Amite River

River in the United States of America
31°19′19″N 90°43′40″W / 31.32194°N 90.72778°W / 31.32194; -90.72778 2nd sourceEast Fork Amite River • locationLincoln County, Mississippi • coordinates31°26′05″N 90°37′12″W / 31.43472°N 90.62000°W / 31.43472; -90.62000 Source confluence  • locationSt. Helena Parish and East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana • coordinates30°59′38″N 90°50′06″W / 30.99389°N 90.83500°W / 30.99389; -90.83500 MouthLake Maurepas
 • location
Livingston Parish, Louisiana
 • coordinates
30°17′53″N 90°33′37″W / 30.29806°N 90.56028°W / 30.29806; -90.56028Length117 mi (188 km)Basin featuresCitiesTributaries  • rightComite River, Bayou Manchac

The Amite River /ˈeɪ.mit/ (French: Rivière Amite) is a tributary of Lake Maurepas in Mississippi and Louisiana in the United States. It is about 117 miles (188 km) long.[2] It starts as two forks in southwestern Mississippi and flows south through Louisiana, passing Greater Baton Rouge, to Lake Maurepas. The lower 37 miles (59.5 km) of the river is navigable. A portion of the river is diverted via the Petite Amite River and Amite Diversion Canal to the Blind River, which also flows to Lake Maurepas.

Name

Amite could be an name derived from the Choctaw language meaning "young", although folk etymology holds it to be a corruption of the French amitié meaning "friendship".[3]

Fishing

A 3.09-kilogram (6.8 lb) white bass (Morone chrysops) was caught on August 27, 2010 on the Amite River in Louisiana by angler Corey Crochet, tying an International Game Fish Association world record.[4]

Gallery

  • An excursion steamer on the Amite River, c. 1895
    An excursion steamer on the Amite River, c. 1895

See also

References

  1. ^ Baca, Keith A. (26 April 2019). Native American Place Names in Mississippi. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781604734836 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ "U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data". The National Map. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
  3. ^ Baca, Keith A. (2007). Native American Place Names in Mississippi. University Press of Mississippi. p. 4. ISBN 978-1-60473-483-6.
  4. ^ "Bass, white (Morone chrysops)". The International Game Fish Association. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

External links

  • Amite River Basin Commission
  • Excerpt about Amité River from The Free State - A History and Place-Names Study of Livingston Parish, US Genweb
  • Columbia Gazetteer of North America, Bartleby website