow along the lower 10 mi (16 km) of the channel of the Kaskaskia. As a result, a small portion of Illinois, including the former capital of Kaskaskia is now located on the west side of the Mississippi. The Kaskaskia River State Fish & Wildlife Area and located along the lower river in southern Illinois.
Fort Kaskaskia was located near the mouth of the river in Randolph County.
See also
External links
- Kaskaskia River State Fish & Wildlife Area (http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/landmgt/PARKS/R4/kaskas.htm)
- Kaskaskia River Watershed (http://www.swircd.org/swircd/projects/kas_Final_Report.htm)
- Northern Illinois University: Kaskasia River in Randolph County (http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/ihy020235.html)