Sunflower River
river in the United States of America
The Sunflower River (also known as the Big Sunflower River) is one of the main tributaries of the Yazoo River in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The Sunflower follows an old channel of the Mississippi River as it winds between farms, neighborhoods, wetlands and abandoned
sharecropper shacks. It is navigable by barge for 50 miles. It rises in DeSoto County, Mississippi near the Tennessee border and flows south for 100 miles to the Yazoo River, a major tributary of the Mississippi River. At Clarksdale, the county seat of Coahoma County, the annual Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival is held.
The United States Army Corps of Engineers maintains a navigation channel, thirty miles in length. Built in 1976, the channel is used by barges and pleasure craft.
According to the USGS, variant names include Hushpuckaman Creek. The Hushpuckena River drains the northwestern part of the Sunflower River Basin, Quiver River drains the northeastern portion, and Bogue Phalia drains the west central portion of the watershed, all of which lies in the alluvium soil of the Yazoo Delta.
At Sunflower, Mississippi, the river flow measures approximately 1,099 cubic feet per second.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Sunflower River” as river in the United States of America. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as river in the United States of America. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q14693385. Authority coordinates are 32.670, -90.668. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1976.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Sunflower River”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Sunflower River primary sources, Sunflower River archive and Sunflower research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Sunflower River”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Sunflower River” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.