# What's the opposite of a tributary? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 13, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-opposite-of-a-tributary/213076 "2003-11-13T19:41:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-opposite-of-a-tributary/213076/21 "2003-11-18T06:35:53Z")
Actually, there is a very, very famous distributary: The East River which breaks from the Hudson River to flow east of Manhattan Island. And before someone chimes in to claim that the East River is not a distributary because it flows back into the Hudson: > [@](#): > > Officially, the Hudson and the East River empty into Upper New York Bay (The location of Liberty Island), which empties into Lower New York Bay at the Varazzano Narrows (The narrow section of Bay at the South End of New York harbor, crossed by the Varazzano Narrows bridge) which empties into the Atlantic. Both the Hudson River and the East River terminate at the Southern tip of Manhattan where it officially becomes Upper New York Bay, or more popularly, New York Harbor. (From [here](http://www.endex.com/gf/buildings/liberty/libertyquestions.htm).) ## Peace. ♫ East side, West side, all around the town. ♫ ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-opposite-of-a-tributary/213076/22 "2003-11-18T07:07:13Z")
The East River is a tidal strait. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-opposite-of-a-tributary/213076/23 "2003-11-18T07:42:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by friedo \* > \*\*The East River is a tidal strait. \*\* Well, how about that. I never knew. I stand corrected. Of course, in my defense, it’s misnamed. ## Peace. The East Strait? The Manhattan Tidal Strait? The ManStrait? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-opposite-of-a-tributary/213076/24 "2003-11-18T11:40:50Z")
I noticed the Casiquiare on my atlas years ago when tracing the Amazon, and thought it must have been a cartographical blunder at first (“Rivers don’t do that!”), but I looked into it and found that it was real. I remember at the time thinking it was pretty cool. (As for the name, it just means “channel”.) Read more about its discovery and exploration [here](http://members.aol.com/ChrisChrz/humboldt.html). That link mentions that there was talk of dredging and widening it into an artificial canal, but that is unlikely to happen due to environmental concerns (and quite right too). ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-opposite-of-a-tributary/213076/25 "2003-11-18T11:50:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by moriah \* > The East Strait? The Manhattan Tidal Strait? The ManStrait? I’ve got a ManSlightlyToTheLeft. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ccd318/32.png) [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-opposite-of-a-tributary/213076/26 "2003-11-18T12:50:08Z")
The Louisiana bayous are distributaries of the Mississippi River. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-opposite-of-a-tributary/213076/27 "2003-11-18T15:43:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MikeS \* > In the Canadian Rockies, on the border between BC and Alberta, there’s a creek that splits into two creeks. One flows west to the Pacific, while the other flows east to reach Hudson Bay. There’s one thing I wonder about that: Does the creek just split into two or does one arm join a completely different river system as the Casiquiare does? ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2003, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-opposite-of-a-tributary/213076/28 "2003-11-18T17:14:52Z")
I assume so, if one ends up in the Pacific and one in the Arctic! There’s another one, in the USA this time: > [@](#): > > [M]ake a visit to a place in Wyoming named Two Ocean Creek, which, despite its lofty name, is a gently flowing ankle-deep stream that splits in two when it hits a bump in the ridge. That bump is the Continental Divide, and once it splits the creek, the branches don’t rejoin. Instead, they head downhill in different directions. A sign tells us where they are going: Atlantic Ocean: 3488 miles; Pacific Ocean: 1353 miles. (From url=http://gorp.away.com/gorp/activity/hiking/features/3crocdt1.htm]here. [Here](http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Garden/9907/2OP/) is a page with a good map and photos of the “Parting of the Waters” on Two Ocean Creek. The Pacific branch flows into the Snake River; the Atlantic one into the Yellowstone. I guess this little stream effectively splits the US right in two! ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-opposite-of-a-tributary/213076/29 "2003-11-20T12:25:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by r\_k \* > I assume so, if one ends up in the Pacific and one in the Arctic! That didn’t really answer my question. What I meant was: do they just split up and form two separate systems or does one (or both) later act as a tributary to another river, as is the case with the Casiquiare. ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-opposite-of-a-tributary/213076/30 "2003-11-20T15:18:43Z")
To the best of my recollection, **Floater** (I visited the place years ago), one part of the creek eventually flows into the Columbia River while the other flows into one of the Saskatchewan rivers. So they don’t form basins in their own right. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-opposite-of-a-tributary/213076.md?page=1)