After passing through De Beque Canyon, the Colorado emerges from the Rockies into the Grand Valley, a major farming and ranching region where it meets one of its largest tributaries, the Gunnison River, at Grand Junction. As it flows southwest, it gains strength from many small tributaries, as well as larger ones including the Blue, Eagle and Roaring Fork rivers. 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. After a short run south, the river turns west below Grand Lake, the largest natural lake in the state. The Colorado begins at La Poudre Pass in the Never Summer Mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park, 10,184 ft (3,104 m) above sea level. Main article: Course of the Colorado River Headwaters of the Colorado River in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado Since 2000, extended drought has conflicted with increasing demands for Colorado River water, and the level of human development and control of the river continues to generate controversy. With all of their waters fully allocated, both the Colorado and the neighboring Rio Grande are now considered among the most controlled and litigated river systems in the world. Numerous water projects have also involved state and local governments. The US federal government constructed most of the major dams and aqueducts between 19 the largest, Hoover Dam, was completed in 1935. Large-scale river management began in the early 1900s, with major guidelines established in a series of international and US interstate treaties known as the " Law of the River". Starting in the 1860s, gold and silver strikes drew prospectors to the upper Colorado River basin. Large-scale settlement of the lower basin began in the mid- to late-1800s, with steamboats sailing from the Gulf of California to landings along the river that linked to wagon roads to the interior. Several expeditions charted the Colorado in the mid-19th century-one of which, led by John Wesley Powell, was the first to run the rapids of the Grand Canyon. Even after most of the watershed became US territory in 1846, much of the river's course remained unknown. In the 1500s, Spanish explorers began mapping and claiming the watershed, which became part of Mexico upon winning its independence from Spain in 1821. Their descendants include tribes such as the Puebloans, while others including the Navajo settled in the Colorado Basin after the 1000s. Starting around 1 AD, large agriculture-based societies were established, but a combination of drought and poor land use practices led to their collapse in the 1300s. Native Americans have inhabited the Colorado River basin for at least 8,000 years. Intensive water consumption has dried up the lower 100 miles (160 km) of the river, which has rarely reached the sea since the 1960s. Its large flow and steep gradient are used to generate hydroelectricity, meeting peaking power demands in much of the Intermountain West. An extensive system of dams, reservoirs, and aqueducts divert almost its entire flow for agricultural irrigation and urban water supply. ![]() National Parks, the Colorado River and its tributaries are a vital source of water for 40 million people. Known for its dramatic canyons, whitewater rapids, and eleven U.S. 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. Starting in the central Rocky Mountains of Colorado, it flows generally southwest across the Colorado Plateau and through the Grand Canyon before reaching Lake Mead on the Arizona– Nevada border, where it turns south toward the international border. The name Colorado derives from the Spanish language for "colored reddish" due to its heavy silt load. The 1,450-mile-long (2,330 km) river, the 5th longest in the United States, drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. The Colorado River ( Spanish: Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. Green River, Dirty Devil River, Escalante River, Kanab River, Virgin River, Hardy River Mouth (average unimpaired flow), max and min at Topock, AZ, 300 mi (480 km) from the mouth įraser River, Blue River, Eagle River, Roaring Fork River, Gunnison River, Dolores River, San Juan River, Little Colorado River, Bill Williams River, Gila River
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