Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Colorado River

COLORADO RIVER, 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 canons, 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 “Grand Cañon.” The walls of this 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.