Solomon River Kiicawiicaku,[1] Mahkineohe, Nepaholla, Rivere de Soucis, Wisgapalla[2]
Solomon River at Beloit, Kansas
Map of the Smoky Hill drainage basin including the Solomon River
Location
Country	United States
State	Kansas
Physical characteristics
Source confluence	Waconda Lake
• location	Cawker City, Kansas
• coordinates	39°28′23″N 98°26′00″W / 39.47306°N 98.43333°W / 39.47306; -98.43333
• elevation	1,453 ft (443 m)
Mouth	Smoky Hill River
• location	Solomon, Kansas
• coordinates	38°54′13″N 97°22′09″W / 38.90361°N 97.36917°W / 38.90361; -97.36917[2]
• elevation	1,142 ft (348 m)
Length	184 mi (296 km)
Basin size	6,835 sq mi (17,700 km2)
Discharge
• location	USGS 06876900 at Niles, KS[3]
• average	555 cu ft/s (15.7 m3/s)
• minimum	1 cu ft/s (0.028 m3/s)
• maximum	157,000 cu ft/s (4,400 m3/s)
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	North Fork Solomon River
• right	South Fork Solomon River
Watersheds	Solomon-Smoky Hill-Kansas-Missouri-Mississippi

The Solomon River, often referred to as the "Solomon Fork", is a 184-mile-long (296 km)^[4] 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.

Names

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.^[5] 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.^[5][6] Other names for the river include Mahkineohe, Riviere de Soucis, Solomons Creek, Wiskapalla River, and Solomons Fork.^[2]

Geography

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.^[2] Both forks originate in the High Plains of northwestern Kansas.^[7][8] From Waconda Lake, the Solomon flows southeast for 184 miles (296 km) through the Smoky Hills region and joins the Smoky Hill River immediately south of Solomon, Kansas in western Dickinson County.^[2]

The Solomon River drainage basin covers an area of 6,835 square miles (17,703 km²).^[9] 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.

History

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.^[5]

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.^[10]

In literature

• Willa Cather mentioned the Solomon River in her 1901 short story El Dorado: A Kansas Recessional. Her description says, "it is one of the most futile little streams under the sun, and never gets anywhere. Its sluggish current splits among the sand bars and buries itself in the mud until it literally dries up from weariness and ennui, without ever reaching anything."^[11]