[277], After a much lower-than-average snowpack in the 2018 water year, Bureau of Reclamation officials projected the odds of an official shortage declaration in 2020 at 52 percent, in 2021 at 64 percent, and in 2022 at 68 percent. [102] 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. Occasionally the International Boundary and Water Commission allows a springtime pulse flow to recharge the delta. [27] Below the dam the river passes under the Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge—which at nearly 900 feet (270 m) above the water is the highest concrete arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere[28]—and then turns due south towards Mexico, defining the Arizona–Nevada and Arizona–California borders. [270] Despite above-average runoff in 2011 that raised the immense reservoir more than 30 feet (9.1 m),[271][272] record drought conditions returned in 2012 and 2013. [76], 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. 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. [203][204][205], In 1922, six U.S. states in the Colorado River basin signed the Colorado 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). 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. 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. Hernando de Alarcón (born c. 1500) was a Spanish explorer and navigator of the 16th century, noted for having led an early expedition to the Baja California Peninsula, during which he became one of the first Europeans to ascend the Colorado River from its mouth and perhaps the first to reach Alta California. The famed opposition to Glen Canyon Dam, the primary feature of the CRSP, did not build momentum until construction was well underway. [129] From 1694 to 1702 Kino would explore the Gila and Colorado Rivers to determine if California was an island or peninsula. In fact, the Navajo acquired agricultural skills from the Puebloans before the collapse of the Pueblo civilization in the 14th century. 568, on the west bank of the Colorado River near Andrade in Imperial County, California, commemorates Alarcón's expedition having been the first non-Indians to sight land within the present-day state of California.[4][5]. [101], 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. We have but a month's rations remaining. [151] :16–17,19[157] 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. [10][254][255] The pulse will be followed by the 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.[253]. [152]: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. This has led to fish kills; six of these events were recorded between 1964 and 1968 alone. [109] The Puebloan people developed a complex distribution system to supply drinking and irrigation water in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico. Mississippi River. 30 seconds . Viceroy of New Spain Antonio de Mendoza commissioned Francisco Vázquez de Coronado to undertake a massive overland expedition with the purpose of finding the Seven Cities of Cibola, which were rumored to exist in the unexplored northern interior. PhD diss. [141], During the 16th century, the Spanish began to explore and colonize western North America. 30 seconds . [226], 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. 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. [169][170] Steamboats quickly became the principal source of communication and trade along the river until competition from railroads began in the 1870s, and finally the construction of dams along the lower river in 1909, none of which had locks to allow the passage of ships.[171]. 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. [196][197], One of the earliest water projects in the Colorado River basin was the Grand Ditch, a 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. SURVEY . [24] Downstream, the river enters Marble Canyon, the beginning of the Grand Canyon, passing under the Navajo Bridges on a now southward course. [106][119], The Navajo were an Athabaskan people who migrated from the north into the Colorado River basin around 1025 A.D.[124] They soon established themselves as the dominant Native American tribe in the Colorado River basin, and their territory stretched over parts of present-day Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado – in the original homelands of the Puebloans. Mississippi River. [182][183][184], Prior to 1921, the upper Colorado River above the confluence with the Green River in Utah had assumed various names. The name Rio Colorado ("Red River") was first applied to the Colorado by Father Eusebio Francisco Kino in his maps and written reports resulting from his explorations to the Colorado River Delta and his discovery that California was not an island but a peninsula (1700–1702). In 1852, the Uncle Sam was launched to provide supplies to the U.S. Army outpost at Fort Yuma. Francisco Vázquez de Coronado y Luján (Spanish pronunciation: [fɾanˈθisko ˈβaθkeθ ðe koɾoˈnaðo] ; 1510 – 22 September 1554) was a Spanish conquistador and explorer who led a large expedition from what is now Mexico to present-day Kansas through parts of … 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. Engineering projects and river regulation have led to the extinction of four species and severe declines in the populations of 40 species. [135] Some Mohave were also moved to the 432-square-mile (1,120 km2) Colorado River Indian Reservation on the Arizona–California border, originally established for the Mohave and Chemehuevi people in 1865. 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. 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. Various estimates place the time it would take for Powell to completely fill with silt at 300 to 700 years. The latter name did not become consistently applied until the 1870s. [173] 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. 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