The
Arkansas River (
Pawnee:
Kícka ) is a major
tributary of the
Mississippi River. The Arkansas generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the US states of
Colorado,
Kansas,
Oklahoma, and
Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the
western United States in Colorado, specifically the Arkansas River Valley, where the headwaters derive from the
snowpack in the Sawatch and Mosquito mountain ranges. Then it flows east into the
Midwest via Kansas, and finally into the
South through Oklahoma and Arkansas.