Coordinates: 315400N 1145703W

Colorado River
The Colorado River is one of the principal rivers of the Southwestern
United States and northern Mexico (the other being the Rio Grande). The
Colorado River
1,450-mile-long (2,330 km) river drains an expansive, arid watershed
that encompasses parts of seven U.S. and two Mexican states. Starting in
the central Rocky Mountains in the U.S., the river flows generally
southwest across the Colorado Plateau and through the Grand Canyon
before reaching Lake Mead on the ArizonaNevada border, where it
turns south toward the international border. 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.

Known for its dramatic canyons, whitewater rapids, and eleven U.S. The Colorado River at Horseshoe Bend,
Arizona, a few miles below Glen Canyon
National Parks, the Colorado River system is a vital source of water for
Dam
40 million people in southwestern North America.[6] The river and its
tributaries are controlled by an extensive system of dams, reservoirs, and Countries United States, Mexico
aqueducts, which in most years divert its entire flow for agricultural States Colorado, Utah, Arizona,
Nevada, California,
irrigation and domestic water supply.[7][8] Its large flow and steep
Baja California, Sonora
gradient are used for generating hydroelectric power, and its major dams
regulate peaking power demands in much of the Intermountain West.
Tributaries
- left Fraser River, Blue River,
Intensive water consumption has dried up the lower 100 miles (160 km)
Eagle River,
of the river, which has rarely reached the sea since the 1960s.[7][9][10] Roaring Fork River,
Gunnison River,
Beginning with small bands of nomadic hunter-gatherers, Native Dolores River,
Americans have inhabited the Colorado River basin for at least 8,000 San Juan River,
years. Between 2,000 and 1,000 years ago, the river and its tributaries Little Colorado River,
Bill Williams River,
fostered large agricultural civilizations some of the most sophisticated
Gila River
indigenous cultures in North America which eventually faded due to a
- right Green River,
combination of severe drought and poor land use practices. Most native Dirty Devil River,
peoples that inhabit the basin today are descended from other groups that Escalante River,
settled in the region beginning about 1,000 years ago. Europeans first Kanab River, Virgin River,
Hardy River
entered the Colorado Basin in the 16th century, when explorers from
Cities Glenwood Springs, CO,
Spain began mapping and claiming the area, which later became part of Grand Junction, CO,
Mexico upon its independence in 1821. Early contact between Europeans Moab, UT, Page, AZ,
and Native Americans was generally limited to the fur trade in the Bullhead City, AZ,
headwaters and sporadic trade interactions along the lower river
. Lake Havasu City, AZ,
Yuma, AZ,
After most of the Colorado River basin became part of the U.S. in 1846, San Luis Rio Colorado, SON
the bulk of the river's course was still the subject of myths and Source La Poudre Pass
speculation. Several expeditions charted the Colorado in the mid- - location Rocky Mountains, Colorado,
19th century one of which, led by John Wesley Powell, was the first to United States
run the rapids of the Grand Canyon. American explorers collected - elevation 10,184 ft (3,104 m)
valuable information that was later used to develop the river for - coordinates 402820N 1054934W [1]
navigation and water supply. Large-scale settlement of the lower basin Mouth Gulf of California
- location Colorado River Delta,
began in the mid- to late-19th century, with steamboats providing
Baja CaliforniaSonora,
Mexico
- elevation 0 ft (0 m)
transportation from the Gulf of California to landings along the river that - coordinates 315400N 1145703W [1]
linked to wagon roads to the interior. Lesser numbers settled in the upper
Length 1,450 mi (2,334 km) [2]
basin, which was the scene of major gold strikes in the 1860s and 1870s.
Basin 246,000 sq mi
Large engineering works began around the start of the 20th century, with
(637,137 km2) [2]
Discharge for mouth (average virgin
major guidelines established in a series of international and U.S.
flow), max and min at
interstate treaties known as the "Law of the River". The U.S. federal Topock, AZ, 300 mi (480 km)
government was the main driving force behind the construction of dams from the mouth
and aqueducts, although many state and local water agencies were also - average 22,500 cu ft/s (637 m3/s) [3]
involved. Most of the major dams were built between 1910 and 1970; the - max 384,000 cu ft/s
system keystone, Hoover Dam, was completed in 1935. The Colorado is (10,900 m3/s) [4]
now considered among the most controlled and litigated rivers in the
- min 422 cu ft/s (12 m3/s) [5]
world, with every drop of its water fully allocated.

The environmental movement in the American Southwest has opposed

the damming and diversion of the Colorado River system because of
detrimental effects on the ecology and natural beauty of the river and its
tributaries. During the construction of Glen Canyon Dam, environmental
organizations vowed to block any further development of the river, and a
number of later dam and aqueduct proposals were defeated by citizen
opposition. As demands for Colorado River water continue to rise, the
level of human development and control of the river continues to
generate controversy.

Contents
1 Course
1.1 Major tributaries Map of the Colorado River basin
2 Discharge
Wikimedia Commons: Colorado River
3 Watershed
4 Geology
5 History
5.1 Indigenous peoples
5.2 Early explorers
5.3
Exploration and navigation below Fort Yuma, 185054
5.4
Exploration and navigation above Fort Yuma, 18511887
5.5 Powell's expeditions, 18691871
5.6 American settlement
5.6.1
Naming of the upper Colorado River and
controversy

6 Engineering and development

6.1 Lower Basin development, 1930s50s
6.2 Upper Basin development, 1950s1970s
6.3 Pacific Southwest Water Plan
6.4 Environmental impacts
6.4.1 Minute 319
6.5 Uncertain future
7 Wildlife and plants
 8 Recreation
9 See also
10 Notes
11 References
12 Works cited
13 Further reading
14 External links

Course
The Colorado begins at La Poudre Pass in the Southern Rocky Mountains of
Colorado, at just under 2 miles (3 km) above sea level.[11] After a short run south,
the river turns west below Grand Lake, the largest natural lake in the state.[12] For
the first 250 miles (400 km) of its course, the Colorado carves its way through the
mountainous Western Slope, a sparsely populated region defined by the portion of
the state west of the Continental Divide. As it flows southwest, it gains strength
from many small tributaries, as well as larger ones including the Blue, Eagle and
Roaring Fork rivers. After passing throughDe Beque Canyon, the Colorado emerges
The Kawuneeche Valley, near the
from the Rockies into the Grand Valley, a major farming and ranching region where
headwaters of the Colorado River in
it meets one of its largest tributaries, the Gunnison River, at Grand Junction. Most of
Rocky Mountain National Park
the upper river is a swift whitewater stream ranging from 200 to 500 feet (60 to
150 m) wide, the depth ranging from 6 to 30 feet (2 to 9 m), with a few notable
exceptions, such as the Blackrocks reach where the river is nearly 100 feet (30 m) deep.[13][14] In a few areas, such as the marshy
Kawuneeche Valley near the headwaters[15] and the Grand Valley, it exhibits braided characteristics.[14]

Arcing northwest, the Colorado begins to cut across the eponymous Colorado Plateau, a vast area of high desert centered at the Four
Corners of the southwestern United States. Here, the climate becomes significantly drier than that in the Rocky Mountains, and the
river becomes entrenched in progressively deeper gorges of bare rock, beginning with Ruby Canyon and then Westwater Canyon as it
enters Utah, now once again heading southwest.[16] Farther downstream it receives theDolores River and defines the southern border
of Arches National Park, before passing Moab and flowing through "The Portal", where it exits the Moab Valley between a pair of
1,000-foot (300 m) sandstone cliffs.[17]

In Utah, the Colorado flows primarily through the "slickrock" country, which is characterized by its narrow canyons and unique
"folds" created by the tilting of sedimentary rock layers along faults. This is one of the most inaccessible regions of the continental
United States.[18][19] Below the confluence with the Green River, its largest tributary, in Canyonlands National Park, the Colorado
enters Cataract Canyon, named for its dangerous rapids,[20] and then Glen Canyon, known for its arches and erosion-sculpted Navajo
sandstone formations.[21] Here, the San Juan River, carrying runoff from the southern slope of Colorado's San Juan Mountains, joins
the Colorado from the east. 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.[22][23]

In Arizona, the river passes Lee's Ferry, an important crossing for early explorers and settlers and since the early 20th century the
principal point where Colorado River flows are measured for apportionment to the seven U.S. and two Mexican states in the
basin.[24] Downstream, the river enters Marble Canyon, the beginning of the Grand Canyon, passing under the Navajo Bridges on a
now southward course. 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.[25] The 277 miles (446 km) of the river that flow through the
Grand Canyon are largely encompassed by Grand Canyon National Park and are known for their difficult whitewater, separated by
pools that reach up to 110 feet (34 m) in depth.[26]
At the lower end of Grand Canyon, the Colorado widens into Lake Mead, the largest
reservoir in the continental United States, formed by Hoover Dam on the border of Arizona
and Nevada. Situated southeast of metropolitanLas Vegas, the dam is an integral component
for management of the Colorado River, controlling floods and storing water for farms and
cities in the lower Colorado River basin.[27] Below the dam the river passes under the Mike
O'CallaghanPat Tillman Memorial Bridge which at nearly 900 feet (270 m) above the
water is the highest concretearch bridge in the Western Hemisphere[28] and then turns due
south towards Mexico, defining the ArizonaNevada and Arizona
California borders.

After leaving the confines of theBlack Canyon, the

river emerges from the Colorado Plateau into the
Lower Colorado River Valley (LCRV), a desert
region dependent on irrigation agriculture and
tourism and also home to several major Indian
reservations.[29] The river widens here to a broad, Colorado River in the Grand
moderately deep waterway averaging 500 to 1,000 Canyon seen from Pima
Point, near Hermit's Rest
feet (150 to 300 m) wide and reaching up to 14
mile (400 m) across, with depths ranging from 8 to
60 feet (2 to 20 m).[30][31] Before channelization of the Colorado in the 20th century, the
lower river was subject to frequent course changes caused by seasonal flow variations.
Joseph C. Ives, who surveyed the lower river in 1861, wrote that "the shifting of the
channel, the banks, the islands, the bars is so continual and rapid that a detailed description,
derived from the experiences of one trip, would be found incorrect, not only during the
Satellite view of the Colorado
River valley near Yuma, ."[32]
subsequent year, but perhaps in the course of a week, or even a day
Arizona; the MexicoUnited
States border runs from left to The LCRV is one of the most densely populated areas along the river, and there are
right just below center. numerous towns including Bullhead City, Arizona, Needles, California, and Lake Havasu
City, Arizona. 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.[33] The last major U.S. diversion is at Imperial Dam, where over 90 percent of the river's remaining flow is
moved into the All-American Canal to irrigate California's Imperial Valley, the most productive winter agricultural region in the
United States.[34]

Below Imperial Dam, only a small portion of the Colorado River makes it beyond
Yuma, Arizona, and the confluence with the intermittent Gila River which carries
runoff from western New Mexico and most of Arizona before defining about 24
miles (39 km) of the MexicoUnited States border. At Morelos Dam, the entire
remaining flow of the Colorado is diverted to irrigate the Mexicali Valley, among
Mexico's most fertile agricultural lands.[35] Below San Luis Ro Colorado, the
Colorado passes entirely into Mexico, defining the Baja CaliforniaSonora border;
in most years, the stretch of the Colorado between here and the Gulf of California is
dry or a trickle formed by irrigation return flows. The Hardy River provides most of
Colorado River as it exits the United
the flow into the Colorado River Delta, a vast alluvial floodplain covering about
States into Mexico beneath the San
3,000 square miles (7,800 km2) of northwestern Mexico.[36] A large estuary is Luis Colorado-Colonia Miguel
formed here before the Colorado empties into the Gulf about 75 miles (120 km) Alman Bridge (September 09)
south of Yuma. Before 20th-century development dewatered the lower Colorado, a
major tidal bore was present in the delta and estuary; the first historical record was
made by the Croatian missionary in Spanish service Father Ferdinand Konak on July 18, 1746.[37] During spring tide conditions,
the tidal bore locally called El Burro formed in the estuary about Montague Island in Baja California and propagated
upstream.[38]
Major tributaries
The Colorado is joined by over 25 significant tributaries, of which the Green River
is the largest by both length and discharge. The Green takes drainage from the Wind
River Range of west-central Wyoming, from Utah's Uinta Mountains, and from the
Rockies of northwestern Colorado.[39] The Gila River is the second longest and
drains a greater area than the Green,[40] but has a significantly lower flow because of
a more arid climate and larger diversions for irrigation and cities.[41] Both the
Gunnison and San Juan rivers, which derive most of their water from Rocky
.[42]
Mountains snowmelt, contribute more water than the Gila did naturally The San Juan River nearMexican
Hat, Utah

The Green River at Mineral Bottom,

just north of Canyonlands National
Park

Statistics of the Colorado's longest tributaries

Name State Length Watershed Discharge References
mi km mi2 km2 cfs m3/s

Green River UT 730 1,170 48,100 125,000 6,048 171.3 [40][43][44][n 1]

Gila River AZ 649 1,044 58,200 151,000 247 7.0 [2][40][45][n 2]

San Juan River UT 383 616 24,600 64,000 2,192 62.1 [40][46][47][n 3]

Little Colorado River AZ 356 573 26,500 69,000 424 12.0 [40][48][49]

Dolores River UT 250 400 4,574 11,850 633 17.9 [40][50][51]

Gunnison River CO 164 264 7,930 20,500 2,570 73 [40][46][52]

Virgin River NV 160 260 13,020 33,700 239 6.8 [40][53][54][n 4]

Discharge
In its natural state, the Colorado River poured about 16.3 million acre feet (20.1 km3) into the Gulf of California each year,
amounting to an average flow rate of 22,500 cubic feet per second (640 m3/s).[3] Its flow regime was not at all steady indeed, "prior
to the construction of federal dams and reservoirs, the Colorado was a river of extremes like no other in the United States."[55] Once,
the river reached peaks of more than 100,000 cubic feet per second (2,800 m3/s) in the summer and low flows of less than 2,500
cubic feet per second (71 m3/s) in the winter annually.[55] At Topock, Arizona, about 300 miles (480 km) upstream from the Gulf, a
maximum historical discharge of 384,000 cubic feet per second (10,900 m3/s) was recorded in 1884 and a minimum of 422 cubic feet
per second (11.9 m3/s) was recorded in 1935.[4][5][56][57] In contrast, the regulated discharge rates on the lower Colorado below
3/s) or drop below 4,000 cubic feet per second (110 m3/s).[58] Annual
Hoover Dam rarely exceed 35,000 cubic feet per second (990 m
runoff volume has ranged from a high of 22.2 million acre feet (27.4 km3) in 1984 to a low of 3.8 million acre feet (4.7 km3) in 2002,
, if any, reaches the Gulf.[59]
although in most years only a small portion of this flow
 Between 85 and 90 percent of the Colorado River's discharge originates in
snowmelt, mostly from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and
Wyoming.[59] The three major upper tributaries of the Colorado the
Gunnison, Green, and San Juan alone deliver almost 9 million acre feet
(11 km3) per year to the main stem, mostly from snowmelt.[60] The
remaining 10 to 15 percent comes from a variety of sources, principally
Annual Colorado River discharge volumes at groundwater base flow and summer monsoon storms.[59] The latter often
Lee's Ferry between 1895 and 2004
produces heavy, highly localized floods on lower tributaries of the river,
but does not often contribute significant volumes of runoff.[59][61] Most
of the annual runoff in the basin occurs with the melting of Rocky Mountainssnowpack, which begins in April and peaks during May
[62]
and June before exhausting in late July or early August.

Flows at the mouth have steadily declined since the beginning of the 20th century, and in most years after 1960 the Colorado River
has run dry before reaching the sea.[63] Irrigation, industrial, and municipal diversions, evaporation from reservoirs, natural runoff,
and likely climate change have all contributed to this substantial reduction in flow, threatening the future water supply.[64][65][66] For
example, the Gila River formerly one of the Colorado's largest tributaries contributes little more than a trickle in most years due
to use of its water by cities and farms in central Arizona.[67] The average flow rate of the Colorado at the northernmost point of the
MexicoUnited 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 10th of the natural flow due to upstream water use.[68] Below here, all of the remaining
flow is diverted to irrigate the Mexicali Valley, leaving a dry riverbed from Morelos Dam to the sea that is supplemented by
intermittent flows of irrigation drainage water.[69] There have been exceptions, however, namely in the early to mid-1980s, when the
Colorado once again reached the sea during several consecutive years of record-breaking precipitation and snowmelt.[70] In 1984, so
much excess runoff occurred that some 16.5 million acre feet (20.4 km3), or 22,860 cubic feet per second (647 m3/s), poured into the
sea.[71]

Discharge of the Colorado River at selected locations

Discharge Discharge Drainage Period of
Gage Ref
(average) (max) area record

cfs m3/s cfs m3/s mi2 km2

Grand Lake, CO 62.7 1.78 976 27.6 63.9 166 19532010 [72]

Dotsero, CO 2,095 59.3 22,200 630 4,390 11,400 19412011 [73]

Cisco, UT 7,181 203.3 125,000 3,500 24,100 62,000 18952010 [74]

Lee's Ferry, AZ 14,800 420 300,000 8,500 107,800 279,000 18952010 [75]

Davis Dam, AZNV 14,180 402 116,000 3,300 169,300 438,000 19052010 [76]

Parker Dam, AZCA 11,990 340 42,400 1,200 178,500 462,000 19352010 [77]

Laguna Dam, AZCA 1,693 47.9 30,900 870 184,600 478,000 19712010 [78]

NIB[n 5] [68]
2,059 58.3 40,600 1,150 238,700 618,000 19502010
(near Andrade, CA)

[75]
Monthly discharge of the Colorado at Lee's Ferry
Month Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec.
cfs 9,650 9,740 10,500 16,000 28,000 32,800 18,300 13,200 10,900 9,530 9,620 9,440
Discharge
m3/s 273.3 275.8 297.3 453.1 792.9 928.8 518.2 373.8 308.7 269.9 272.4 267.3

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) operates or has operated 46 stream gauges to measure the discharge of the Colorado
River, ranging from the headwaters near Grand Lake to the MexicoU.S. border.[79] The tables at right list data associated with eight
of these gauges. 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. The average discharge recorded there
was approximately 14,800 cubic feet per second (420 m3/s), 10.72 million acre feet (13.22 km3) per year, from 1921 to 2010.[80]
This figure has been heavily affected by upstream diversions and reservoir evaporation, especially after the completion of the
Colorado River Storage Project in the 1970s. Prior to the completion of Glen Canyon Dam in 1964, the average discharge recorded
3/s), 12.93 million acre feet (15.95 km3) per year.[75]
between 1912 and 1962 was 17,850 cubic feet per second (505 m

Watershed
The drainage basin or watershed of the Colorado River encompasses 246,000 square
miles (640,000 km2) of southwestern North America, making it the seventh largest on
the continent.[2] About 238,600 square miles (618,000 km2), or 97 percent of the
watershed, is in the United States.[40] The river and its tributaries drain most of western
Colorado and New Mexico, southwestern Wyoming, eastern and southern Utah,
southeastern Nevada and California, and nearly all of Arizona. The areas drained within
Baja California and Sonora are very small and do not contribute measurable runoff.
Most of the basin is arid, defined by the Sonoran and Mojave deserts and the expanse of
the Colorado Plateau, although significant expanses of forest are found in the Rocky
Mountains; the Kaibab, Aquarius, and Markagunt plateaus in southern Utah and
northern Arizona; the Mogollon Rim through central Arizona; and other smaller
mountain ranges and sky islands.[81][82] Elevations range from sea level at the Gulf of
California to 14,321 feet (4,365 m) at the summit of Uncompahgre Peak in Colorado,
[83][84]
with an average of 5,500 feet (1,700 m) across the entire basin.

Climate varies widely across the watershed. Mean monthly high temperatures are
25.3 C (77.5 F) in the upper basin and 33.4 C (92.1 F) in the lower basin, and lows
average 3.6 and 8.9 C (25.5 and 48.0 F), respectively. Annual precipitation averages
6.5 inches (164 mm), ranging from over 40 inches (1,000 mm) in some areas of the Colorado River at the Coyote
Rockies to just 0.6 inches (15 mm) along the Mexican reach of the river.[60] The upper Valley Trail head, Kawuneeche
basin generally receives snow and rain during the winter and early spring, while Valley

precipitation in the lower basin falls mainly during intense but infrequent summer
thunderstorms brought on by theNorth American Monsoon.[85]

As of 2010, approximately 12.7 million people lived in the Colorado River

basin.[n 6] Phoenix in Arizona and Las Vegas in Nevada are the largest metropolitan
areas in the watershed. Population densities are also high along the lower Colorado
River below Davis Dam, which includes Bullhead City, Lake Havasu City, and
Yuma. Other significant population centers in the basin include Tucson, Arizona; St.
George, Utah; and Grand Junction, Colorado. Colorado River basin states are among
the fastest-growing in the U.S.; the population of Nevada alone increased by about
[89]
66 percent between 1990 and 2000 as Arizona grew by some 40 percent.
The river in western Colorado, with
the California Zephyr running
The Colorado River basin shares drainage boundaries with many other major
alongside
watersheds of North America. 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. Both the Missouri and Arkansas rivers are part of the Mississippi River system. Further south, the
Colorado River basin borders on theRio Grande drainage, which along with the Mississippi flows to the Gulf of Mexico, as well as a
[90]
series of endorheic (closed) drainage basins in southwestern New Mexico and extreme southeastern Arizona.
For a short stretch, the Colorado watershed meets the drainage basin of the Snake River, a tributary of the Columbia River, in the
Wind River Range of western Wyoming. Southwest of there, the northern divide of the Colorado watershed skirts the edge of the
Great Basin, bordering on the closed drainage basins of the Great Salt Lake and the Sevier River in central Utah, and other closed
basins in southern Utah and Nevada.[90] To the west in California, the Colorado River watershed borders on those of small closed
basins in the Mojave Desert, the largest of which is the Salton Sea drainage north of the Colorado River Delta.[90] On the south, the
[91]
watersheds of the Sonoyta, Concepcin, and Yaqui rivers, all of which drain to the Gulf of California, border that of the Colorado.

Geology
As recently as the Cretaceous period 100 million years ago, much of western North America was still part of the Pacific Ocean.
Tectonic forces from the collision of the Farallon Plate with the North American Plate pushed up the Rocky Mountains between 75
and 50 million years ago in a mountain-building episode known as the Laramide orogeny.[92] The Colorado first formed as a west-
flowing stream draining the southwestern portion of the range, and the uplift also diverted the Green River from its original course to
the Mississippi River west towards the Colorado. 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.[93] The Colorado Plateau first began to rise during the Eocene,
between about 55 and 34 million years ago, but did not attain its present height until about 5 million years ago, about when the
[94]
Colorado River established its present course into the Gulf of California.

The time scale and sequence over which the river's present course and the Grand Canyon were formed is uncertain. Before the Gulf
of California was formed around 12 to 5 million years ago by faulting processes along the boundary of the North American and
Pacific plates,[95] the Colorado flowed west to an outlet on the Pacific Ocean possibly Monterey Bay on the Central California
coast, forming the Monterey submarine canyon. The uplift of the Sierra Nevada mountains began about 4.5 million years ago,
diverting the Colorado southwards towards the Gulf.[96] As the Colorado Plateau continued to rise between 5 and 2.5 million years
ago, the river maintained its ancestral course (as an antecedent stream) and began to cut the Grand Canyon. Antecedence played a
major part in shaping other peculiar geographic features in the watershed, including the Dolores River's bisection of Paradox Valley
[97]
in Colorado and the Green River's cut through the Uinta Mountains in Utah.

Sediments carried from the plateau by the Colorado River created a

vast delta made of more than 10,000 cubic miles (42,000 km3) of
material that walled off the northernmost part of the gulf in
approximately 1 million years. Cut off from the ocean, the portion of
the gulf north of the delta eventually evaporated and formed the
Salton Sink, which reached about 260 feet (79 m) below sea
level.[98][99] Since then the river has changed course into the Salton
Sink at least three times, transforming it into Lake Cahuilla, which at
Remnants of basalt flows from theUinkaret
volcanic field are seen here descending into the maximum size flooded up the valley to present-day Indio, California.
Grand Canyon, where they dammed the Colorado The lake took about 50 years to evaporate after the Colorado
over 10 times in the past 2 million years. resumed flowing to the Gulf. The present-day Salton Sea can be
considered the most recent incarnation of Lake Cahuilla, though on a
much smaller scale.[100]

Between 1.8 million and 10,000 years ago, massive flows of basalt from the Uinkaret volcanic field in northern Arizona dammed the
Colorado River within the Grand Canyon. At least 13 lava dams were formed, the largest of which was more than 2,300 feet (700 m)
high, backing the river up for nearly 500 miles (800 km) to present-day Moab, Utah.[101] The lack of associated sediment deposits
along this stretch of the Colorado River, which would have accumulated in the impounded lakes over time, suggests that most of
these dams did not survive for more than a few decades before collapsing or being washed away. Failure of the lava dams caused by
erosion, leaks and cavitation caused catastrophic floods, which may have been some of the largest ever to occur in North America,
rivaling the late-Pleistocene Missoula Floods of the northwestern United States.[102] Mapping of flood deposits indicate that crests as
[103] reaching peak discharges as great as 17 million cubic feet per second
high as 700 feet (210 m) passed through the Grand Canyon,
(480,000 m3/s).[104]
History

Indigenous peoples
The first humans of the Colorado River basin were likelyPaleo-Indians of the Clovis
and Folsom cultures, who first arrived on the Colorado Plateau about 12,000 years
ago. Very little human activity occurred in the watershed until the rise of the Desert
Archaic Culture, which from 8,000 to 2,000 years ago constituted most of the
region's human population. These prehistoric inhabitants led a generally nomadic
lifestyle, gathering plants and hunting small animals (though some of the earliest
peoples hunted larger mammals that became extinct in North America after the end
of the Pleistocene epoch).[105] Another notable early group was the Fremont culture,
whose peoples inhabited the Colorado Plateau from 2,000 to 700 years ago. The
Fremont were likely the first peoples of the Colorado River basin to domesticate Navajo woman and child,
crops and construct masonry dwellings; they also left behind a large amount of rock photographed by Ansel Adams, c.
1944
.[106][107]
art and petroglyphs, many of which have survived to the present day

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. The
Ancient Puebloan (also known as Anasazi or Hisatsinom) people of the Four
Corners region were descended from the Desert Archaic culture.[108] The Puebloan
people developed a complex distribution system to supply drinking and irrigation
water in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico.[109]

The Puebloans dominated the basin of the San Juan River, and the center of their Pueblos and cliff dwellings such as
civilization was in Chaco Canyon.[110] In Chaco Canyon and the surrounding lands, this one in New Mexico were
they built more than 150 multi-story pueblos or "great houses", the largest of which, inhabited by people of the Colorado
Pueblo Bonito, is composed of more than 600 rooms.[111][112] The Hohokam River basin between 2,000 and 700
years ago.
culture was present along the middle Gila River beginning around 1 A.D. Between
600 and 700 A.D. they began to employ irrigation on a large scale, and did so more
prolifically than any other native group in the Colorado River basin.[113] An extensive system of irrigation canals was constructed on
the Gila and Salt rivers, with various estimates of a total length ranging from 180 to 300 miles (290 to 480 km) and capable of
irrigating 25,000 to 250,000 acres (10,000 to 101,000 ha). Both civilizations supported large populations at their height; the Chaco
[114] and estimates for the Hohokam range between 30,000 and 200,000.
Canyon Puebloans numbered between 6,000 and 15,000 [115]

These sedentary peoples heavily exploited their surroundings, practicing logging and harvesting of other resources on a large scale.
The construction of irrigation canals may have led to a significant change in the morphology of many waterways in the Colorado
River basin. Prior to human contact, rivers such as the Gila, Salt andChaco were shallow perennial streams with low,vegetated banks
and large floodplains. In time, flash floods caused significant downcutting on irrigation canals, which in turn led to the entrenchment
of the original streams intoarroyos, making agriculture difficult.[116] 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.[116][117] Some Puebloans migrated to the Rio Grande Valley of central New Mexico
and south-central Colorado, becoming the predecessors of the Hopi, Zuni, Laguna and Acoma people in western New Mexico.[105]
Many of the tribes that inhabited the Colorado River basin at the time of European contact were descended from Puebloan and
[105][118]
Hohokam survivors, while others already had a long history of living in the region or migrated in from bordering lands.

The Navajo were an Athabaskan people who migrated from the north into the
Native American names for Colorado River basin around 1025 A.D.[123] They soon established themselves
the Colorado River as the dominant Native American tribe in the Colorado River basin, and their
 Maricopa: Xakxwet[119] territory stretched over parts of present-day Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and

Mohave: 'Aha Kwahwat[120] Colorado in the original homelands of the Puebloans. In fact, the Navajo
acquired agricultural skills from the Puebloans before the collapse of the Pueblo
Havasupai: Ha ay Gam /
civilization in the 14th century.[124] A profusion of other tribes have made a
Sil Gsvgov[121]
continued, lasting presence along the Colorado River. The Mohave have lived
Yavapai: Hakhwata[122]
along the rich bottomlands of the lower Colorado below Black Canyon since
1200 A.D. They were fishermen navigating the river on rafts made of reeds to
catch Gila trout and Colorado pikeminnow and farmers, relying on the annual floods of the river rather than irrigation to water their
crops.[125] Ute peoples have inhabited the northern Colorado River basin, mainly in present-day Colorado, Wyoming and Utah, for at
least 2,000 years, but did not become well established in the Four Corners area until 1500 A.D.[126][127] The Apache, Cocopah,
Halchidhoma, Havasupai, Hualapai, Maricopa, Pima, and Quechan are among many other groups that live along or had territories
[105][128]
bordering on the Colorado River and its tributaries.

Beginning in the 17th century, contact with Europeans brought significant changes to the lifestyles of Native Americans in the
Colorado River basin. Missionaries sought to convert indigenous peoples to Christianity an effort sometimes successful, such as in
Father Eusebio Francisco Kino's 1694 encounter with the "docile Pimas of the Gila Valley [who] readily accepted Father Kino and
his Christian teachings".[128] The Spanish introduced sheep and goats to the Navajo, who came to rely heavily on them for meat,
milk and wool.[123] By the mid-16th century, the Utes, having acquired horses from the Spanish, introduced them to the Colorado
River basin. The use of horses spread through the basin via trade between the various tribes and greatly facilitated hunting,
communications and travel for indigenous peoples. More warlike groups such as the Utes and Navajos often used horses to their
Goshutes and Southern Paiutes.[129]
advantage in raids against tribes that were slower to adopt them, such as the

The gradual influx of European and American explorers, fortune seekers and settlers into the
region eventually led to conflicts that forced many Native Americans off their traditional
lands. After the acquisition of the Colorado River basin from Mexico in the Mexican
American War in 1846, U.S. military forces commanded by Kit Carson forced more than
8,000 Navajo men, women and children from their homes after a series of unsuccessful
attempts to confine their territory, many of which were met with violent resistance. In what is
now known as the Long Walk of the Navajo, the captives were marched from Arizona to Fort
Sumner in New Mexico, and many died along the route. Four years later, the Navajo signed a
treaty that moved them onto a reservation in the Four Corners region that is now known as the
Navajo Nation. It is the largest Native American reservation in the United States,
encompassing 27,000 square miles (70,000 km2) with a population of over 180,000 as of
2000.[130][131][132]
A pair of Mohave warriors
The Mohave were expelled from their territory after a series of minor skirmishes and raids on
beside the Colorado River in
1871 wagon trains passing through the area in the late 1850s, culminating in an 1859 battle with
American forces that concluded the Mohave War.[133] In 1870, the Mohave were relocated to
a reservation at Fort Mojave, which spans the borders of Arizona, California and Nevada.[134]
Some Mohave were also moved to the 432-square-mile (1,120 km2) Colorado River Indian Reservation on the ArizonaCalifornia
border, originally established for the Mohave and Chemehuevi people in 1865.[135] In the 1940s, some Hopi and Navajo people were
also relocated to this reservation.[136] The four tribes now form a geopolitical body known as theColorado River Indian Tribes.[135]

Water rights of Native Americans in the Colorado River basin were lar
gely ignored during the extensive water resources development
carried out on the river and its tributaries in the 19th and 20th centuries. The construction of dams has often had negative impacts on
tribal peoples, such as the Chemehuevi when their riverside lands were flooded after the completion of Parker Dam in 1938. Ten
Native American tribes in the basin now hold or continue to claim water rights to the Colorado River.[137] The U.S. government has
taken some actions to help quantify and develop the water resources of Native American reservations. The first federally funded
irrigation project in the U.S. was the construction of an irrigation canal on the Colorado River Indian Reservation in 1867.[138] Other
water projects include the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project, authorized in 1962 for the irrigation of lands in part of the Navajo Nation
in north-central New Mexico.[139] The Navajo continue to seek expansion of their water rights because of difficulties with the water
supply on their reservation; about 40 percent of its inhabitants must haul water by truck many miles to their homes. In the
21st century, they have filed legal claims against the governments of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah for increased water rights.
Some of these claims have been successful for the Navajo, such as a 2004 settlement in which they received a 326,000-acre-foot
(402,000 ML) allotment from New Mexico.[140]

Early explorers
During the 16th century, the Spanish began to explore and colonize western North America. An early motive was the search for the
Seven Cities of Gold, or "Cibola", rumored to have been built by Native Americans somewhere in the desert Southwest. According to
a United States Geological Survey publication, it is likely that Francisco de Ulloa was the first European to see the Colorado River
when in 1536 he sailed to the head of the Gulf of California.[141] Francisco Vsquez de Coronado's 15401542 expedition began as a
search for the fabled Cities of Gold, but after learning from natives in New Mexico of a large river to the west, he sent Garca Lpez
de Crdenas to lead a small contingent to find it. With the guidance of Hopi Indians, Crdenas and his men became the first outsiders
to see the Grand Canyon.[142] Crdenas was reportedly unimpressed with the canyon, assuming the width of the Colorado River at 6
feet (1.8 m) and estimating 300-foot (91 m)-tall rock formations to be the size of a man. After failing at an attempt to descend to the
river, they left the area, defeated by the difficult terrain and torrid weather.[143]

In 1540, Hernando de Alarcn and his fleet reached the mouth of the river, intending
to provide additional supplies to Coronado's expedition. Alarcn may have sailed the
Colorado as far upstream as the present-day CaliforniaArizona border. Coronado
never reached the Gulf of California, and Alarcn eventually gave up and left.
Melchior Daz reached the delta in the same year, intending to establish contact with
Alarcn, but the latter was already gone by the time of Daz's arrival. Daz named
the Colorado River Rio del Tizon ("Firebrand River") after seeing a practice used by
the local natives for warming themselves.[144] The name Tizon lasted for the next
"Coronado Sets Out To The North",
200 years, while the name Rio Colorado ("Red River") was first applied to a
by Frederic Remington, c. 1905
tributary of the Gila River, possibly the Verde River, circa 1720. The first known
map to label the main stem as the Colorado was drawn by French cartographer
Jacques-Nicolas Bellinin 1743.[145]

During the 18th and early 19th centuries, many Americans and Spanish believed in the existence of the Buenaventura River,
purported to run from the Rocky Mountains in Utah or Colorado to the Pacific Ocean.[146] The name Buenaventura was given to the
Green River by Silvestre Vlez de Escalante as early as 1776, but Escalante did not know that the Green drained to the Colorado.
Many later maps showed the headwaters of the Green and Colorado rivers connecting with the Sevier River (Rio San Ysabel) and
Utah Lake (Lake Timpanogos) before flowing west through the Sierra Nevada into California. Mountain man
Jedediah Smith reached
the lower Colorado by way of the Virgin River canyon in 1826. Smith called the Colorado the "Seedskeedee", as the Green River in
Wyoming was known to fur trappers, correctly believing it to be a continuation of the Green and not a separate river as others
believed under the Buenaventura myth.[147] John C. Frmont's 1843 Great Basin expedition proved that no river traversed the Great
Basin and Sierra Nevada, officially debunking the Buenaventura myth.[148]

Exploration and navigation below Fort Yuma, 185054

Between 1850 and 1854 the U. S. Army explored the lower reach of the Colorado River from the Gulf of California, looking for the
river to provide a less expensive route to supply the remote post of Fort Yuma. First in November 1850 to January 1851, by its
transport schooner, Invincible under Captain Alfred H. Wilcox and then by its longboat commanded by Lieutenant George Derby.
Later Lieutenant Derby, in his expedition report, recommended that a shallow draft sternwheel steamboat would be the way to send
supplies up river to the fort.[149] The next contractors George Alonzo Johnson with his partner Benjamin M. Hartshorne, brought two
barges and 250 tons of supplies arriving at the river's mouth in February 1852, on the United States transport schooner Sierra Nevada
under Captain Wilcox. Poling the barges up the Colorado, the first barge sank with its cargo a total loss. The second was finally, after
a long struggle poled up to Fort Yuma, but what little it carried was soon consumed by the garrison. Subsequently
, wagons again were
sent from the fort to haul the balance of the supplies overland from the estuary through the marshes and woodlands of the
Delta.[150]:59 At last Derby's recommendation was heeded and in November 1852, the Uncle Sam, a 65-foot long side-wheel paddle
steamer, built by Domingo Marcucci, became the first steamboat on the Colorado River.[151]:15 It was brought by the schooner
Capacity from San Francisco to the delta by the next contractor to supply the fort, Captain James Turnbull. It was assembled and
launched in the estuary, 30 miles above the mouth of the Colorado River. Equipped with only a 20-horsepower engine, the Uncle Sam
could only carry 35 tons of supplies, taking 15 days to make the first 120-mile trip. It made many trips up and down the river, taking
four months to finish carrying the supplies for the fort, improving its time up river to 12 days. Negligence caused it to sink at its dock
below Fort Yuma, and was then washed away before it could be raised, in the spring flood of 1853. Turnbull in financial difficulty,
disappeared. Nevertheless, he had shown the worth of steamboats to solve Fort uma's
Y ls supply problem.[150] :1011

George Alonzo Johnson with his partner Hartshorne and a new partner Captain Alfred H. Wilcox (formerly of the Invincible and
Sierra Nevada), formed George A. Johnson & Company and obtained the next contract to supply the fort. Johnson and his partners,
all having learned lessons from their failed attempts ascending the Colorado and with the example of the Uncle Sam, brought the
parts of a more powerful side-wheel steamboat, the General Jesup, with them to the mouth of the Colorado from San Francisco.
There it was reassembled at a landing in the upper tidewater of the river and reached Fort Yuma, January 18, 1854. This new boat,
capable of carrying 50 tons of cargo, was very successful making round trips from the estuary to the fort in only four or five days.
Costs were cut from $200 to $75 per ton.[150]:1112 [152]:34

Exploration and navigation above Fort Yuma, 18511887

Lorenzo Sitgreaves led the first Corps of Topographical Engineers mission across
northern Arizona to the Colorado River (near modern Bullhead City, Arizona), and
down its east bank to the river crossings of the Southern Immigrant Trail at Fort
Yuma in 1851.[153][154]

The second Corps of Topographical Engineers expedition passed along and crossed
the Colorado was the 1853-1854 Pacific Railroad Survey expedition along the 35th
parallel north from Oklahoma to Los Angeles, led by Lt. Amiel Weeks
Whipple.[155]
Lithograph of Fort Yuma, c. 1875
George A. Johnson was instrumental in getting the support for Congressional
funding a military expedition up the river. With those funds Johnson expected to
provide the transportation for the expedition but was angry and disappointed when the commander of the expedition Lt. Joseph
Christmas Ives rejected his offer of one of his steamboats. Before Ives could finish reassembling his steamer in the delta, George A.
Johnson set off from Fort Yuma on December 31, 1857, conducting his own exploration of the river above the fort in his steamboat
General Jesup. He ascended the river in twenty one days as far as the first rapids in Pyramid Canyon, over 300 miles (480 km) above
Fort Yuma and 8 miles (13 km) above the modern site of Davis Dam. Running low on food he turned back.[150] :1617,19 [156] He as
he returned he encountered Lieutenant Ives, Whipple's assistant, who was leading an expedition to explore the feasibility of using the
Colorado River as a navigation route in the Southwest. Ives and his men used a specially built steamboat, the shallow-draft U.S.S.
Explorer, and traveled up the river as far as Black Canyon. He then took a small boat up beyond the canyon to Fortification Rock and
Las Vegas Wash.[157]:Part 1, 8587 After experiencing numerous groundings and accidents and having been inhibited by low water in
the river, Ives declared: "Ours has been the first, and will doubtless be the last, party of whites to visit this profitless locality. It seems
intended by nature that the Colorado River, along the greater portion of its lonely and majestic way, shall be forever unvisited and
undisturbed."[158][159]

Until 1866, El Dorado Canyon was the actual head of navigation on the Colorado River. In that year Captain Robert T. Rogers,
commanding the steamer Esmeralda with a barge and ninety tons of freight, reached Callville, Nevada, on October 8, 1866.[150]:49
Callville remained the head of navigation on the river until July 7, 1879, when Captain J. A. Mellon in the Gila left El Dorado
Canyon landing, steamed up through the rapids in Black Canyon, making record time to Callville and tied up overnight. Next
morning he to steamed up through the rapids inBoulder Canyon to reach the mouth of the Virgin River at Rioville July 8, 1879. From
1879 to 1887, Rioville, Nevada was the high water Head of Navigation for the steamboats and the mining company sloop Sou'Wester
that carried the salt needed for the reduction ofsilver ore from there to the mills at El Dorado Canyon.[150]:78

Powell's expeditions, 18691871

Up until the mid-19th century, long stretches of the Colorado and Green rivers between Wyoming and Nevada remained largely
unexplored due to their remote location and dangers of navigation. Because of the dramatic drop in elevation of the two rivers, there
were rumors of huge waterfalls and violent rapids, and Native American tales strengthened their credibility.[160] 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.[161] Powell and nine men none of whom had prior whitewater
experience set out in May. After braving the rapids of the Gates of Lodore, Cataract Canyon and other gorges along the Colorado,
the party arrived at the mouth of the Little Colorado River, where Powell noted down arguably the most famous words ever written
about the Grand Canyon of the Colorado:[162]

We are now ready to start on our way down the Great Unknown. Our
boats, tied to a common stake, are chafing each other, as they are tossed
by the fretful river. They ride high and buoyant, for their loads are
lighter than we could desire. We have but a month's rations remaining.
The flour has been re-sifted through the mosquito net sieve; the spoiled
bacon has been dried, and the worst of it boiled; the few pounds of dried
apples have been spread in the sun, and re-shrunken to their normal
bulk; the sugar has all melted, and gone on its way down the river; but
Marble Canyon, one of the many
we have a large sack of coffee. The lighting of the boats has this
gorges that Powell's expedition
advantage: they will ride the waves better, and we shall have little to traversed
carry when we make a portage.

We are three-quarters of a mile in the depths of the earth, and the great
river shrinks into insignificance, as it dashes its angry waves against the
walls and cliffs, that rise to the world above; they are but puny ripples,
and we but pigmies, running up and down the sands, or lost among the
boulders.

We have an unknown distance yet to run; an unknown

river yet to explore. What falls there are, we know not;
what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls rise
over the river, we know not; Ah, well! we may conjecture
many things. The men talk as cheerfully as ever; jests are
bandied about freely this morning; but to me the cheer is
somber and the jests are ghastly.
John Wesley Powell's journal, August 1869[162]

On August 28, 1869, three men deserted the expedition, convinced that they could not possibly survive the trip through the Grand
Canyon. They were 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. Thomas.[163] Powell led a second expedition in 1871, this time with financial backing from
the U.S. government.[164] 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. In what is perhaps a twist of irony, modern-day Lake Powell, which
.[165]
floods Glen Canyon, is also named for their leader

American settlement
 Starting in the latter half of the 19th century, the lower Colorado below Black
Canyon became an importantwaterway for steamboat commerce. In 1852, the Uncle
Sam was launched to provide supplies to the U.S. Army outpost at Fort Yuma.
Although this vessel accidentally foundered and sank early in its career, commercial
traffic quickly proliferated because river transport was much cheaper than hauling
freight over land.[166] 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
The steamboat Mohave No. 2 at
2 feet (0.6 m) of water.[167] The tidal bore of the lower Colorado also presented a
Yuma, c. 1876
major hazard; in 1922, a 15-foot (4.6 m)-high wave swamped a ship bound for
Yuma, killing between 86 and 130 people.[168][169] Steamboats quickly became the
principal source of communication and trade along the river until competition from railroads began in the 1870s, and finally the
[170]
construction of dams along the lower river in 1909, none of which had locks to allow the passage of ships.

During the Manifest Destiny era of the mid-19th century, American pioneers settled many western states but generally avoided the
Colorado River basin until the 1850s. Under Brigham Young's grand vision for a "vast empire in the desert",[171] (the State of
Deseret) Mormon settlers were among the first whites to establish a permanent presence in the watershed, Fort Clara or Fort Santa
Clara, in the winter of 1855-1856 along the Santa Clara River, tributary of the Virgin River. In the lower Colorado mining was the
primary spur to economic development, copper mining in southwestern New Mexico Territory the 1850s then the Mohave War and a
gold rush on the Gila Riverin 1859, the El Dorado Canyon Rushin 1860 and Colorado River Gold Rushin 1862.

In 1860, anticipating the American Civil War, the Mormons established a number of settlements to grow cotton along the Virgin
River in Washington County, Utah. From 1863 to 1865, Mormon colonists founded St. Thomas and other colonies on the Muddy and
Virgin rivers in northwestern Arizona Territory, (now Clark County, Nevada). Stone's Ferry was established by these colonists on the
Colorado at the mouth of the Virgin River to carry their produce on a wagon road to the mining districts of Mohave County, Arizona
to the south. Also, in 1866, a steamboat landing was established at Callville, intended as an outlet to the Pacific Ocean via the
Colorado River, for Mormon settlements in the Great Basin. These settlements reached a peak population of about 600 before being
abandoned in 1871, and for nearly a decade these valleys became a haven for outlaws and cattle rustlers.[172] One Mormon settler
Daniel Bonelli, remained, operating the ferry and began mining salt in nearby mines, bring it in barges, down river to El Dorado
Canyon where it was used to process silver ore. From 1879 to 1887, Colorado Steam Navigation Company steamboats carried the
salt, operating up river in the high spring flood waters, through Boulder Canyon, to the landing at Rioville at the mouth of the Virgin
River. From 1879 to 1882 the Southwestern Mining Company, largest in El Dorado Canyon, brought in a 56-foot sloop the
Sou'Wester that sailed up and down river carrying the salt in the low water time of year until it was wrecked in the Quick and Dirty
Rapids of Black Canyon.[150]:78

Mormons founded settlements along the Duchesne River Valley in the 1870s, and populated the Little Colorado River valley later in
the century, settling in towns such as St. Johns, Arizona.[127] They also established settlements along the Gila River in central
Arizona beginning in 1871. These early settlers were impressed by the extensive ruins of the Hohokam civilization that previously
occupied the Gila River valley, and are said to have "envisioned their new agricultural civilization rising as the mythical phoenix bird
from the ashes of Hohokam society".[173] The Mormons were the first whites to develop the water resources of the basin on a large
scale, and built complex networks of dams and canals to irrigate wheat, oats and barley in addition to establishing extensive sheep
and cattle ranches.[171]

One of the main reasons the Mormons were able to colonize Arizona was the existence of Jacob Hamblin's ferry across the Colorado
at Lee's Ferry (then known as Pahreah Crossing), which began running in March 1864.[174] This location was the only section of
river for hundreds of miles in both directions where the canyon walls dropped away, allowing for the development of a transport
route. John Doyle Lee established a more permanent ferry system at the site in 1870. One reason Lee chose to run the ferry was to
flee from Mormon leaders who held him responsible for the Mountain Meadows Massacre, in which 120 emigrants in a wagon train
were killed by a local militia disguised as Native Americans. Even though it was located along a major travel route, Lee's Ferry was
very isolated, and there Lee and his family established the aptly named Lonely Dell
Ranch.[174] In 1928, the ferry sank, resulting in the deaths of three men. Later that year, the
Navajo Bridge was completed at a point 5 miles (8 km) downstream, rendering the ferry
obsolete.[175]

Gold strikes from the mid-19th to early 20th centuries played a major role in attracting settlers
to the upper Colorado River basin. In 1859, a group of adventurers from Georgia discovered
gold along the Blue River in Colorado and established the mining boomtown of
Breckenridge.[176] 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.[177][178] Because most gold deposits along the upper Colorado River and its
tributaries occur in lode deposits, extensive mining systems and heavy machinery were
required to extract them. Mining remains a substantial contributor to the economy of the upper
John D. Lee, date and
basin and has led to acid mine drainage problems in some regional streams and photographer unknown. He
rivers.[179][180] established a permanent
ferry across the Colorado.

Naming of the upper Colorado River and controversy

Prior to 1921, the upper Colorado River above the confluence with the Green River in Utah had assumed various names. Fathers
Dominguez and Escalante named it Rio San Rafael in 1776. Through the mid-1800s, the river between Green River and the Gunnison
River was most commonly known as the Grand River. The river above the junction with the Gunnison River, however, was known
variously as the Bunkara River, the North Fork of the Grand River, the Blue River, and the Grand River. The latter name did not
become consistently applied until the 1870s.[181]

In 1921, U.S. Representative Edward T. Taylor of Colorado petitioned the Congressional Committee on Interstate and Foreign
Commerce to rename the Grand River as the Colorado River. Taylor saw the fact that the Colorado River started outside the border of
his state as an "abomination".[182] On July 25, the name change was made official in House Joint Resolution 460 of the 66th
Congress, over the objections of representatives from Wyoming, Utah, and the USGS, which noted that the Green River was much
longer and had a larger drainage basin above its confluence with the Grand River, although the Grand contributed a greater flow of
water.[181][183][n 7]

Engineering and development

Today, between 36 and 40 million people depend on the Colorado River's water for
agricultural, industrial and domestic needs.[87][185] Southern Nevada Water
Authority called the Colorado River one of the "most controlled, controversial and
litigated rivers in the world".[186] Over 29 major dams and hundreds of miles of
canals serve to supply thirsty cities, provide irrigation water to some 4 million acres
(1.6 million hectares),[187] and meet peaking power demands in the
Southwest,[188][189] generating more than 12 billion kWh of hydroelectricity each
year.[190] Often called "America's Nile",[191] the Colorado is so carefully managed
Glen Canyon Dam (right) forms Lake
with basin reservoirs capable of holding four times the river's annual flow that
Powell, the second-largest reservoir
.[192][193]
each drop of its water is used an average of 17 times in a single year
on the Colorado River with a capacity
of more than 24.3 million acre feet
One of the earliest water projects in the Colorado River basin was theGrand Ditch, a
(3.00 1010 m3).
16-mile (26 km) diversion canal that sends water from the Never Summer
Mountains, which would naturally have drained into the headwaters of the Colorado
River, to bolster supplies in Colorado's Front Range Urban Corridor. Constructed primarily by Japanese and Mexican laborers, the
ditch was considered an engineering marvel when completed in 1890, delivering 17,700 acre feet (21,800 ML) across the Continental
Divide each year.[194] Because roughly 75 percent of Colorado's precipitation falls west of the Rocky Mountains while 80 percent of
the population lives east of the range, more of these interbasin water transfers, locally known as transmountain diversions,
[195]
followed.[195] While first envisioned in the late 19th century, construction on the
Colorado-Big Thompson Project (C-BT) did not begin until the 1930s. The C-BT
now delivers more than 11 times the Grand Ditch's flow from the Colorado River
watershed to cities along the Front Range.[196]

Meanwhile, large-scale development was also beginning on the opposite end of the
Colorado River. In 1900, entrepreneurs of the California Development Company
(CDC) looked to the Imperial Valley of southern California as an excellent location
to develop agriculture irrigated by the waters of the river. Engineer George Chaffey
was hired to design the Alamo Canal, which split off from the Colorado River near The Colorado River is the sole
Pilot Knob, curved south into Mexico, and dumped into the Alamo River, a dry source of water for theImperial
Valley in southern California, one of
arroyo which had historically carried flood flows of the Colorado into the Salton
the most productive agricultural
Sink. With a stable year-round flow in the Alamo River, irrigators in the Imperial
regions in the U.S.
Valley were able to begin large-scale farming, and small towns in the region started
to expand with the influx of job-seeking migrants.[197] By 1903, more than 100,000
acres (40,000 ha) in the valley were under cultivation, supporting a growing
population of 4,000.[198]

It was not long before the Colorado River began to wreak havoc with its erratic
flows. In autumn, the river would drop below the level of the canal inlet, and
temporary brush diversion dams had to be constructed. In early 1905, heavy floods
destroyed the headworks of the canal, and water began to flow uncontrolled down
the canal towards the Salton Sink. On August 9, the entire flow of the Colorado
The Colorado River flowing intoLake
swerved into the canal and began to flood the bottom of the Imperial Valley. In a
Mead
desperate gamble to close the breach, crews of the Southern Pacific Railroad, whose
tracks ran through the valley, attempted to dam the Colorado above the canal, only to
see their work demolished by a flash flood.[197] It took seven attempts, more than $3 million, and two years for the railroad, the
CDC, and the federal government to permanently block the breach and send the Colorado on its natural course to the gulf but not
before part of the Imperial Valley was flooded under a 45-mile-long (72 km) lake, today's Salton Sea. After the immediate flooding
[199][200][201]
threat passed, it was realized that a more permanent solution would be needed to rein in the Colorado.

Lower Basin development, 1930s50s

In 1922, six U.S. states in the Colorado River basin signed theColorado River Compact, which divided half of the river's flow to both
the Upper Basin (the drainage area above Lee's Ferry, comprising parts of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming and a small
portion of Arizona) and the Lower Basin (Arizona, California, Nevada, and parts of New Mexico and Utah). Each was given rights to
7.5 million acre feet (9.3 km3) of water per year, a figure believed to represent half of the river's minimum flow at Lee's Ferry.[202]
This was followed by a U.S.Mexico treaty in 1944, allocating 1.5 million acre feet (1.9 km3) of Colorado River water to the latter
country per annum.[203] Arizona refused to ratify the Colorado River Compact in 1922 because it feared that California would take
too much of the lower basin allotment; in 1944 a compromise was reached in which Arizona would get a firm allocation of
2.8 million acre feet (3.5 km3), but only if California's 4.4-million-acre-foot (5.4 km3) allocation was prioritized during drought
years.[204] 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.[204][205]

On September 30, 1935, the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) completed Hoover Dam in the Black Canyon of the
Colorado River.[206] Behind the dam rose Lake Mead, the largest artificial lake in the U.S., capable of holding more than two years
of the Colorado's flow.[27] The construction of Hoover was a major step towards stabilizing the lower channel of the Colorado River,
storing water for irrigation in times of drought, and providing much-needed flood control as part of a program known as the Boulder
Canyon Project. Hoover was the tallest dam in the world at the time of construction and also had the world's largest hydroelectric
power plant.[207] Flow regulation from Hoover Dam opened the doors for rapid development on the lower Colorado River; Imperial
[208][209]
and Parker dams followed in 1938, and Davis Dam was completed in 1950.
 Completed in 1938 some 20 miles (32 km) above Yuma, Imperial Dam diverts nearly all of
the Colorado's flow into two irrigation canals. The All-American Canal, built as a permanent
replacement for the Alamo Canal, is so named because it lies completely within the U.S.,
unlike its illfated predecessor. With a capacity of over 26,000 cubic feet per second
(740 m3/s), the All-American is the largest irrigation canal in the world,[210] supplying water
to 500,000 acres (2,000 km2) of California's Imperial Valley.[211] Because the valley's warm
and sunny climate lends to a year-round growing season in addition to the large water supply
furnished by the Colorado, the Imperial Valley is now one of the most productive agricultural
regions in North America.[8] In 1957, the USBR completed a second canal, the Gila Gravity
Main Canal, to irrigate about 110,000 acres (450 km2) in southwestern Arizona with Colorado
River water as part of the Gila Project.[212]
Hoover Dam releasing water
in 1998 The Lower Basin states also sought to develop the
Colorado for municipal supplies. Central Arizona Colorado River water
allocations[202][203][213]
initially relied on the Gila River and its tributaries
through projects such as the Theodore Roosevelt and Coolidge Dams completed in 1911 and Amount
User Share
(MAF)[n 8]
1928, respectively. Roosevelt was the first large dam constructed by the USBR and provided
the water needed to start large-scale agricultural and urban development in the region.[214] The United
15.0 90.9%
States
Colorado River Aqueduct, which delivers water nearly 250 miles (400 km) from near Parker
CA 4.4 26.7%
Dam to 10 million people in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, was completed in 1941.[215]
The San Diego Aqueduct branch, whose initial phase was complete by 1947, furnishes water to CO 3.88 23.5%

nearly 3 million people in San Diego and its suburbs.[216] The Las Vegas Valley of Nevada AZ 2.8 17.0%
experienced rapid growth in part due to Hoover Dam construction, and Las Vegas had tapped a UT 1.72 10.4%
pipeline into Lake Mead by 1937. Nevada officials, believing that groundwater resources in the
WY 1.05 6.4%
southern part of the state were sufficient for future growth, were more concerned with securing
a large amount of the dam's power supply than water from the Colorado; thus they settled for NM 0.84 5.1%
[217]
the smallest allocation of all the states in the Colorado River Compact. NV 0.3 1.8%

1.5 9.1%
Mexico
Upper Basin development, 1950s1970s Total 16.5 100%
Through the early decades of the 20th century, the Upper Basin states, with the exception of
Colorado, remained relatively undeveloped and used little of the water allowed to them under the Colorado River Compact. 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.[218] Such projects included the Roberts Tunnel,
completed in 1956, which diverts 63,000 acre feet (78,000 ML) per year from the Blue River to the city of Denver,[219][220] and the
Fryingpan-Arkansas Project, which delivers 69,200 acre feet (85,400 ML) from theFryingpan River to the Arkansas River basin each
year.[221] Without the addition of surface water storage in the upper basin, there was no guarantee that the upper basin states would
be able to use the full amount of water given to them by the compact. There was also the concern that drought could impair the upper
basin's ability to deliver the required 7.5 million acre feet (9.3 109 m3) past Lee's Ferry per year as stipulated by the compact. A
1956 act of Congress cleared the way for the USBR's Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP), which entailed the construction of
large dams on the Colorado, Green, Gunnison andSan Juan Rivers.[222]

The initial blueprints for the CRSP included two dams on the Green River within Dinosaur National Monument's Echo Park Canyon,
a move criticized by both the U.S. National Park Service and environmentalist groups such as the Sierra Club.[223] Controversy
reached a nationwide scale, and the USBR dropped its plans for the Dinosaur dams in exchange for a dam at Flaming Gorge and a
raise to an already-proposed dam at Glen Canyon. The famed opposition to Glen Canyon Dam, the primary feature of the CRSP, did
not build momentum until construction was well underway. This was primarily because of Glen Canyon's remote location and the
result that most of the American public did not even know of the existence of the impressive gorge; the few who did contended that it
had much greater scenic value than Echo Park. Sierra Club leader David Brower fought the dam both during the construction and for
many years afterwards until his death in 2000. Brower strongly believed that he was personally responsible for the failure to prevent
[224][225]
Glen Canyon's flooding, calling it his "greatest mistake, greatest sin".

Pacific Southwest Water Plan

Agricultural and urban growth in Arizona eventually outstripped the capacity of local rivers; these concerns were reflected in the
creation of a Pacific Southwest Water Plan in the 1950s, which aimed to build a project that would permit Arizona to fully utilize its
2.8-million-acre-foot (3.5 km3) allotment of the river. The Pacific Southwest Water Plan was the first major proposal to divert water
to the Colorado Basin from other river basins namely, from the wetter northwestern United States. It was intended to boost supplies
for the Lower Basin states of Arizona, California and Nevada as well as Mexico, thus allowing the Upper Basin states to retain native
Colorado River flows for their own use. Although there was still a surplus of water in the Colorado Basin during the mid-20th
century, the Bureau of Reclamation predicted, correctly, that eventually population growth would outstrip the available supply and
require the transfer of water from other sources.

The original version of the plan proposed to divert water from the Trinity River in northern California to reduce Southern California's
dependence on the Colorado, allowing more water to be pumped, by exchange, to central Arizona. Because of the large amount of
power that would be required to pump Colorado River water to Arizona, the CAP originally included provisions for hydroelectric
dams at Bridge Canyon and Marble Canyon, which would have flooded large portions of the Colorado within the Grand Canyon and
dewatered much of the remainder.[226] When these plans were publicized, the environmental movement still reeling from the Glen
Canyon controversy successfully lobbied against the project. As a result, the Grand Canyon dams were removed from the CAP
agenda, the boundaries of Grand Canyon National Park were extended to preclude any further development in the area, and the
pumping power was replaced by the building of the coal-fired Navajo Generating Station near Page, Arizona, in 1976.[227][228][229]
The resulting Central Arizona Project (CAP) irrigates more than 830,000 acres (3,400 km2) and provides municipal supplies to over
5 million people from Phoenix to Tucson using water from the Colorado River.[227]

Environmental impacts
Historically, the Colorado transported from 85 to 100 million short tons (77,000,000
to 91,000,000 t) of sediment or silt to the Gulf of California each year second only
to the Mississippi among North American rivers.[230] This sediment nourished
wetlands and riparian areas along the river's lower course, particularly in its 3,000-
square-mile (7,800 km2) delta, once the largest desert estuary on the continent.[231]
Currently, the majority of sediments carried by the Colorado River are deposited at
the upper end of Lake Powell, and most of the remainder ends up in Lake Mead.
Various estimates place the time it would take for Powell to completely fill with silt
The Colorado was named for the
at 300 to 700 years. Dams trapping sediment not only pose damage to river habitat reddish color caused by its natural
[232]
but also threaten future operations of the Colorado River reservoir system. sediment loads, but damming the
river has caused it to acquire a clear
Reduction in flow caused by dams, diversions, water for thermoelectric power green hue such as here in lower
stations,[233] and evaporation losses from reservoirs the latter of which consumes Glen Canyon.
more than 15 percent of the river's natural runoff[234] has had severe ecological
consequences in the Colorado River Delta and the Gulf of California. Historically,
the delta with its large freshwater outflow and extensive salt marshes provided an important breeding ground for aquatic species in
the Gulf. Today's desiccated delta, at only a fraction of its former size, no longer provides suitable habitat, and populations of fish,
shrimp and sea mammals in the gulf have seen a dramatic decline.[190] Since 1963, the only times when the Colorado River has
reached the ocean have been duringEl Nio events in the 1980s and 1990s.[235]

Reduced flows have led to increases in the concentration of certain substances in the lower river that have impacted water quality.
Salinity is one of the major issues and also leads to the corrosion of pipelines in agricultural and urban areas.[236] The lower
Colorado's salt content was about 50 parts per million (ppm) in its natural state,[190] but by the 1960s, it had increased to well over
2000 ppm.[237] By the early 1970s, there was also serious concern about salinity caused by salts leached from local soils by irrigation
drainage water, which were estimated to add 10 million short tons (9,100,000 t) of excess salt to the river per year. The Colorado
River Basin Salinity Control Act was passed in 1974, mandating conservation practices including the reduction of saline drainage.
The program reduced the annual load by about 1.2 million short tons (1,100,000 t), but salinity remains an ongoing issue.[238] In
1997, the USBR estimated that saline irrigation water caused crop damages exceeding $500 million in the U.S. and $100 million in
Mexico. Further efforts have been made to combat the salt issue in the lower Colorado, including the construction of a desalination
plant at Yuma.[239] In 2011, the seven U.S. states agreed upon a "Plan of Implementation", which aims to reduce salinity by 644,000
short tons (584,000 t) per year by 2030.[238] In 2013, the Bureau of Reclamation estimated that around $32 million was spent each
.[236]
year to prevent around 1.2 million tons of salt from entering and damaging the Colorado River

Agricultural runoff containing pesticide residues has also been concentrated in the lower river in greater amounts. Toxins derived
[240] The pesticide issue is even
from pesticides have led to fish kills; six of these events were recorded between 1964 and 1968 alone.
greater in streams and water bodies near agricultural lands irrigated by the Imperial Irrigation District with Colorado River water. In
the Imperial Valley, Colorado River water used for irrigation overflows into the New and Alamo rivers and into the Salton Sea. Both
rivers and the sea are among the most polluted bodies of water in the United States, posing dangers not only to aquatic life but to
contact by humans and migrating birds.[241][242] Pollution from agricultural runoff is not limited to the lower river; the issue is also
alley, also a major center of irrigated agriculture.[243]
significant in upstream reaches such as Colorado's Grand V

Large dams such as Hoover and Glen Canyon typically release water from lower levels of their reservoirs, resulting in stable and
relatively cold year-round temperatures in long reaches of the river. The Colorado's average temperature once ranged from 85 F
(29 C) at the height of summer to near freezing in winter, but modern flows through the Grand Canyon, for example, rarely deviate
significantly from 46 F (8 C).[244] Changes in temperature regime have caused declines of native fish populations, and stable flows
have enabled increased vegetation growth, obstructing riverside habitat.[245] These flow patterns have also made the Colorado more
dangerous to recreational boaters; people are more likely to die of hypothermia in the colder water, and the general lack of flooding
ficult to navigate.[246]
allows rockslides to build up, making the river more dif

Minute 319
In the 21st century, there has been renewed interest in restoring a limited water flow to the delta. In November 2012, the U.S. and
Mexico reached an agreement, known as Minute 319, permitting Mexico storage of its water allotment in U.S. reservoirs during wet
years, thus increasing the efficiency with which the water can be used. In addition to renovating irrigation canals in the Mexicali
Valley to reduce leakage, this will make about 45,000 acre feet (56,000,000 m3) per year available for release to the delta on average.
The water will be used to provide both an annual base flow and a spring "pulse flow" to mimic the river's original snowmelt-driven
regime.[247][248] The first pulse flow, an eight-week release of 105,000 acre feet (130,000,000 m3), was initiated on March 21, 2014,
with the aim of revitalising 2,350 acres (950 hectares) of wetland.[249] This pulse reached the sea on May 16, 2014, marking the first
time in 16 years that any water from the Colorado flowed into the ocean, and was hailed as "an experiment of historic political and
[10][250][251] The pulse will be followed by the
ecological significance" and a landmark in U.S.Mexican cooperation in conservation.
steady release of 52,000 acre feet (64,000,000 m3) over the following three years, just a small fraction of its average flow before
damming.[249]

Uncertain future
When the Colorado River Compact was drafted in the 1920s, it was based on barely [The Colorado is] a
30 years of streamflow records that suggested an average annual flow of
'deficit' river, as if the

17.5 million acre feet (21.6 km3) past Lee's Ferry.[253] Modern studies of tree rings river were somehow
revealed that those three decades were probably the wettest in the past 500 to 1,200
at fault for its
overuse.
years and that the natural long-term annual flow past Lee's Ferry is probably closer
to 13.5 million acre feet (16.7 km3),[254][n 9] as compared to the natural flow at the Marc Reisner, in Cadillac
Desert[252]
mouth of 16.3 million acre feet (20.1 km3).[3] This has resulted in more water being
allocated to river users than actually flows through the Colorado.[256] Droughts have exacerbated the issue of water over-
allocation,[257] including the Texas drought of the 1950s, which saw several consecutive years of notably low water and has often
been used in planning for "a worst-case scenario".[258]

The most severe drought on record began in the early 21st century
, in which the river
basin produced normal or above-average runoff in only four years between 2000 and
2012.[259] Major reservoirs in the basin dropped to historic lows,[260] with Lake
Powell falling to just one-third of capacity in early 2005, the lowest level on record
since 1969, when the reservoir was still in the process of filling.[261] The watershed
is experiencing a warming trend, which is accompanied by earlier snowmelt and a
general reduction in precipitation. A 2004 study showed that a 16 percent decrease
of precipitation would lead to runoff declining by as much as 18 percent by
2050.[262] Average reservoir storage declined by at least 32 percent, further
Lake Mead in 2010, showing the
crippling the region's water supply and hydropower generation.[263] A study by the
"bathtub ring" left behind by low
water levels Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 2008 predicted that both Lake Mead and
Lake Powell stand an even chance of dropping to useless levels or "dead pool"[n 10]
[265]
by 2021 if current drying trends and water usage rates continue.

In late 2010, Lake Mead dropped to just 8 feet (2.4 m) above the first "drought trigger" elevation, a level at which Arizona and
Nevada would have to begin rationing water as delineated by the Colorado River Compact.[266] Despite above-average runoff in
2011 that raised the immense reservoir more than 30 feet (9.1 m),[267][268] record drought conditions returned in 2012 and 2013.
[269]

Reservoir levels were low enough at the beginning of water year 2014 that the Bureau of Reclamation cut releases from Lake Powell
by 750,000 acre feet (930,000,000 m3) the first such reduction since the 1960s, when Lake Powell was being filled for the first
time.[270] This resulted in Lake Mead dropping to its lowest recorded level since 1937, when it was first being filled.[271] 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.[256][272] Although
stringent water conservation measures have been implemented, the threat of severe shortfalls in the Colorado River basin continues to
increase each year.[273]

Wildlife and plants

The Colorado River and its tributaries often nourish extensive corridors of riparian growth as they traverse the arid desert regions of
the watershed. Although riparian zones represent a relatively small proportion of the basin and have been affected by engineering
projects and river diversion in many places, they have the greatest biodiversity of any habitat in the basin.[274] The most prominent
riparian zones along the river occur along the lower Colorado below Davis Dam,[275] especially in the Colorado River Delta, where
riparian areas support 358 species of birds despite the reduction in freshwater flow and invasive plants such as tamarisk (salt
cedar).[276] Reduction of the delta's size has also threatened animals such as jaguars and the vaquita porpoise, which is endemic to
the gulf.[277] Human development of the Colorado River has also helped to create new riparian zones by smoothing the river's
seasonal flow, notably through the Grand Canyon.[278]

More than 1,600 species of plants grow in the Colorado River watershed, ranging from the creosote bush, saguaro cactus, and Joshua
trees of the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts to the forests of the Rocky Mountains and other uplands, composed mainly of ponderosa
pine, subalpine fir, Douglas-fir and Engelmann spruce.[60] Before logging in the 19th century, forests were abundant in high
elevations as far south as the MexicoU.S. border, and runoff from these areas nourished abundant grassland communities in river
valleys. Some arid regions of the watershed, such as the upper Green River valley in Wyoming, Canyonlands National Park in Utah
and the San Pedro River valley in Arizona and Sonora, supported extensive reaches of grassland roamed by large mammals such as
buffalo and antelope as late as the 1860s. Near Tucson, Arizona, "where now there is only powder-dry desert, the grass once reached
as high as the head of a man on horse back".[279]
Rivers and streams in the Colorado basin were once home to 49 species of native
fish, of which 42 were endemic. Engineering projects and river regulation have led
to the extinction of four species and severe declines in the populations of 40
species.[280] Bonytail chub, razorback sucker, Colorado pikeminnow, and humpback
chub are among those considered the most at risk; all are unique to the Colorado
River system and well adapted to the river's natural silty conditions and flow
variations. Clear, cold water released by dams has significantly changed
characteristics of habitat for these and other Colorado River basin fishes.[281] A
further 40 species that occur in the river today, notably the brown trout, were
[282] Heavily forested banks of the
introduced during the 19th and 20th centuries, mainly for sport fishing.
Colorado River near Topock, Arizona

Recreation
Famed for its dramatic rapids and canyons, the Colorado is one of the most desirable
whitewater rivers in the United States, and its Grand Canyon section run by more
than 22,000 people annually[283] has been called the "granddaddy of rafting
trips".[284] Grand Canyon trips typically begin at Lee's Ferry and take out at
Diamond Creek or Lake Mead; they range from one to eighteen days for commercial
trips and from two to twenty-five days for private trips.[285] Private
(noncommercial) trips are extremely difficult to arrange because the National Park
Service limits river traffic for environmental purposes; people who desire such a trip
.[286]
often have to wait more than 10 years for the opportunity

Several other sections of the river and its tributaries are popular whitewater runs, and
A rafting party on the Colorado River many of these are also served by commercial outfitters. The Colorado's Cataract
Canyon and many reaches in the Colorado headwaters are even more heavily used
than the Grand Canyon, and about 60,000 boaters run a single 4.5-mile (7.2 km)
section above Radium, Colorado, each year.[287] The upper Colorado also includes many of the river's most challenging rapids,
including those in Gore Canyon, which is considered so dangerous that "boating is not recommended".[287] Another section of the
river above Moab, known as the Colorado "Daily" or "Fisher Towers Section", is the most visited whitewater run in Utah, with more
than 77,000 visitors in 2011 alone.[288] The rapids of the Green River's Gray and Desolation Canyons[289] and the less difficult
[290]
"Goosenecks" section of the lower San Juan River are also frequently traversed by boaters.

Eleven U.S. national parks Arches, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Grand Canyon,
Mesa Verde, Petrified Forest, Rocky Mountain, Saguaro, and Zion are in the watershed, in addition to many national forests, state
parks, and recreation areas.[291] Hiking, backpacking, camping, skiing, and fishing are among the multiple recreation opportunities
offered by these areas. Fisheries have declined in many streams in the watershed, especially in the Rocky Mountains, because of
polluted runoff from mining and agricultural activities.[292] The Colorado's major reservoirs are also heavily traveled summer
destinations. Houseboating and water-skiing are popular activities on Lakes Mead, Powell, Havasu, and Mojave, as well as Flaming
Gorge Reservoir in Utah and Wyoming, and Navajo Reservoir in New Mexico and Colorado. Lake Powell and surrounding Glen
Canyon National Recreation Area received more than two million visitors per year in 2007,[293] while nearly 7.9 million people
visited Lake Mead and the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in 2008.[294] Colorado River recreation employs some 250,000
.[295]
people and contributes $26 billion each year to the Southwest economy

See also
Colorado River Delta
Colorado Desert
List of Colorado River rapids and features
List of largest reservoirs in the United States
List of longest rivers of Mexico
 List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem)
London Bridge (Lake Havasu City)
Moab uranium mill tailings pile
Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program

Notes
1. Discharge data is for Green River, Utah, 117.6 miles (189.3 km) upstream from the mouth. The stream gauge here
measures flow from an area of 44,850 square miles (116,200 km 2), representing about 93.2 percent of the basin.
[44]

109 m3)
2. Before large irrigation and municipal diversions, the Gila River discharged about 1.3 million acre feet (1.6
per year,[41] equating a flow of nearly 2,000 cubic feet per second (57 m
3/s).

3. Discharge data is for Bluff, Utah, located about 113.5 miles (182.7 km) above the confluence with the Colorado. The
gauge measures flow from an area of 23,000 square miles (60,000 km 2), about 93.5 percent of the basin.[47]

4. Discharge data is for Littlefield, Arizona, about 66 miles (106 km) from the confluence with the Colorado, and also
upstream of the confluence with its major tributary , the Muddy River. The gauge measures flow from an area of
5,090 square miles (13,200 km2), about 39.1 percent of the total basin.[54]
5. NIB = "Northerly International Boundary", or the point at which the Colorado begins to form the MexicoU.S. border
,
south of Yuma. Also note that theSIB ("Southerly International Boundary") is the point at which the Colorado ceases
to form the border and passes entirely into Mexico.
[86] and the State of
6. American population (9.7 million) calculated from statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau
Colorado.[87] [88]
The population in Mexico is about 3 million.
7. The average discharge of the Colorado (Grand) River atCisco, Utah, about 97 miles (156 km) upstream from the
Green River confluence, is 7,181 cubic feet per second (203.3 m 3/s); between here and the confluence, only a few

small, intermittent tributaries join the river

.[74] The Green River has an average discharge of 6,048 cubic feet per
3
second (171.3 m /s) as measured at Green River, Utah, about 117.6 miles (189.3 km) above the confluence; [44]

below here the only major tributary is theSan Rafael River, which contributes an average of 131 cubic feet per
second (3.7 m3/s), resulting in a total of 6,169 cubic feet per second (174.7 m 3/s), still significantly lower than the

discharge of the Colorado at their confluence. [184]

8. 1 MAF=1 million acre feet (1.2 km3)

3) and the gauged flow
9. The discrepancy between the natural flow at Lee's Ferry (13.5 million acre-feet/16.65 km
between 1921 and 2010 (10.7 million acre-feet/13.22 km3)[80] is mostly due to water diversions above Lee's Ferry
[255]
and evaporation from reservoirs, especially Lake Powell.
10. Dead pool refers to the lowest lake level at which water can be released through the dam. For example, Lake
3).[264]
Mead's "dead" capacity is about 2 million acre feet (2.5 km

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Leopold, Luna Bergere (1994).A View of the River. Harvard University Press.ISBN 0-674-93732-5.
Lindberg, Eric (2009). Colorado Off the Beaten Path: A Guide to Unique Places
. Globe Pequot. ISBN 0-7627-5024-
3.
Lingenfelter, Richard E. (1978). Steamboats on the Colorado River, 18521916. University of Arizona Press.ISBN 0-
8165-0650-7.
Logan, Michael F. (2006). Desert Cities: The Environmental History of Phoenix and ucson.
T University of Pittsburgh
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Resource Management in the Grand Canyon. National Academy Press.ISBN 0-309-05448-6.
 Nobles, Gregory H. (1998).American Frontiers: Cultural Encounters and Continental Conquest
. Macmillan. ISBN 0-
8090-1602-8.
Powell, Allan Kent (2003).The Utah Guide (3 ed.). Fulcrum Publishing.ISBN 1-55591-114-5.
Prisciantelli, Tom (2002). Spirit of the American Southwest: Geology
, Ancient Eras and Prehistoric People, Hiking
Through Time. Sunstone Press. ISBN 0-86534-354-3.
Pritzker, Barry (1998). Native Americans: An Encyclopedia of History
, Culture, and Peoples. 1. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 0-
87436-836-7.
Reisner, Marc (1993). Cadillac Desert. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-017824-4.
Rolle, Andrew (1999). John Charles Fremont: Character As Destiny. University of Oklahoma Press.ISBN 0-8061-
3135-7.
Schmidt, Jeremy (1993).Grand Canyon National Park: A Natural History Guide
. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 0-
395-59932-6.
Van Cott, John W. (1990). Utah Place Names: A Comprehensive Guide to the Origins of Geographic Names
.
University of Utah Press.ISBN 0-87480-345-4.
Wildfang, Frederic B. (2005).Lake Havasu City. Images of America. Arcadia Publishing.ISBN 0-7385-3012-3.
Wiltshire, Richard L.; Gilbert, David R.; Rogers, Jerry R., eds. (2010).Hoover Dam 75th Anniversary History
Symposium: Proceedings of the Hoover Dam 75th Anniversary History Symposium, October 2122, 2010, Las
Vegas, Nevada. ASCE Publications. ISBN 0-7844-1141-7.
Young, Richard A.; Spamer, Earle E. (2001). The Colorado River: Origin and Evolution. Grand Canyon Association.
ISBN 0-938216-79-1.

Further reading
Darrah, William Culp, Ralph V. Chamberlin, and Gregory, Herbert E., William Culp Darrah, and Charles
Charles Kelly, editors. (2009). The Exploration of the Kelly, editors. (2009). The Exploration of the Colorado
Colorado River in 1869 and 18711872: Biographical River and the High Plateaus of Utah by the Second
Sketches and Original Documents of the First Powell Powell Expedition of 18711872. ISBN 978-0-87480-
Expedition of 1869 and the Second Powell Expedition 964-0.
of 18711872. ISBN 978-0-87480-963-3. Martin, Russell (1990).A Story That Stands Like A
DeBuys, William (2011).A Great Aridness: Climate Dam: Glen Canyon and the Struggle for the Soul of
Change and the Future of the American Southwest . the West (1 ed.). Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0-
Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0-19-977892-8. 8050-0822-5.
Fleck, Richard F., editor. (2000). A Colorado River Summitt, April R. (2013).Contested Waters: An
Reader. ISBN 978-0-87480-647-2. Environmental History of the Colorado River. Boulder:
Fowler, Don D., editor. (2012). Cleaving an Unknown University Press of Colorado.ISBN 978-1-60732-201-
World: The Powell Expeditions and the Scientific 6.
Exploration of the Colorado Plateau. ISBN 978-1- Summitt, April R. (2013)Contested Waters: An
60781-146-6. Environmental History of the Colorado River

External links
Agriculture in the Colorado River Basin: Colorado River Water Users Association
Colorado River Water Allocations by State: GOOD Infographics
Drought in the Upper Colorado River Basin: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation
Irrigation Water Withdrawals in the ColoradoRiver Basin: Pacific Institute
Living Rivers: Colorado Riverkeeper
Water Level Data for Major Colorado River Reservoirs: water-data.com
Where the Colorado Runs Dry: The New York Times
1854 report from the U.S. Army Corps of T opographical Engineers: Report of an expedition down the Zuni and
Colorado Rivers
Killing the ColoradoProPublica

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