Arikaree River
| Arikaree River Arikara Fork Republican River | |
|---|---|
Arikaree River Valley at the location of the Battle of Beecher Island near Wray, Colorado | |
Republican River watershed; the Arikaree is in orange at far left | |
| Etymology | Arikaree for "horn" |
| Native name | Ononio'he (Arikara) |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | Elbert County, Colorado |
| • coordinates | 39°22′36″N 103°46′44″W / 39.37667°N 103.77889°W |
| • elevation | 5,908 ft (1,801 m) |
| Mouth | Republican River |
• location | Haigler, Nebraska |
• coordinates | 40°01′13″N 101°56′17″W / 40.02028°N 101.93806°W |
• elevation | 3,241 ft (988 m) |
| Length | 156 mi (251 km) |
| Basin size | 1,743 sq mi (4,510 km2) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | USGS 06821500 at Haigler, NE |
| • average | 16.7 cu ft/s (0.47 m3/s) |
| • minimum | 0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s) |
| • maximum | 17,000 cu ft/s (480 m3/s) |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | North Fork Arikaree River - Black Wolf Creek |
| Watersheds | Arikaree-North Fork Republican River-Republican-Kansas- Missouri-Mississippi |
The Arikaree River /əˈrɪkəri/ is a 156-mile-long (251 km) river in the central Great Plains of North America. It lies mostly in the American state of Colorado, draining land between the North and South Forks of the Republican River, and it flows into the North Fork in Nebraska after flowing a short distance through Kansas. It is a designated area within the Colorado Natural Areas Program to protect native and uncommon species that may be endangered or threatened.
The Arikaree River is shrinking due to groundwater pumping at a rate that exceeds the recharge rate of the Ogallala Aquifer, from which the Arikaree River is fed. It is estimated that the Arikaree River will dry about one-half mile by 2045.