The
Kaskaskia River is a tributary of the
Mississippi River, approximately 320 miles (515 km) long, in central and southern
Illinois in the
United States. The second largest river system within Illinois, it drains a rural area of farms, as well as rolling hills along river bottoms of hardwood forests in its lower reaches.
"Cascasquia" is an alternative, supposedly more French, spelling of "Kaskaskia" that is sometimes encountered. It was named after a clan of the
Illiniwek encountered by the early
French Jesuits and other settlers. "Okaw River" was an alternative name for the Kaskaskia that persists in place names along the river, including
Okawville, and in a major tributary, the
West Okaw River.
Hydrography
Shelbyville Lake and Dam on the Kaskaskia River at Shelbyville, Illinois
The Kaskaskia rises in east central Illinois in several farm ditches along the west side of
Champaign. The headwaters of the river is just north of
Interstate 74, where it is marked with a sign. The river flows south across rural
Champaign and
Douglas counties, then southwest across southern Illinois, past
Vandalia. It joins the Mississippi from the north approximately 10 miles (16 km) northwest of
Chester and south-southeast of
St. Louis, Missouri. The watershed of the river encompasses approximately 5,746 square miles (14,950 km²), approximately 10.2% of the state of Illinois.
A coal loading facility on the Kaskaskia River near New Athens in St. Clair County, Illinois
The Kaskaskia is impounded in
Shelby County to form
Lake Shelbyville. It is also impounded in
Clinton County southwest of Vandalia to form
Carlyle Lake.
For most of the 19th century, the river joined the Mississippi at Chester.
Deforestation of river banks of the Mississippi and tributaries to fuel the hundreds of
steamboats that plied the river had several significant environmental effects: destabilizing the banks, causing the Mississippi to become wider and more shallow, causing more severe flooding and leading to lateral channel changes in the
American Bottoms area. In the aftermath of a major 1881 flood, the Mississippi changed its channel and moved east to flow along the lower 10 miles (16 km) of the channel of the Kaskaskia, shifting the confluence 10 miles north. As a result, a small portion of Illinois, including the former capital of
Kaskaskia, was cut off from Illinois when the river moved to its east side. It is now located on the west side of the Mississippi. Kaskaskia, essentially an island, can only be reached by a bridge from the Missouri shore. The
Kaskaskia River State Fish & Wildlife Area is located along the lower river in southern Illinois.
Fort Kaskaskia was located near the mouth of the river in
Randolph County.
See also
