The Fishing River is a 39.0-mile-long (62.8 km) tributary of the Missouri River in western Missouri in the United States. It rises in the northeastern extremity of Kansas City in Clay County and flows generally eastward and southeastward through Clay and southeastern Ray counties, past the town of Mosby. It joins the Missouri River about 3 miles (5 km) south of the town of Orrick.
Downstream of Mosby, it collects the East Fork Fishing River, which rises at the town of Lawson and flows 20.6 miles (33.2 km) generally southward through Ray and Clay counties, past the town of Excelsior Springs.
In 1808, William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition established Fort Osage along the Missouri near the mouth of the Fishing River. The fort became a center of trade among European settlers and Native Americans in the region.
Famous quotes containing the words fishing and/or river:
“Once fishing was a rabbit’s foot—
O wind blow cold, O wind blow hot,”
—Robert Lowell (1917–1977)
“Naught was familiar but the heavens, from under whose roof the voyageur never passes; but with their countenance, and the acquaintance we had with river and wood, we trusted to fare well under any circumstances.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)