The Clarks River, named for

William Clark William Clark (August 1, 1770 – September 1, 1838) was an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. A native of Virginia, he grew up in pre-statehood Kentucky before later settling in what became the state of Misso ...

of the 1804-1806

Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...

, is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed June 8, 2011

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is a long river located in the Southern United States, southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, it begins at the confluence of Fren ...

in the

Jackson Purchase The Jackson Purchase, also known as the Purchase Region or simply the Purchase, is a region in the U.S. state of Kentucky bounded by the Mississippi River to the west, the Ohio River to the north, and the Tennessee River to the east. Jackson's P ...

region of western

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. Below the West Fork Clarks River, the river has a mean annual discharge of 368 cubic feet per second. This figure is obtained by combining the average discharge of the Clarks River at Benton, and the average discharge of the West Fork at Brewers.

Two forks

For the greater part of its length, it consists of two parallel forks of approximately equal size, the East Fork and the West Fork. The East Fork, shown on federal maps as the main stem of the river, begins south of Murray near the community of Puryear in

Henry County, Tennessee Henry County is a county located on the northwestern border of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and is considered part of West Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 32,199. Its county seat is Paris. The county is named for the Virgin ...

and is paralleled by the Paducah, Tennessee and Alabama

Railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

. The West Fork begins about west of Murray near the intersection of Jones-Sparkman and Butterworth Roads in Calloway County and flows through Kaler and Symsonia in Graves County before joining with the East Fork at Oaks Station in McCracken County.

Artifacts

The Clarks River streams from Murray in Calloway County through Benton in Marshall County and ends in Paducah (McCracken County), where the mouth of the river intersects with the Tennessee River just before the Tennessee River joins the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

. This river is full of wildlife including the venomous water moccasin snake. Documented evidence states that many Native American encampments and Indian tribes camped and lived along its banks. To this day artifacts have been found including spearheads, arrowheads and pottery. The river is the namesake of Clarks River Road in Paducah.

References

{{authority control Rivers of Kentucky Tributaries of the Tennessee River Rivers of Marshall County, Kentucky Rivers of McCracken County, Kentucky

Two forks

Artifacts

See also

References