The Spring River is a 129mi waterway located in southwestern Missouri, southeastern Kansas, and northeastern Oklahoma. The head of Spring River is a spring south of Verona just south of Highway 60 which crosses it, meanders through Verona northwest and turns west across Lawrence and Jasper counties. There used to be a trout farm at the head where the spring is. It passes through Carthage, before crossing into Cherokee County, Kansas, where it widens considerably. It flows past the east sides of Riverton and Baxter Springs before emptying into the Grand Lake o' the Cherokees in Ottawa County, Oklahoma.HistoryThe Spring River takes its name from the many seeps and springs that provide its baseflow. Big Spring in Lawrence County is the largest spring in the Spring River basin, discharging 12.3 million gallons of water per day. The spring flows from the base of a high bluff of Burlington Keokuk limestone known as Baptist Hill, and enters the Spring River about 200 feet away. The river forms the western boundary of the Ozarks in southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas. All of the Ozark area in southeast Kansas is contained within the Spring River basin.
