Meramec River

Meramec River
At Onondaga Cave State Park
Path of the Meramec River [1]
Location
Country	United States
State	Missouri
Region	Ozarks
Cities	Steelville, Missouri, Sullivan, Missouri, Pacific, Missouri, Valley Park, Missouri, Arnold, Missouri
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	Dent County, Missouri
• coordinates	37°30′29″N 91°19′39″W / 37.50806°N 91.32750°W / 37.50806; -91.32750
• elevation	1,075 ft (328 m)
Mouth	Mississippi River
• location	Arnold, Missouri
• coordinates	38°23′26″N 90°20′40″W / 38.39056°N 90.34444°W / 38.39056; -90.34444
• elevation	350 ft (110 m)
Length	229 mi (369 km)
Basin size	3,980 sq mi (10,300 km2)
Discharge
• location	Eureka, Missouri
• average	3,318 cu/ft. per sec.[1]
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	Bourbeuse River
• right	Big River

The Meramec River (/ˈmɛrɪmæk/), sometimes spelled Maramec River (the original US mapping spelled it Maramec but later changed it to Meramec), is one of the longest free-flowing waterways in the U.S. state of Missouri, draining 3,980 square miles (10,300 km²)^[2] while wandering 218 miles (351 km)^[3] from headwaters southeast of Salem to where it empties into the Mississippi River near St. Louis at Arnold and Oakville. The Meramec watershed covers six Missouri Ozark Highland counties—Dent, Phelps, Crawford, Franklin, Jefferson, and St. Louis—and portions of eight others—Maries, Gasconade, Iron, Washington, Reynolds, St. Francois, Ste. Genevieve, and Texas. Between its source and its mouth, it falls 1,025 feet (312 m). Year-round navigability begins above Maramec Spring, just south of St. James. The Meramec's size increases at the confluence of the Dry Fork, and its navigability continues until the river enters the Mississippi at Arnold, Missouri.