| Cow Creek Big Cow Creek | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Kansas |
| Region | Great Plains |
| City | Hutchinson, KS |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | Near Beaver, KS, Great Plains, Kansas, United States |
| • coordinates | 38°38′37″N 098°39′10″W / 38.64361°N 98.65278°W[1] |
| • elevation | 1,483 ft (452 m) |
| Mouth | Arkansas River |
• location | Hutchinson, Kansas, United States |
• coordinates | 37°58′47″N 097°50′24″W / 37.97972°N 97.84000°W[1] |
• elevation | 452 ft (138 m)[1] |
| Length | 112 mi (180 km), East[2] |
| Basin size | 859.5 sq mi (2,226 km2)[3] |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Hutchinson[3] |
| • average | 1,230 cu ft/s (35 m3/s)[3] |
| Basin features | |
| River system | Arkansas River watershed |
Cow Creek is a 112-mile-long (180 km)[2] stream that flows through Rice and Reno Counties, Kansas. Cow Creek is a tributary of the Arkansas River; its confluence with the Arkansas is about ten miles southeast of Hutchinson, Kansas.
In the 1850s, Buffalo Bill Mathewson ran a trading post (known as "Buffalo Bill's Well") where the Santa Fe Trail crossed Cow Creek.[4] From Lyons, Kansas, the well is located four miles west and one mile south.