River
Des Moines River
845 km from source to mouth · United States.
United StatesFlows into Mississippi River
In numbers
Length
845km
Average flow
250m³/s
Basin
38,340km²
Drop
304m
from 453 m to 149 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
845 km of river and 33 stops on the way: 5 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 453 m
- 13 kmLake Shetek15 km²
- 13 kmSmith Lake0.3 km²
- 48 kmTalcot Lake3.9 km²
- 87 kmCottonwood Lake0.6 km²
- 104 kmLake Independence0.3 km²
- 145 kmEagle Lake0.5 km²
- 174 kmBur Oak Lake0.3 km²
- 195 kmFive Island Lake3.7 km²
- 271 kmBerkhimer Bridge
- 310 kmFort Dodge24,649 people
- 357 kmBoone Rivertributary
- 403 kmBoone Bridge 2
- 403 kmKate Shelley High Bridge
- 408 kmBoone Bridge
- 466 kmJohnston20,871 people
- 477 kmDes Moines214,133 people
- 478 kmIowa Women of Achievement Bridge
- 479 kmLocust Street Bridge
- 479 kmCourt Avenue Bridge
- 479 kmRed Bridge (Des Moines, Iowa)
- 480 kmRaccoon Rivertributary
- 480 kmCGW - Des Moines River Bridge (Des Moines, Iowa)
- 481 kmSoutheast Fourteenth Street Bridge
- 492 kmPleasant Hill9,314 people
- 512 kmMiddle Rivertributary
- 557 kmRoberts Creek59 km²
- 562 kmWabash Railroad Bridge
- 577 kmBellefountain Bridge
- 589 kmEveland Bridge
- 636 kmOttumwa24,624 people
- 637 kmJefferson Street Viaduct
- 776 kmDes Moines River Bridge
- 776 kmSt. Francisville Bridge
- 845 kmMississippi Riverat 149 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in the central United States
At the mouth it carries 246 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 10 seconds. It drops from 453 m to 149 m, 0.4 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 38,340 km², about the size of GW. 909,000 people live in it. Highest water: May; lowest: from December to February. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (33% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- Des MoinesLargest city on its banks · 214,133 people
- Des Moines International Airport (DSM)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 8 km from the cityCar hire at DSM airport (Des Moines)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water58 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to SeptemberThe best months to visit
Des Moines River, month by month
Highest water: May
Lowest water: from December to February. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from December to February. Best months to visit: from May to September.
From about 120 m³/s in the lowest month to 460 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Des Moines River: the basin in numbers
37,701 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 909,000people live in the basin
- 24/km²people per km²
- 339maverage altitude of the basin
- 824mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 8.6°Caverage air temperature
- 2%protected areas
- 0.6%covered by lakes
- 2.4km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 5% Forest
- 75% Cropland
- 4% Pasture
- 1% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Des Moines River: what you find on the way
- 7WeirsRutland Milldam, Humboldt Milldam, Fort Dodge Iowa Illinois Gas & Electric Milldam and 4 more
- 1LocksDes Moines River Lock Number 5
- 2Waterfalls
- 56Boat rampsDes Moines River Access, Access 195, Fort Pike Access and 53 more
- 2MarinasSaylorville Lake Marina, Birdland Marina
- 1River beachesEaster Lake Beach
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.1 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Des Moines River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
9lakes on its wayLakeyas
1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (9)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Lake Shetekkm 1215km²
- Talcot Lakekm 433.9km²
- Cottonwood Lakekm 770.6km²
- Lake Independencekm 920.3km²
- Eagle Lakekm 1280.5km²
- Bur Oak Lakekm 1550.3km²
- Five Island Lakekm 1733.7km²
- Roberts Creekkm 49459km²
1 more on LakeyasLakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (1)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Poverty Hill8.3 km away
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Des Moines River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Mississippi RiverUnited States3,766 km12,700 m³/sTributaries (11)
Also: Raccoon River, Boone River, Middle River, Beaver Creek, Competine Creek, Lizard Creek, North River, South River, White Breast Creek, Lime Creek, Cedar Creek
In the same basin
United States3,726 km2,500 m³/sOhio RiverUnited States1,579 km8,000 m³/sArkansas RiverUnited States2,364 km240 m³/sTennessee RiverUnited States1,049 km2,000 m³/sRed RiverUnited States2,189 km1,900 m³/sYellowstone RiverUnited States1,114 km390 m³/sPlatte RiverUnited States500 km200 m³/sCanadian RiverUnited States1,458 km200 m³/sIllinois RiverUnited States432 km660 m³/sAllegheny RiverUnited States523 km560 m³/sNearby
Rivers nearby
United States520 km280 m³/s94 km awayMissouri RiverUnited States3,726 km2,500 m³/s207 km awayRock RiverUnited States459 km190 m³/s141 km awayIllinois RiverUnited States432 km660 m³/s177 km awayOsage RiverUnited States444 km310 m³/s200 km awayWisconsin RiverUnited States692 km340 m³/s291 km awayKansas RiverUnited States238 km210 m³/s306 km awayPlatte RiverUnited States500 km200 m³/s381 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q492787) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
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