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The Walnut River is a tributary of the Arkansas River, long,〔U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. (The National Map ), accessed March 29, 2011〕 in the Flint Hills region of Kansas in the United States. Via the Arkansas, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed. According to the GNIS, the river has also been known in the past as the "Little Verdigris River". ==Course== The Walnut River rises in northern Butler County and flows generally southward through Butler and Cowley Counties, past the towns of El Dorado, Augusta, Winfield and Douglass. It joins the Arkansas River at Arkansas City. The Walnut's principal tributaries are the Whitewater River, which joins it at Augusta, and the Little Walnut River, which joins it in southern Butler County. The Walnut River drainage basin comprises in an ecoregion characterized by rocky, rolling hills and prairie. Elevations range from in the basin. Average precipitation, mostly summer rainfall, varies from annually. Tallgrass prairie is the most common vegetation, covering 66 percent of the land. Crop land covers 23 percent and woodlands cover five percent. Major crops are wheat, soybeans, cotton, hay, sorgum, and corn. Cattle are the most important livestock.〔"Walnut River Basin." http://www.kwo.org/Kansas%20Plan/SWP/KWP_2008/Vol_III_Docs/WAL/Rpt_WAL_Basin_Description_KWP2009.pdf〕 Upstream of El Dorado, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dam causes the river to form El Dorado Lake, along which a Kansas state park has been designated. The lake consists of about of water with another 8,000 acres of land along its shores designated as park and wildlife areas.〔"Walnut River Basin." http://www.kwo.org/Kansas%20Plan/SWP/KWP_2008/Vol_III_Docs/WAL/Rpt_WAL_Basin_Description_KWP2009.pdf〕 The other large lake in the Walnut River basin is Winfield City Lake with of water surrounded by of parkland.〔http://www.naturalkansas.org/winfield.htm〕 Both lakes offer recreational opportunities including fishing, boating, hunting, camping, and wildlife observation. In Winfield, the old Tunnel Mill Dam is a fishing spot. It is staged directly near the old Kickapoo Corral. A whirlpool is created by a hole in solid limestone about down on the river bed directly off the cliffs of the Corral. The bottom is sandy and somewhat rocky. Near the mouth of the Walnut River, in eastern Arkansas City, are a large number of archaeological sites. These are believed to be the remains of an Indian settlement visited in 1601 by New Mexico governor Juan de Onate. Onate called the Indians Rayados. They were almost certainly Wichita Indians. Based on Onate's description of the settlement, 10,000 or more Wichita lived along several miles of the Walnut River.〔Vehik, Susan C. "Onate's Expedition to the Southern Plains: Routes, Destinations, and Implications for Late Prehistoric Cultural Adaptations." ''Plains Anthropologist'', Vol 31, No. 111, 1986, 13-33〕〔Hawley, Marlin F. "European Contact and Southwestern Artifacts in the Lower Walnut Focus Sites at Arkansas City, Kansas", ''Plains Anthropologist'', Vol 45, No. 173, August 2000, 237-255〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Walnut River (Kansas)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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