They ride high and buoyant, for their loads are lighter than we could desire. [208] These and nine other decisions, compacts, federal acts and agreements made between 1922 and 1973 form what is now known as the Law of the River. They were allegedly killed by Native Americans after making it to the rim of the canyon; two days later, the expedition ran the last of the Grand Canyon rapids and reached St. [99][100] Since then the river has changed course into the Salton Sink at least three times, transforming it into Lake Cahuilla, which at maximum size flooded up the valley to present-day Indio, California. Here, many diversions draw from the river, providing water for both local uses and distant regions including the Salt River Valley of Arizona and metropolitan Southern California. In 1540, Hernando de Alarcón sailed up the Colorado and Gila Rivers; maps drawn by his expedition show the river as the Miraflores or Brazos de la Miraflores. About 30 to 20 million years ago, volcanic activity related to the orogeny led to the Mid-Tertiary ignimbrite flare-up, which created smaller formations such as the Chiricahua Mountains in Arizona and deposited massive amounts of volcanic ash and debris over the watershed. [275] Rapid development and economic growth further complicate the issue of a secure water supply, particularly in the case of California's senior water rights over those of Nevada and Arizona: in case of a reduction in water supply, Nevada and Arizona would have to endure severe cuts before any reduction in the California allocation, which is also larger than the other two combined. The Colorado River is a major river of the western United States and northwest Mexico in North America. [145] The name Tizon lasted for the next 200 years. Water use had increased significantly by the 1950s, and more water was being diverted out of the Colorado River basin to the Front Range corridor, the Salt Lake City area in Utah, and the Rio Grande basin in New Mexico. [211] Flow regulation from Hoover Dam opened the doors for rapid development on the lower Colorado River; Imperial and Parker dams followed in 1938, and Davis Dam was completed in 1950. Update: June 24, 2019 Pima County is releasing treated water into the Santa Cruz River below downtown at 22nd St. [278][279], The Colorado River and its tributaries often nourish extensive corridors of riparian growth as they traverse the arid desert regions of the watershed. Gregory, Herbert E., William Culp Darrah, and Charles Kelly, editors. [88][189] Southern Nevada Water Authority called the Colorado River one of the "most controlled, controversial and litigated rivers in the world". [287] A further 40 species that occur in the river today, notably the brown trout, were introduced during the 19th and 20th centuries, mainly for sport fishing. [68] The average flow rate of the Colorado at the northernmost point of the Mexico–United States border (NIB, or Northerly International Boundary) is about 2,060 cubic feet per second (58 m3/s), 1.49 million acre feet (1.84 km3) per year—less than a tenth of the natural flow—due to upstream water use. The Fremont were likely the first peoples of the Colorado River basin to domesticate crops and construct masonry dwellings; they also left behind a large amount of rock art and petroglyphs, many of which have survived to the present day. The Colorado then enters northern Arizona, where since the 1960s Glen Canyon Dam near Page has flooded the Glen Canyon reach of the river, forming Lake Powell for water supply and hydroelectricity generation. The river comes to an end just south of the multicolored patchwork of farmlands in the northwestern corner of the image and then fans out at the base of the Sierra de Juarez Mountains. River description. [107][108], Beginning in the early centuries A.D., Colorado River basin peoples began to form large agriculture-based societies, some of which lasted hundreds of years and grew into well-organized civilizations encompassing tens of thousands of inhabitants. #81, 32nd Congress, 1st Session, Washington, 1852, Richard E. Lingenfelter, Steamboats on the Colorado River, 1852–1916, University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1978. [21] Here, the San Juan River, carrying runoff from the southern slope of Colorado's San Juan Mountains, joins the Colorado from the east. ", "Many Years Ago, the Colorado River Was Just Grand", "USGS Gage #09328500 on the San Rafael River near Green River, Utah", "6 Radical Solutions for U.S. Southwest's Peak Water Problem", "Salazar Awards $20.1 Million to Four Western Colorado Irrigation Districts to Improve Irrigation Systems, Reduce Salinity in Colorado River", "The Beginning and the End of the Colorado River: Protecting the Sources, Ensuring its Courses", "Appendix I: The Past, Present and Future of Transmountain Diversion Projects", "When The Imperial Valley Fought For Its Life", "Utilization of Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grande: Treaty Between the United States of America and Mexico", "The Colorado River and Hoover Dam: Facts and Figures", "All-American Canal, California–Mexico border", "Reclamation Helps Celebrate Theodore Roosevelt Dam's 100th Year", "The Colorado River: A Regional Solution", "History of Geologic Investigations, Engineering Design, and Construction Methods of the Harold D. Roberts Tunnel, Colorado", "Colorado River System Consumptive Uses and Losses Report 1996–2000", "Landmark Cooperation Brings the Colorado River Home", "The Colorado River Salinity Problem: Direct Economic Damages in Mexico", "Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Project", "Technical Report: Pesticides in the Lower Colorado River", "Pesticides in Surface Waters of the Upper Colorado River Basin, Colorado, 1996–98", 10.1643/0045-8511(2000)000[0402:teohrd]2.0.co;2, "Colorado River Agreement to Help Restore Vanished Wetlands in Mexico", "Minute 319: Building on the Past to Provide for the Future", "Huge water pulse to bring Colorado river back from dead", "Colorado river reaches sea for first time in decades", "Upper Colorado River Basin Consumptive Uses and Losses Report 2006-2010", "Sharing Colorado River Water: History, Public Policy and the Colorado River Compact", "Persistent Drought in the Colorado River Basin", "Paleoenvironmental Archives as a source of Climate Information for Natural Resource Management: An Example from Tree Rings and Colorado Water Management", "Annual Operating Plan for Colorado River Reservoirs – 2012", "Current Status and Trends of Lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam Release Water Quality", "The Colorado River's Uncertain Future: How Climate Change May Affect Future Planning Decisions on the Colorado River", "Lakes Mead and Powell Could Run Dry by 2021", "Lake Mead Sinks to a New Historic Low: If Lake Falls 8 More Feet, Thirsty Ariz. Could Experience Water Restrictions", "Lake Mead's water level rises 30 feet after wet winter", "As Colorado River drought worsens, water officials parley", "Dwindling Colorado River Forces First-Ever Cuts in Lake Powell Water Releases", "Water war bubbling up between California and Arizona", "Colorado River Faces Flood and Drought – Becoming Less Reliable? [117] A variety of methods were employed to combat these problems, including the construction of large dams, but when a megadrought hit the region in the 14th century A.D. the ancient civilizations of the Colorado River basin abruptly collapsed. [230] When these plans were publicized, the environmental movement – still reeling from the Glen Canyon controversy – successfully lobbied against the project. [177] During 1875, even bigger strikes were made along the Uncompahgre and San Miguel rivers, also in Colorado, and these led to the creation of Ouray and Telluride, respectively. [161] In 1869, one-armed Civil War veteran John Wesley Powell led an expedition from Green River Station in Wyoming, aiming to run the two rivers all the way down to St. Thomas, Nevada, near present-day Hoover Dam. But as this NASA Earth Observatory satellite photo from September 2000 shows, irrigation and urban water needs now prevent the river from reaching its final destination. [167] Navigation on the Colorado River was dangerous because of the shallow channel and flow variations, so the first sternwheeler on the river, the Colorado of 1855, was designed to carry 60 short tons (54 t) while drawing less than 2 feet (0.6 m) of water. The Colorado River can be seen in dark blue at the topmost central part of this image. River flows as gauged at Lee's Ferry, Arizona, about halfway along the length of the Colorado and 16 miles (26 km) below Glen Canyon Dam, are used to determine water allocations in the Colorado River basin. Below the confluence with the Little Colorado River, the river swings west into Granite Gorge, the most dramatic portion of the Grand Canyon, where the river cuts up to one mile (1.6 km) into the Colorado Plateau, exposing some of the oldest visible rocks on Earth, dating as long ago as 2 billion years. The company largely escaped the turmoil of the Mexican Revolution (1910–20), but in the postrevolutionary period, the Mexican government expropriated the company's land to satisfy the demand for land reform. [165] The explorers named many features along the Colorado and Green rivers, including Glen Canyon, the Dirty Devil River, Flaming Gorge, and the Gates of Lodore. For more than a thousand miles of its course, the Colorado has cut a deep gorge. Between its headwaters along the Continental Divide and its confluence with the Colorado River near Grand Junction, the Gunnison alternates between pristine trout fisheries, public recreation areas, heritage ranches, and tumultuous whitewater fed by snowmelt runoff from some of the tallest mountains in the Rockies. River otters once flourished in the lower reaches. Other canyons cut by the river include Marble Canyon, Glen Canyon, and Cataract Canyon. Colorado road map. Author of. The use of horses spread through the basin via trade between the various tribes and greatly facilitated hunting, communications, travel and warfare for indigenous peoples. As the only undammed river in the lower 48 states, it courses 692 miles through Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota. The total length of the river is about 1,900 miles (3,060 km), and the area within the entire watershed of the Rio Grande is … [95], The time scale and sequence over which the river's present course and the Grand Canyon were formed is uncertain. You can also look for some pictures that related to Map of Colorado by scroll down to collection on below this picture. Mountain man Jedediah Smith reached the lower Colorado by way of the Virgin River canyon in 1826. The state’s second largest river still has its moments, though. The distribution of animals varies with these habitats. The Continental Divide of the Americas forms a large portion of the eastern boundary of the watershed, separating it from the basins of the Yellowstone River and the Platte River—both tributaries of the Missouri River—on the northeast, and from the headwaters of the Arkansas River on the east. [162] Powell and nine men – none of whom had prior whitewater experience – set out in May. The Mohave have lived along the rich bottomlands of the lower Colorado below Black Canyon since 1200 A.D. [n 6] Phoenix in Arizona and Las Vegas in Nevada are the largest metropolitan areas in the watershed. After entering Mexico, the Colorado approaches the mostly dry Colorado River Delta at the tip of the Gulf of California between Baja California and Sonora. The Yellowstone River winds its way through Yellowstone National Park, including sections with crashing waterfalls and areas of calm, lazy flow. Where the river system is joined by lateral streams—the Virgin, Kanab, Paria, Escalante, Dirty Devil, and Green rivers from the west, and the Little Colorado, San Juan, Dolores, and Gunnison from the east—a transverse system of narrow, winding deep canyons has been cut. The lake took about 50 years to evaporate after the Colorado resumed flowing to the Gulf. 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