Big Blue River (Kansas)

Big Blue River Great Blue Earth River
Big Blue River above Manhattan, Kansas
Map of the Kansas River drainage basin showing the Big Blue and Little Blue rivers
Location
Country	United States
State	Nebraska, Kansas
Region	Great Plains
Cities	Manhattan, KS, Beatrice, NE, Crete, NE, Seward, NE
Physical characteristics
Source
- location	Near Aurora, NE, Great Plains, United States
- coordinates	40°57′00″N 098°04′31″W / 40.95000°N 98.07528°W / 40.95000; -98.07528[1]
Mouth	Kansas River
- location	Near Manhattan, Great Plains, United States
- coordinates	39°11′17″N 096°31′40″W / 39.18806°N 96.52778°W / 39.18806; -96.52778[1]
Length	359 mi (578 km), South[2]
Discharge
- location	Manhattan, KS[3]
- average	982 cu ft/s (27.8 m3/s)[3]
- minimum	8 cu ft/s (0.23 m3/s)
- maximum	18,000 cu ft/s (510 m3/s)
Basin features
River system	Kansas River watershed
Tributaries
- left	Little Blue River, West Fork of the Little Blue River

The Big Blue River is the biggest tributary of the Kansas River. The river is about 359 miles (578 km) long.^[2] It goes from central Nebraska into Kansas, until its confluence with the Kansas River at Manhattan.

Its name was given from the Kansa tribe of Native Americans. They lived at its mouth from 1780 to 1830. They called it the Great Blue Earth River.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} "Big Blue River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. 1978-10-13. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed March 30, 2011
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} "Big Blue R NR Manhattan, KS".