River
Canadian River
1,458 km from source to mouth · United States.
United StatesFlows into Arkansas River10th longest in United States
In numbers
Length
1,458km
Average flow
200m³/s
Basin
124,000km²
Drop
2,248m
from 2,391 m to 143 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
1,458 km of river and 18 stops on the way: 13 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmRocky Mountainsat 2,391 m
- 56 kmTrinidad8,153 people
- 261 kmJohn Martin Reservoir44 km²
- 451 kmGarden City27,005 people
- 531 kmDodge City27,912 people
- 676 kmGreat Bend15,717 people
- 763 kmHutchinson41,569 people
- 834 kmWichita396,119 people
- 853 kmDerby23,509 people
- 920 kmArkansas City12,136 people
- 982 kmKaw Lake59 km²
- 995 kmPonca City24,758 people
- 1,040 kmSooner Lake21 km²
- 1,156 kmKeystone Lake80 km²
- 1,170 kmSand Springs19,783 people
- 1,179 kmTulsa413,066 people
- 1,194 kmJenks20,740 people
- 1,205 kmBixby24,657 people
- 1,315 kmGreenleaf Lake3.3 km²
- 1,458 kmArkansas Riverat 143 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in the United States
At the mouth it carries 200 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 12 seconds. It drops from 2,391 m to 143 m, 1.5 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 124,000 km², about the size of ER. 4.5 million people live in it. Highest water: from May to August. It is heavily dammed: reservoirs can hold 82% of a year's flow.
Where to start
- TulsaLargest city on its banks · 413,066 people
- Tulsa International Airport (TUL)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 11 km from the cityCar hire in TulsaDiscover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water52 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe2 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- April, June and from August to OctoberThe best months to visit
Canadian River, month by month
Highest water: from May to August
Best months to visit: April, June and from August to October.
From about 370 m³/s in the lowest month to 1,400 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Canadian River: the basin in numbers
250,440 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 4.5millionpeople live in the basin
- 18/km²people per km²
- 869maverage altitude of the basin
- 670mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 12.3°Caverage air temperature
- 2%protected areas
- 0.5%covered by lakes
- 21km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 13% Forest
- 42% Cropland
- 34% Pasture
- 1% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Canadian River: what you find on the way
- 37WeirsZink Dam and 36 more
- 3LocksWebbers Falls Lock and Dam, Arkansas River
- 2Rapids
- 49Boat rampsCave Park Slipway, Boat Ramp, Stoney Point Boat Ramp and 46 more
- 2MarinasPioneer Cove Marina, Greenleaf Marina & Grill
- 1River beachesWillow Beach
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.6 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Canadian River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
5lakes on its wayLakeyas
2mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (5)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- John Martin Reservoirkm 26844km²
- Kaw Lakekm 1,00759km²
- Sooner Lakekm 1,06621km²
- Keystone Lakekm 1,18580km²
- Greenleaf Lakekm 1,3483.3km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (2)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- The Little Wall5.8 km away
- The Wall13 km away
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Canadian River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Arkansas RiverUnited States2,364 km240 m³/sTributaries (5)
Also: North Canadian River, Cimarron River, Vermejo River, Punta de Agua Creek, Dixon Creek
In the same basin
United States3,766 km12,700 m³/sMissouri RiverUnited States3,726 km2,500 m³/sOhio RiverUnited States1,579 km8,000 m³/sTennessee RiverUnited States1,049 km2,000 m³/sRed RiverUnited States2,189 km1,900 m³/sYellowstone RiverUnited States1,114 km390 m³/sPlatte RiverUnited States500 km200 m³/sIllinois RiverUnited States432 km660 m³/sAllegheny RiverUnited States523 km560 m³/sCumberland RiverUnited States1,107 km860 m³/sNearby
Rivers nearby
United States745 km280 m³/s47 km awayCimarron RiverUnited States1,123 km1,100 m³/s139 km awayWhite RiverUnited States1,162 km740 m³/s396 km awayKansas RiverUnited States238 km210 m³/s411 km awaySt. Francis RiverUnited States686 km400 m³/s414 km awaySmoky Hill RiverUnited States925 km69 m³/s433 km awayOsage RiverUnited States444 km310 m³/s449 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q597753) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
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