| Solomon River | |
| Name Other: | Kiicawiicaku,[1] Mahkineohe, Nepaholla, Rivere de Soucis, Wisgapalla |
| Map: | Smokyhillrivermap.png |
| Subdivision Type1: | Country |
| Subdivision Name1: | United States |
| Subdivision Type2: | State |
| Subdivision Name2: | Kansas |
| Length: | 184miles |
| Discharge1 Location: | USGS 06876900 at Niles, KS[2] |
| Discharge1 Min: | 1cuft/s |
| Discharge1 Avg: | 555cuft/s |
| Discharge1 Max: | 157000cuft/s |
| Source Confluence: | Waconda Lake |
| Source Confluence Location: | Cawker City, Kansas |
| Source Confluence Coordinates: | 39.4731°N -98.4333°W |
| Source Confluence Elevation: | 1453feet |
| Mouth: | Smoky Hill River |
| Mouth Location: | Solomon, Kansas |
| Mouth Coordinates: | 38.9036°N -97.3692°W |
| Mouth Elevation: | 1142feet |
| Basin Size: | 6835sqmi |
| Tributaries Left: | North Fork Solomon River |
| Tributaries Right: | South Fork Solomon River |
| Custom Label: | Watersheds |
| Custom Data: | Solomon-Smoky Hill-Kansas-Missouri-Mississippi |
The Solomon River, often referred to as the "Solomon Fork", is a 184adj=midNaNadj=mid[3] river in the central Great Plains of North America. The entire length of the river lies in the U.S. state of Kansas. It is a tributary of the Smoky Hill River.
The Native name for the river was Nepaholla, meaning "Water on the Hill" in reference to Waconda Spring which was located in the river valley.[4] In 1744, French explorers named the river Salmon, later corrupted into Solomon, after Edme Gatien de Salmon, a prominent colonial official of French Louisiana at the time.[4] [5] Other names for the river include Mahkineohe, Riviere de Soucis, Solomons Creek, Wiskapalla River, and Solomons Fork.
The Solomon River is formed by the confluence of the North Fork Solomon River and South Fork Solomon River at Waconda Lake in northwestern Mitchell County, Kansas. Both forks originate in the High Plains of northwestern Kansas. From Waconda Lake, the Solomon flows southeast for 184miles through the Smoky Hills region and joins the Smoky Hill River immediately south of Solomon, Kansas in western Dickinson County.
The Solomon River drainage basin covers an area of 6,835 square miles (17,703 km2).[6] Via the Smoky Hill, Kansas, and Missouri Rivers, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed.
Kansas towns along the Solomon River include Cawker City, Beloit, and Minneapolis.
Before American colonization, the Solomon River valley was a popular hunting and trapping area for the Plains Indians. Tribes that camped along the river included the Pawnee, Cheyenne, and Kansa. French explorer Etienne Venyard de Bourgmont visited the area in 1712, claiming it for France. Other French explorers returned in 1744 to survey the area and gave the river its name. After the French and Indian War, it became part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the region became part of the territory of the United States. In 1806, explorer Zebulon Pike led an expedition through the area, camping on the Solomon's North Fork near the site of modern Downs, Kansas. American settlers began to arrive in the 1850s, hunters and trappers initially followed by homesteaders. In 1861, the area became part of the state of Kansas.[4]
In 1969, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation finished construction of Glen Elder Dam, a dam for flood control immediately above Glen Elder, Kansas on the Solomon River, creating Waconda Lake.[7]
. Gwendolyn Midlo Hall . Africans in Colonial Louisiana: The Development of Afro-Creole Culture in the Eighteenth Century . . LSU Press . 1995 . 8.