Question about the Arkansas River. I was watching IN COLD BLOOD (again) yesterday when law

[raccoon]

enforcement was looking for the murder weapon in the Arkansas River. However I’ve heard that now the Arkansas River in that locale—western Kansas—is pretty much dried up. What say you, residents of the area?

[cbdo2007]

1. Looking at Bing Maps, the river does look completely dried up.

Don't know when it dried up, but I'm assuming they could still look for a murder weapon there whether there is water there or not.

[Spider Jerusalem]

2. It wasn't dry in 1959.

See here for instance: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1906&dat=19820624&id=IdcfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=G9kEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2400,3754756

[raccoon]

5. THanks for the link! nt

[1-Old-Man]

3. The only body of water anywhere near the Clutter farm was a small lake

I just re-read the book last month and got curious about the area while I was reading so I found it on Google-Earth and looked around. You may recall that the daughter was fond of riding an old horse to a local lake, she and the girlfriend who found the bodies rode there from time to time and its mentioned repeatedly in the book. There is also a railroad that passes through town that can be used to fix certain events as well as what, in these times, appears to be a quite large school which may be on the same grounds as the school mentioned in the book (or movie). But as far as a river goes, nothing nearby at all. Of course they drove out of the state immediately after the murders, with Perry being dropped off at the flea-bag motel he was staying at while Dick went back to his folks house (where he promptly fell asleep during a football game).

[Paladin]

4. If It Was The Original Movie, I Would Assume That Was The Arkansas River (circa late-60's)

The original flick aimed for authenticity, including scenes filmed in the Clutter's real home.