View source for Castor River (Missouri)

{{Short description|Stream in the US state of Missouri}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}
[[Image:Stfrancisrivermap.png|thumb|Map of the St. Francis River watershed showing  Little River. The Castor/Whitewater headwaters (darker shade on the map) were historically part of the St. Francis watershed via Little River but are now diverted to the Mississippi by the Headwater Diversion Channel.]]
The '''Castor River''' is divided into the '''Upper Castor River''' and the '''Lower Castor River''' by the [[Headwater Diversion Channel]].<ref name=gnis>{{GNIS|755864}}</ref>

The Upper Castor rises in the southern corner of [[Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri|Ste. Genevieve County]] of southeast [[Missouri]] about ten miles north-northeast of [[Fredericktown, Missouri|Fredericktown]].<ref name=gnis/> The river flows south through eastern [[Madison County, Missouri|Madison County]] into the eastern edge of [[Wayne County, Missouri|Wayne County]] to [[Bollinger County, Missouri|Bollinger County]] where it empties into the [[Headwater Diversion Channel]], which flows into the [[Mississippi River]] just south of [[Cape Girardeau, Missouri|Cape Girardeau]].<ref name=Atlas>''Missouri Atlas & Gazetteer,'' DeLorme, 1998, First edition, pp. 58 and 67 {{ISBN|0-89933-224-2}}</ref>

The Lower Castor River south of the Diversion Channel flows south where it joins the [[Little River (St. Francis River)|Little River]].

Castor is a name derived from French meaning "beaver".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://shsmo.org/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_bollinger.html |title=Bollinger County Place Names, 1928-1945 (archived) |publisher=The State Historical Society of Missouri |accessdate=2 September 2016 |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624071742/http://shsmo.org/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_bollinger.html |archivedate=24 June 2016 }}</ref> The stream was mentioned by [[Henry Schoolcraft]] in his 1818 report on his exploration of southern Missouri.<ref name=gnis/>

==See also==
*[[List of Missouri rivers]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{coord|37.217089|-89.836063|type:river|format=dms|display=title}}

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[[Category:Rivers of Missouri]]
[[Category:Rivers of Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri]]
[[Category:Rivers of St. Francois County, Missouri]]
[[Category:Rivers of Bollinger County, Missouri]]
[[Category:Rivers of Wayne County, Missouri]]
[[Category:Rivers of Madison County, Missouri]]
[[Category:Rivers of Cape Girardeau County, Missouri]]

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