Pawnee River

The Pawnee River or Pawnee Fork is a river in western Kansas in the United States, about 198 mi long. It is a tributary of the Arkansas River, which in turn is a branch of the Mississippi River.

It rises in northwestern Gray County at an elevation of 2835 ft, as the outflow of several agricultural drainage channels. For 20 mi the river runs due north, before turning northeast near Ravanna. The river arcs to the south and receives Buckner Creek, its main tributary at the town of Burdett, then flows east past Rozel and through Fort Larned National Historic Site. It joins the Arkansas River on the left bank, south of the city of Larned.

This river drains an arid farming region of about 2700 mi2 of the Great Plains. Most of its flow is consumed by irrigation before it reaches the mouth, and the river dries up for periods of months at a time in most years. The land surrounding the river was originally inhabited by the Kansa, Cheyenne, Osage, Pawnee and other tribes, the latter for which the river is named. The river was a route for the Santa Fe Trail in the 19th century, and was also the scene of Native American-U.S. wars in 1854, after which Fort Larned was established on the river to maintain a permanent military presence in the region.