{{Short description|River in Nebraska, U.S.}} {{Use American English|date=July 2025}} [[File:Dismal River from NE97 DS 3.JPG|thumb|alt=Small river running between steep banks|Looking downstream (east) from Nebraska Highway 97 crossing]] [[File:Nebraska Sandhills.jpg|thumb|Dismal River, Sandhills, and U.S. Route 83 in Thomas County.]] The '''Dismal River''' is a winding {{convert|71.9|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}}<ref name=NHD>U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. [http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/ The National Map] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329155652/http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/ |date=2012-03-29 }}, accessed March 30, 2011</ref> river in the state of Nebraska. It is formed by the confluence of two forks, one of which has its origins in Grant County and the other in Hooker County. The forks meet near Nebraska Highway 97 between Mullen and Tryon. From here the Dismal River flows east-southeast into Thomas County, crossing U.S. Highway 83 south of Thedford. Passing just south of the Nebraska National Forest (once the Dismal River National Forest), it turns slightly to the northeast before its confluence with the Middle Loup River just East of Dunning in Blaine County.

Most of the land along the river is privately owned and used for ranching. The water comes from the Ogallala Aquifer and boils up beneath the river in places, sometimes creating areas of quicksand.<ref>Guhman, Anne Irene, and Darryll T. Pederson (1992). [http://geology.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/content/abstract/20/1/8 "Boiling sand springs, Dismal River, Nebraska: Agents for formation of vertical cylindrical structures and geomorphic change".] ''Geology''. v.20, no. 1, pp. 8-10. Retrieved 2010-08-03.</ref> Deer, coyotes, beavers, turkey and rattlesnakes inhabit the area along the river.

Though much of the river's length is unpopulated, the Dismal River Golf Course, designed by Jack Nicklaus, borders it south of Mullen.

==Discharge== At Dunning, the Dismal has a mean annual discharge of {{convert|330|cuft/s|m3/s|abbr=off}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://waterdata.usgs.gov/ne/nwis/annual/?format=sites_selection_links&search_site_no=06776500&agency_cd=USGS&amp;referred_module=sw|title = USGS Surface Water data for Nebraska: USGS Surface-Water Annual Statistics}}</ref>

==See also==

{{portal | Nebraska}} *List of rivers of Nebraska

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Dismal River (Nebraska)}} * [http://photokayaker.fit2paddle.com/C2079147609/E20070618112924/index.html Photos and report of kayak trip on the Dismal] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090823075406/http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/boating/guides/canoetrails/canoe-dis.asp Nebraska Game and Parks Commission description]

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Category:Rivers of Nebraska Category:Bodies of water of Grant County, Nebraska Category:Bodies of water of Thomas County, Nebraska Category:Bodies of water of Hooker County, Nebraska Category:Bodies of water of Blaine County, Nebraska Category:Tributaries of the Platte River