The Chariton River is a 280-mile (450 km) long tributary to the Missouri River in southeast Iowa and northeast Missouri.
It has been called Missouri's "Grand Divide" because streams west of the Chariton flow into the Missouri and streams east of it flow into the Mississippi River.[1]
The river is believed to have been named for Joseph Chorette who accompanied French Jean Baptiste Trudeau expedition up the Missouri in 1795 and drown while swimming in it. Variations of the name are Choret, Care and Carrette.[2]
Below the Highway 136 bridge at Livonia, Missouri the river has been channelized and dredged. According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, "public use of Chariton River watershed streams is very low, largely because instream habitat has been so adversely affected by channelization and sedimentation"