Colorado River
Colorado River names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Colorado River or COLORADO OF THE WEST
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
or COLORADO OF THE WEST, a great river of the United States and Mexico, formed at about 38° N. lat. and 110° W. lon., by the junction of the Green and Grand rivers. The Green river rises in the Rocky Mountains in the W. of Wyoming, receiving in its S. W. course the waters of the Bear, the White, the Uintah, and San Rafael. From Flaming Gorge, a point in the N. W. of Colorado, where the Uintah Mountains rise, the Green river cleaves its way rapidly through cañons, the walls of which tower up to a height of nearly 1,500 feet. The Grand river rises in the Rocky Mountains, W. of Denver, Col., receiving in its S. W. course the South Fork or Gunnison, the San Miguel, and Dolores. After the junction the Colorado flows S. W. through Utah, joined on the E. by the San Juan, on the W. by the Dirty Devil and Escalante; S. W. through the N. of Arizona, till its waters are increased by the Colorado Chiquito, or Little Colorado of Arizona. From the mouth of the Little Colorado the river bends W., and for the first 200 miles shoots through the wonderful walls of this "Grand Cañon." water-worn trench are often vertical, or nearly so, for a distance of thousands of feet at a time; sometimes they slope steeply, or constitute magnificent terraces. Escaping from the Grand Cañon, the river flows S. W. to the borders of Nevada, receiving from the W. the Paria, Tapeat's river, the Kanat (of Arizona), and the Virgin (of Nevada). Above Callville, Nev., the Colorado, as also its tributaries, again bores its way through deep cañons, the sides of which in some places present walls of solid rock nearly 7,000 feet high. Below Callville the river is again shut in by the last of the cañons, the Black Cañon, 25 miles long, and from 1,000 to 1,500 feet high. Shortly after receiving the Virgin, the Colorado takes a S. course, severing Arizona and Sonora on the E. from Nevada, California, and Lower California on the W., and receiving on the E. Bill Williams' Fork and the Gila. After absorbing the Gila the river sweeps round in a W. direction for 7 or 8 miles, and soon expands to a width of 1,200 feet. Thence it pursues a tortuous course of 180 miles, the last portion being through Mexican territory to its mouth in the Gulf of California. From the sources of the Green river the Colorado measures a total length of about 2,000 miles. It is navigable for steamers as far as Callville, 612 miles from its mouth, and can be made navigable, it is thought, to the foot of the Grand Cañon, 57 miles higher.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
one of the great streams of North America . It is formed by the junction of the Green, whose head waters rise in Wyoming, and the Grand, whose head waters rise in Colorado. It flows southwesterly through Utah, Arizona, Nevada and Mexico, receives the Gila, and empties into the Gulf of California. The Green emerges from a series of canons, 1,500 feet deep. The main Colorado passes through four canons, the Marble Canon, 60 miles in length and 3,600 feet deep; the Grand Canon , 200 miles long and from 4,000 to 7,000 feet deep--the greatest canon in the world ; the Callville Canon, 7,000 feet deep, with terraced cliffs piled with the ruins of cities; and, lastly, the Black Canon, 25 miles long and 1,000 to 1,500 feet deep. The lower 612 miles of the river, including the Black Canon, are navigable for steamers as far as Callville, Nevada. These great canons have been cut by the current. Particles of sand in the swiftly running water have chipped off the sandstone like chisels, and worn channels, in places a mile and a half deep. Clear water free from grit has little erosive or scouring power. Many other rivers in the world have worn still deeper channels; but their cliffs have been worn down by rain, so that, instead of a narrow gorge, a wide valley has been formed. The wonderful canons of the Colorado are in a well nigh rainless region. The cliffs stand much as when left by the current of the river. To those fond of statistics, it may be said that 750,000,000,000,000 cubic feet of rock have been chiseled out and carried away by the Colorado River. At the rate at which sediment is now carried by the current, 10,000,000 years would be required to do the work. Of late the Lower Colorado has given the Southern Pacific Railway trouble by leaving its banks and flooding a large, low area, known as Salton Desert. The mouth of the river is a vast mud delta in which the Indian sows his September seed. See Grand Canyon; Salton Sea ; Irrigation
Colorado River one of the chief streams of Texas
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
one of the chief streams of Texas. Rising in the high tablelands of Bexar, near the line of New Mexico, about lat. 32° 30′ N., and lon. 102° W., it flows S. E., receiving in its upper course the Conca, the San Sala, and the Lano on the S., and the Pecan from the N., and empties into Matagorda Bay. Austin, Bastrop, and Columbus are on its banks, and Matagorda near its mouth. For most of its course it flows through a fertile region and has an average width of 250 feet. It is a clear stream; its name, meaning red, was originally applied to the Brazos N. and E., but the two were interchanged. The Colorado is some 900 miles long, and navigable to Austin or farther.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Both 1921 accounts still describe a free-flowing river "navigable for steamers as far as Callville" and emptying into the Gulf of California; neither is true now. In 1921 Congress and the Colorado legislature renamed the Grand River the Colorado, so the main stem no longer begins at a junction with the Green but rises in Colorado; a year later the seven basin states signed the Colorado River Compact dividing its water. Hoover Dam (1936) drowned Callville and the Black Canyon under Lake Mead, and Glen Canyon Dam (1963) created Lake Powell; between irrigation, city supply and drought the river now rarely reaches the sea, its delta reduced to dry flats. The Texas Colorado has likewise been dammed into the Highland Lakes above Austin and carries no commercial navigation.
Written for this edition, 2026.