Pomme de Terre River (Missouri)

For the river in Minnesota, see Pomme de Terre River (Minnesota).

The Pomme de Terre River (pronounced pohm de TEHR) is a 130-mile-long (210 km)^[3] tributary of the Osage River in southwestern Missouri in the United States. Via the Osage and Missouri rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Mississippi River.

Pomme de Terre River Potato River
Map of the Osage River watershed showing the Pomme de Terre River
Location
Country	United States
State	Missouri
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Marshfield, Missouri
• coordinates	37°20′24″N 92°56′43″W
• elevation	1,454 ft (443 m)
Mouth	Truman Reservoir
• location	Hickory County, Missouri
• coordinates	38°00′35″N 93°18′59″W[1]
• elevation	709 ft (216 m)
Length	130 mi (210 km)
Basin size	840 sq mi (2,200 km2)
Discharge
• location	USGS 06921350 near Hermitage, MO[2]
• average	546 cu ft/s (15.5 m3/s)
• minimum	0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s)
• maximum	9,000 cu ft/s (250 m3/s)
Basin features
Watersheds	Pomme de Terre-Osage-Missouri-Mississippi

Pomme de terre is French for potato, a food Indians harvested in the area.^[4] Before the French explorers, the Osage people, who were historically indigenous to the region, had called it a name meaning Big Bone River, referring to the fossils of mastodons and other ancient creatures which they found along its eroding banks.^[5]

Course

The Pomme de Terre River is formed in Greene County in the Ozarks by the confluence of its short north and south forks, which rise in Webster and Greene counties, respectively. The river flows generally northward through Dallas, Polk, Hickory and Benton counties, past the town of Hermitage. In Polk County it collects the short Little Pomme de Terre River, which rises in Greene County and flows generally northwestwardly. In Hickory County a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dam causes the river to form Pomme de Terre Lake. It enters the Osage River as an arm of Truman Lake, which is formed by a dam on the Osage.^[6]

See also

• List of Missouri rivers

References

1. "Pomme de Terre River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2015-12-04.
2. "Water-Data Report 2013 - 06921350 Pomme de Terre River near Hermitage, MO" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-12-04.
3. U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed May 31, 2011
4. "Hickory County Place Names, 1928–1945 (archived)". The State Historical Society of Missouri. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
5. Adrienne Mayor, "Place names describing fossils in oral traditions" Archived 2012-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, Stanford University, pp. 253-254, c. 2005, accessed 9 December 2011
6. DeLorme (2002), Missouri Atlas & Gazetteer, 2nd ed., Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. ISBN 0-89933-353-2