GREEN RIVER

city, seat (1875) of Sweetwater county, southwestern Wyoming, U.S., 13 miles (21 km) west of Rock Springs. Surrounded by rock formations at an elevation of 6,600 feet (2,000 m), it originated as a trappers' rendezvous and an overland stage route stop on the river for which it is named. It became a division point after the arrival in 1868 of the Union Pacific Railroad and was later the eastern terminus of the Oregon Short Line Railroad. John Wesley Powell's exploration of the Green and Colorado rivers began there in 1869 and is commemorated by a national historical site. The town is now a trade centre for forest, livestock, and farm products. Most of the nation's soda ash comes from the trona mines nearby. Green River is a gateway to the Flaming Gorge Reservoir and National Recreation Area and to Ashley National Forest immediately to the south. Inc. 1891. Pop. (1990) 12,711. river rising near Kings Mountain in Lincoln county, central Kentucky, U.S., and flowing for 360 miles (580 km) generally westward through a well-defined gorge, then northwestward to the Ohio River, which it enters just above Evansville, Ind. Dams and locks below Mining City Dam allow small boats to navigate 200 miles (320 km) of the lower course, through the western coalfield and into Mammoth Cave National Park. There it receives the waters of the Echo River. The Green River drains 9,430 square miles (24,425 square km), and its chief tributaries are Russell and Mud creeks, Barren and Pond rivers, flowing in from the south, and the Nolin and Rough rivers, from the north. The main cities along the river are Greensburg, Munfordville, Brownsville, Morgantown, and Livermore. river in the western United States, rising on the Continental Divide in the Wind River Range in west-central Wyoming. It flows generally south through southwestern Wyoming, where it is dammed below La Barge to form the Fontenelle Reservoir. Below Green River city, Wyo., it cuts through Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area, where it is impounded to form a large reservoir. It continues through eastern Utah, with a loop into northwestern Colorado, on through the Canyon of Lodore in Dinosaur National Monument and back into Utah. It then flows generally southwest past Green River city, Utah, and southeast to join the Colorado River south of Moab, in Canyonlands National Park. Traversing rugged mountain regions through most of its 730-mile (1,175-kilometre) course, it drains about 45,000 square miles (117,000 square km). It is navigable only by special shallow-draft riverboats-and then only at high water. Its chief tributaries are the Yampa River, in Colorado, and the Duchesne, Price, White, and San Rafael rivers in Utah. Originally known as the Spanish River, it was renamed in 1824, probably for its colour derived in places from green soapstone banks along its course.