1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Platte

​PLATTE (so named, from the French, because of its shallowness), or Nebraska, a river system of Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska, tributary to the Missouri river, which it enters immediately north of Plattsmouth, Nebraska, 18 m. below Omaha, in about 41° 3' N. lat. Including the North Platte it is about 900 m. long from its headwaters, with a drainage basin for the entire system of 90,000 sq. m. The Platte proper is formed by the junction of the North Platte and the South Platte, sometimes called the North and South Forks of the Platte, immediately below the city of North Platte in Lincoln county, Nebraska. The North Platte and South Platte rise respectively in North Park and South Park in Colorado. The tributaries of the main stream all flow in from the north; the most important being the Loup, which empties immediately east of Columbus in Platte county, and the Elkhorn, which joins the Platte in Douglas county, due west of Omaha.

See J. C. Stevens, Surface Water Supply of Nebraska (Washington, 1909).