Crustal extension in the Basin and Range Province began about 20 million years ago and the modern Sierra Nevada began forming about 10 million years ago, eventually diverting the Colorado southwards towards the Gulf. [269], 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. John Wesley Powell (March 24, 1834 – September 23, 1902) was a geologist, U.S. This area was controlled by the Utes … Colorado, “the Centennial State,” was the thirty-eighth state to enter the Union on August 1, 1876. [37], 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 Konščak on July 18, 1746. [206] 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. [117] A variety of methods were employed to combat these problems, including the construction of large dams, but when a megadrought hit the region in the 14th century A.D. the ancient civilizations of the Colorado River basin abruptly collapsed. Alarcon was unable to find Coronado, but he explored the river for a few months before he returned to his base in Acapulco. Under Brigham Young's grand vision for a "vast empire in the desert",[172] (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. [176], Gold strikes from the mid-19th to early 20th centuries played a major role in attracting settlers to the upper Colorado River basin. Samuel De Champlain. [215] 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. 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. [234] 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. 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. [68] The average flow rate of the Colorado at the northernmost point of the Mexico–United States border (NIB, or Northerly International Boundary) is about 2,060 cubic feet per second (58 m3/s), 1.49 million acre feet (1.84 km3) per year—less than a tenth of the natural flow—due to upstream water use. [250], In the 21st century, there has been renewed interest in restoring a limited water flow to the delta. 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. [111] In Chaco Canyon and the surrounding lands, they built more than 150 multi-story pueblos or "great houses", the largest of which, Pueblo Bonito, is composed of more than 600 rooms. 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. [164] Powell led a second expedition in 1871, this time with financial backing from the U.S. Costs were cut from $200 to $75 per ton. [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. The Ancient Puebloan (also known as Anasazi or Hisatsinom) people of the Four Corners region were descended from the Desert Archaic culture. He sailed as far north as Ohio River, perhaps further. [3] This has resulted in more water being allocated to river users than actually flows through the Colorado. [43], 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). 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. The Spanish did what to the American Indians. [81] 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. Ten Native American tribes in the basin now hold or continue to claim water rights to the Colorado River. Alarcón is almost unique among 16th-century conquistadores in that he reportedly treated the Indians he met humanely, as opposed to the often reckless and cruel behavior known from accounts of his contemporaries. After the immediate flooding threat passed, it was realized that a more permanent solution would be needed to rein in the Colorado. 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". [93] The Colorado River first formed as a west-flowing stream draining the southwestern portion of the range, and the uplift also diverted the Green River, once a tributary of the Mississippi River, west towards the Colorado. 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. 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. The second was finally, after a long struggle poled up to Fort Yuma, but what little it carried was soon consumed by the garrison. [136], Water rights of Native Americans in the Colorado River basin were largely ignored during the extensive water resources development carried out on the river and its tributaries in the 19th and 20th centuries. [207] Arizona had 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. Coronado never reached the Gulf of California, and Alarcón eventually gave up and left. [286] 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. 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. ", "Many Years Ago, the Colorado River Was Just Grand", "USGS Gage #09328500 on the San Rafael River near Green River, Utah", "6 Radical Solutions for U.S. Southwest's Peak Water Problem", "Salazar Awards $20.1 Million to Four Western Colorado Irrigation Districts to Improve Irrigation Systems, Reduce Salinity in Colorado River", "The Beginning and the End of the Colorado River: Protecting the Sources, Ensuring its Courses", "Appendix I: The Past, Present and Future of Transmountain Diversion Projects", "When The Imperial Valley Fought For Its Life", "Utilization of Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grande: Treaty Between the United States of America and Mexico", "The Colorado River and Hoover Dam: Facts and Figures", "All-American Canal, California–Mexico border", "Reclamation Helps Celebrate Theodore Roosevelt Dam's 100th Year", "The Colorado River: A Regional Solution", "History of Geologic Investigations, Engineering Design, and Construction Methods of the Harold D. Roberts Tunnel, Colorado", "Colorado River System Consumptive Uses and Losses Report 1996–2000", "Landmark Cooperation Brings the Colorado River Home", "The Colorado River Salinity Problem: Direct Economic Damages in Mexico", "Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Project", "Technical Report: Pesticides in the Lower Colorado River", "Pesticides in Surface Waters of the Upper Colorado River Basin, Colorado, 1996–98", 10.1643/0045-8511(2000)000[0402:teohrd]2.0.co;2, "Colorado River Agreement to Help Restore Vanished Wetlands in Mexico", "Minute 319: Building on the Past to Provide for the Future", "Huge water pulse to bring Colorado river back from dead", "Colorado river reaches sea for first time in decades", "Upper Colorado River Basin Consumptive Uses and Losses Report 2006-2010", "Sharing Colorado River Water: History, Public Policy and the Colorado River Compact", "Persistent Drought in the Colorado River Basin", "Paleoenvironmental Archives as a source of Climate Information for Natural Resource Management: An Example from Tree Rings and Colorado Water Management", "Annual Operating Plan for Colorado River Reservoirs – 2012", "Current Status and Trends of Lake Powell and Glen Canyon Dam Release Water Quality", "The Colorado River's Uncertain Future: How Climate Change May Affect Future Planning Decisions on the Colorado River", "Lakes Mead and Powell Could Run Dry by 2021", "Lake Mead Sinks to a New Historic Low: If Lake Falls 8 More Feet, Thirsty Ariz. Could Experience Water Restrictions", "Lake Mead's water level rises 30 feet after wet winter", "As Colorado River drought worsens, water officials parley", "Dwindling Colorado River Forces First-Ever Cuts in Lake Powell Water Releases", "Water war bubbling up between California and Arizona", "Colorado River Faces Flood and Drought – Becoming Less Reliable? 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. Both the Missouri and Arkansas rivers are part of the Mississippi River system. [156], George A. Johnson was instrumental in getting the support for Congressional funding a military expedition up the river. Learn term:colorado river = was explored by the spanish with free interactive flashcards. ... SURVEY . [3] His orders from Mendoza were to await the arrival of Coronado's land expedition at a certain latitude along the coast. 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 we have a large sack of coffee. Quick Facts", "United States Geological Survey Topographic Maps: Blythe NE, California quad", "Fighting For Water in Arid Imperial Valley", "Border Water Source of Conflict and Cooperation: What Makes Management of Border Water Resources a Challenge? [253] 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 ecological significance" and a landmark in U.S.–Mexican cooperation in conservation. Coronado’s expedition failed in its search for wealth, but it brought about the first contact between Europeans and the Native American population. On a second voyage, he probably proceeded past the present-day site of Yuma, Arizona. Europeans first entered the Colorado Basin in the 16th century, when explorers from Spain began mapping and claiming the area, which became part of Mexico upon its independence in 1821. 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. [106][129], Beginning in the 17th century, contact with Europeans brought significant changes to the lifestyles of Native Americans in the Colorado River basin. Mississippi River. 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. Ohio River. [151] :10–11, 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. d. The naming of … Gregory, Herbert E., William Culp Darrah, and Charles Kelly, editors. 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. 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. 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. 30 seconds . Alarcón eventually sailed to the northern terminus of the Gulf of California and completed the explorations begun by Francisco de Ulloa the preceding year. [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. The Colorado is now considered among the most controlled and litigated rivers in the world, with every drop of its water fully allocated. 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. [290] 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. [242] In 2013, the Bureau of Reclamation estimated that around $32 million was spent each year to prevent around 1.2 million tons of salt from entering and damaging the Colorado River. Spanish exploration and prospecting in Colorado was more frequent than the records reveal. 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. Reservation and Extension Programs", "In Navajoland, a Contentious Water Deal Divides the Tribe", "John Wesley Powell's Exploration of the Colorado River", Report of the Secretary of War, communicating ... a reconnaissance of the Gulf of California and the Colorado river by Lieutenant Derby, Senate Executive Doc. BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR, GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON, 1861; PART I. The Spaniards estimated that the opposite rim was 8 to 10 miles away and that the Colorado River was no more than 6 feet across. [117][118] 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. [41] 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. In 1852, the Uncle Sam was launched to provide supplies to the U.S. Army outpost at Fort Yuma. Thomas. Large-scale settlement of the lower basin began in the mid- to late-19th century, with steamboats providing transportation from the Gulf of California to landings along the river that linked to wagon roads to the interior. 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 Domínguez–Escalante expedition was a Spanish journey of exploration conducted in 1776 by two Franciscan priests, Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, to find an overland route from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to their Roman Catholic mission in Monterey, on the coast of modern day central California. Choose from 425 different sets of term:colorado river = was explored by the spanish flashcards on Quizlet. The Fremont were likely the first peoples of the Colorado River basin to domesticate crops and construct masonry dwellings; they also left behind a large amount of rock art and petroglyphs, many of which have survived to the present day. The famed opposition to Glen Canyon Dam, the primary feature of the CRSP, did not build momentum until construction was well underway. [97] 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. 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. 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. At Morelos Dam, the entire remaining flow of the Colorado is diverted to irrigate the Mexicali Valley, among Mexico's most fertile agricultural lands. 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