Osage River
| Osage River | |
|---|---|
Map of the Osage River watershed | |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Missouri Kansas |
| Region | Osage Plains, Ozarks |
| City | Warsaw, Lake Ozark, Tuscumbia, St. Thomas |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source confluence | |
| • location | Vernon County, Missouri |
| • coordinates | 38°01′39″N 94°14′39″W / 38.02750°N 94.24417°W |
| • elevation | 722 ft (220 m) |
| Mouth | Missouri River |
• location | Bonnots Mill, Missouri |
• coordinates | 38°35′49″N 91°56′43″W / 38.59694°N 91.94528°W |
• elevation | 518 ft (158 m) |
| Length | 276 mi (444 km) |
| Basin size | 15,300 sq mi (40,000 km2) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | near St. Thomas, MO |
| • average | 10,879 cu ft/s (308.1 m3/s) |
| • minimum | 640 cu ft/s (18 m3/s) |
| • maximum | 216,000 cu ft/s (6,100 m3/s) |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Marais des Cygnes River, South Grand River |
| • right | Little Osage River, Clear Creek, Sac River, Pomme de Terre River, Niangua River |
| Watersheds | Osage-Missouri-Mississippi |
The Osage River is a 276-mile-long (444 km) tributary of the Missouri River in central Missouri in the United States. The eighth-largest river in the state, it drains a mostly rural area of 15,300 square miles (40,000 km2). The watershed includes an area of east-central Kansas and a large portion of west-central and central Missouri, where it drains northwest areas of the Ozark Plateau.
The river flows generally easterly, then northeasterly for the final 80 miles (130 km) where it joins the Missouri River. It is impounded in two major locations. Most of the river has been converted into a chain of two reservoirs, the Harry S. Truman Reservoir and the Lake of the Ozarks.