The river rises in a region of
granite mountains in
Iron County, Missouri, and flows generally southwardly through the
Ozarks and the
St. Francois Mountains near Missouri's highest point
Taum Sauk. It forms the Missouri-Arkansas border in the
Bootheel and eventually exits the state at Missouri's lowest point in the "toe" at above sea level. It passes through
Lake Wappapello, which is formed by a
dam constructed in 1941. Below the dam the river
meanders through cane forests and willow
wetlands or forested
swamp, transitioning from a clear stream into a slow and
silt-laden muddy river as it enters the flat lands of the
Mississippi embayment. In its lower course the river parallels
Crowleys Ridge and is part of a navigation and flood-control project that encompasses a network of diversion channels and
ditches along it and the
Castor and
Little rivers. Below the mouth of the Little River in
Poinsett County, Arkansas, the St. Francis is
navigable by
barge. It joins the Mississippi River in
Phillips County, Arkansas, about north of
Helena. Along its course in Missouri, the river flows through the
Mark Twain National Forest and past
Sam A. Baker State Park and the towns of
Farmington,
Greenville and
Fisk. In Arkansas it passes the towns of
St. Francis,
Lake City,
Marked Tree and
Parkin, and continues through two additional namesakes of the river —
St. Francis County, and St. Francis Township in northeastern Phillips County — ending its course adjoining the
St. Francis National Forest. In addition to the Little River, tributaries of the St. Francis include the
Little St. Francis River, which joins it along its upper course in Missouri;
Wolf Creek, which joins it in Missouri; the
Tyronza River, which joins it in Arkansas; and the
L'Anguille River, which joins it just above its mouth. ==History==