Wikipedia:Today's featured article/November 8, 2015
The St. Johns River, at 310 miles (500 km), is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida. From the headwaters to the mouth, its drop in elevation is less than 30 feet (9 m) as it runs through or alongside twelve counties, creating a very low flow rate. The river's widest point is nearly 3 miles (5 km) across, and its narrowest point is in the headwaters, a marsh in Indian River County. In all, 3.5 million people live within the various watersheds that feed into the river. The entire drainage basin of 8,840 square miles (22,900 km2) includes some of Florida's major wetlands. Residents along or near the St. Johns have included Paleo-Indians, Archaic people, Timucua, Mocama, French and Spanish settlers, Seminoles, Colonial-era pioneer settlers, slaves and freedmen. It has been the subject of William Bartram's journals, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' books, and Harriet Beecher Stowe's letters. In 1998 the Environmental Protection Agency named the river one of 14 American Heritage Rivers. (Full article...)