Amite River (original) (raw)

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River in the United States of America

Amite River
An excursion steamer on the Amite River, ca. 1895
MapAmite River
Etymology French amitié ("friendship"), or Choctaw himmita ("young")[1]
Location
Country United States
States MississippiLouisiana
Counties LincolnAmite
Parishes East FelicianaSt. HelenaEast Baton RougeAscensionLivingston
Physical characteristics
Source West Fork Amite River
• location Amite County, Mississippi
• coordinates 31°19′19″N 90°43′40″W / 31.32194°N 90.72778°W / 31.32194; -90.72778
2nd source East Fork Amite River
• location Lincoln County, Mississippi
• coordinates 31°26′05″N 90°37′12″W / 31.43472°N 90.62000°W / 31.43472; -90.62000
Source confluence
• location St. Helena Parish and East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana
• coordinates 30°59′38″N 90°50′06″W / 30.99389°N 90.83500°W / 30.99389; -90.83500
Mouth Lake Maurepas
• location Livingston Parish, Louisiana
• coordinates 30°17′53″N 90°33′37″W / 30.29806°N 90.56028°W / 30.29806; -90.56028
Length 117 mi (188 km)
Basin features
Cities Denham Springs, LouisianaWhitehall, Livingston Parish, Louisiana
Tributaries
• right Comite River, Bayou Manchac

The Amite River (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.

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]

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]

  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.