Saying, “Hey, Siri...” will get you from point A to the local tavern and back. But if you’re searching for every stream spanning the 48 states of the contiguous U.S., look no further. The new river basins of America map, created by Imgur user Fejetlenfej—a geographer, GIS analyst, and the world’s most prolific hotspotter—shows the matrix of rivers and streams that feed major systems such as the Mississippi River, the country’s biggest in terms of water volume; the Missouri, the longest river at 2,540 miles; and the Yellowstone, America’s greatest un-dammed river.

According to its creator, the map visualizes Strahler Stream Order Classification, with higher stream orders indicated by thicker lines. It was designed using the open-source QGIS software, and high-res prints are available on Etsy. 

The map is dominated by the massive catchment area for the Mississippi River, including the Upper and Lower Mississippi River Basins, along with Missouri River Basin and the Arkansas-White-Red Basin, seen in pink. The top left portion shows the Pacific Northwest basin, illustrated in a brownish-orange color. And, the Upper and Lower Colorado River basins are shown in bright yellow.

What’s missing from the picture? The Everglades’ River of Grass, dammed at Okeechobee, thereby nixing an entire ecosystem.

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Tom Bie
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Tom Bie is the founder, editor, and publisher of The Drake. He started the magazine in 1998 as an annual newsprint publication based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He then moved it to Steamboat, Colorado (1999), Boulder, Colorado (2001), and San Clemente, California (2004), as he took jobs as managing editor at Paddler, Senior Editor at Skiing, and Editor-in-Chief at Powder, respectively. Tom and The Drake are now both based in Denver, Colorado, where The Drake is finally all grows up(Swingers, 1996) to a quarterly magazine.

Category: Daily Drake
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Author: Tom Bie

Tom Bie is the founder, editor, and publisher of The Drake. He started the magazine in 1998 as an annual newsprint publication based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He then moved it to Steamboat, Colorado (1999), Boulder, Colorado (2001), and San Clemente, California (2004), as he took jobs as managing editor at Paddler, Senior Editor at Skiing, and Editor-in-Chief at Powder, respectively. Tom and The Drake are now both based in Denver, Colorado, where The Drake is finally all grows up(Swingers, 1996) to a quarterly magazine.

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