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Gila River
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The Gila River ((; O'odham [Pima]: Gila Akimel) is a tributary of the Colorado River, 650 miles (1,044 kilometers) long, in the southwestern states of New Mexico and Arizona.
The Gila River has its source in western New Mexico, in Sierra County on the western slopes of Continental Divide in the Black Range. It flows southwest through the Gila National Forest and the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, then westward into Arizona, past the town of Safford, Arizona, and along the southern slope of the Gila Mountains in Graham County. It emerges from the mountains into the valley southeast of Phoenix, Arizona, where it crosses the Gila River Indian Reservation as an intermittent stream due to large irrigation diversions.
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Encyclopedia
The Gila River ((; O'odham [Pima]: Gila Akimel) is a tributary of the Colorado River, 650 miles (1,044 kilometers) long, in the southwestern states of New Mexico and Arizona.
The Gila River has its source in western New Mexico, in Sierra County on the western slopes of Continental Divide in the Black Range. It flows southwest through the Gila National Forest and the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, then westward into Arizona, past the town of Safford, Arizona, and along the southern slope of the Gila Mountains in Graham County. It emerges from the mountains into the valley southeast of Phoenix, Arizona, where it crosses the Gila River Indian Reservation as an intermittent stream due to large irrigation diversions. Well west of Phoenix, the river bends sharply southward, temporarily, along the "Gila Bend Mountains", and then it sharply bends westward again near the town of Gila Bend, Arizona. It flows southwestward through the Gila Mountains in Yuma County, and finally it flows into the Colorado at Yuma, Arizona.
The Gila River and its main tributary, the Salt River, would both be perennial streams carrying large volumes of water, but irrigation and municipal water diversions turn both into usually dry rivers. Below Phoenix to the Colorado River, the Gila is usually either a trickle or completely dry, as is also the lower Salt from Granite Reef Diversion Dam downstream to the Gila, but both rivers can carry large volumes of water following great rain storms. The natural mean flow of the Gila would be 6070 cubic feet per second at its mouth into the Colorado River, second only in volume of Colorado River tributaries to the Green River. The Gila River a long time ago was navigable by boats from its mouth to near the Arizona - New Mexico border. The width varied from 150 to with a depth of two to .
After the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848, the Gila River served as a part of the border between the United States and Mexico until the Gadsden Purchase (1853) soon extended American territory well south of the Gila. The confluence of the Gila with the Colorado river was also used as a reference point for the southern border of California.
The only major dam on the Gila River is Coolidge Dam southeast of Globe, Arizona, which forms the San Carlos Lake. The Painted Rock Dam crosses the Gila near Gila Bend, although the river is a transient one at that point. A number of minor diversion dams have been built on the river between the Painted Rock Dam and the Coolidge Dam, including the Gillespie Dam which was breeched during a flood in 1993.
The upper Gila River, including the entire length within New Mexico, is a free-flowing one. Recent efforts to allow for damming or otherwise diverting this stretch have met with stiff political resistance, having been named as one of the nation's most endangered rivers due to the threat of damming. New Mexico governor Bill Richardson has promised to block any such attempt during his term, and he has even considered pushing for a statutory prohibition against any such projects on the state's portion of the river.
Gila Akimel O'odham
A band of Pima (autonym "Akimel O'odham", river people), the Gila Akimel O'odham (Gila River People), have lived on the banks of the Gila River since before the arrival of Spanish explorers. Popular theory says that the word Gila was derived from a Spanish contraction of Hah-quah-sa-eel, a Yuma Indian word meaning "running water which is salty".
Their traditional way of life (himdagi, sometimes rendered in English as Him-dak) was and is centered at the river, which is considered holy. Traditionally, sand from the banks of the river is used as an exfoliant when bathing (often in rainstorms, especially during the monsoon).
In the Gila River Indian Community, the traditional way of life has generally been better preserved than in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. Some speculate this may be because the Gila River, a central aspect of the traditional way of life, still flows through the reservation year-round (although at times as an intermittent stream), while the Salt River does not.
Boating Facility Features
- Paved Access
- Gravel Access
- Dirt Access
- Swimming
- Primitive Parking Area
- Camping Allowed
Fish Species
Variant names
The Gila River has also been known as:
- Akee-mull
- Apache de Gila
- Brazo de Miraflores
- Cina`ahuwipi
- Hah-quah-sa eel
- Hela River
- Jila River
- Rio Azul
- Rio Gila
- Rio de las Balsas
- Rio del Nombre Jesus
- Rio del los Apostoles
- Zila River
- Xila River
- Keli Akimel
See also
External links
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