SPOON RIVER

river in west-central Illinois, U.S. It rises in southwestern Bureau county and flows south and southwest to a point near Lewistown, where it turns southeast, joining the Illinois River opposite Havana after a course of 160 miles (257 km). The Dickson Mounds, a rich archaeological area, are near the confluence of the two rivers. Spoon River was made famous by Edgar Lee Masters, the poet who wrote Spoon River Anthology (1915), dealing with the frustrated ambitions of people who lived in the fictitious town of Spoon River, actually a compound of two towns, Petersburg and Lewistown. The river's name is probably a translation of maquon, Algonquian Indian for mussel shell, which the Indians used as a spoon.