The Canadian River

For over 12,000 years, the Canadian River served as a travel route and dwelling site, supporting stone and adobe Indian villages from the 12th to the 14th Centuries. It was also one of the first interior rivers of the U.S. known to early explorers. Coronado, coming from Mexico, crossed the Canadian in 1541 while searching for the famed city of Quivira, and Juan de Onate saw the river in 1601 on the same quest. In 1741 the Canadian traders Pierre and Paul Mallet followed it. In 1839 Josiah Gregg, a famous Missouri trader, carried $25,000 worth of goods to Santa Fe along the river trails, and in 1849 Army Captain R.B. Marcy escorted gold seekers bound for California along those trails. Over time the river bore many names, and the origin of the word Canadian is disputed: it may come from the Caddo word Kanohatino, meaning Red River, from French-Canadians who traveled it in the 1700s, or from a Spanish word meaning boxed-in. Beginning near the Colorado-New Mexico line in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the Canadian flows 900 miles, running southeast and then east until it joins the Arkansas 36 miles from Fort Smith.

Texas · United States