One Hundred and Two River


The One Hundred and Two River is a tributary of the Platte River of Missouri in northwestern Missouri in the United States. It flows from source tributaries in southwestern Iowa about to the Platte. Via the Platte, it is part of the watershed of the Missouri River. Much of the river's course has been straightened and channelized.
According to the Geographic Names Information System, it is also known as the Hundred and Two River, and MoDOT simply uses 102 River.
According to the National Atlas the river begins northwest of Hopkins, Missouri, at the confluence of the East Fork One Hundred and Two River and the Middle Fork One Hundred and Two River. It is joined southwest of Hopkins by the West Fork One Hundred and Two River. All three of the forks originate in Iowa. At Bolckow, MO, the river has a mean annual discharge of 605 cubic feet per second.

Origin of name

The beginning point of the Sullivan Line is near Sheridan, Missouri, and is exactly 100 miles north of the confluence of the Missouri River and Kansas River. From that point, the Sullivan Line was surveyed east to the Des Moines River in 1816, and it was extended west in 1836 during the Platte Purchase, when Native American territory was purchased by the federal government and annexed to Missouri. The Sullivan Line was used as the starting point for surveys in western Missouri, and the Missouri portion of the One Hundred and Two River is situated entirely within the Platte Purchase area. The three forks of the river cross the western extension of the Sullivan Line at points between 101 and 102 miles north of the Kansas-Missouri confluence.
Through the years, writers have speculated on etymologies other than the Sullivan Line coordinates:
The three forks of the river rise in Iowa:
Each of the forks enters Nodaway County, Missouri, from Taylor County, Iowa, and converge near the town of Hopkins. From this confluence the One Hundred and Two River flows generally southwardly, through Nodaway, Andrew and Buchanan Counties, past the towns of Arkoe, Barnard, Maryville, and Rosendale, in a heavily channelized streambed. It joins the Platte River 6 mi east of St. Joseph.