Rio Grande
Catchment area of the Rio Grande
The Rio Grande (as he is called in the U.S. ) and the Río Bravo del Norte, or shortened Río Bravo ( as it is called in Mexico) is a power in these two states of North America. Both names are of Spanish origin: Río Grande means " Big River ", Río Bravo ( del Norte ) means " Wild River ( of the North) ."
The Rio Grande rises in the Rocky Mountains (Colorado, USA) and flows through the U.S. state of New Mexico to the south. From the Texas border at El Paso Rio Grande forms the border between the United States (Texas ) and Mexico. In this limit, it flows through the Amistad and Falcon reservoir. Finally, it flows into the Gulf of Mexico. However, until then " wild river " from not much left, because he is tapped to a great extent for irrigation of agricultural land.
With a length of 3034 km of the Rio Grande is named after the Missouri - Mississippi River and the Yukon River is the third longest river in the United States. From its total distance, just under 300 km to Colorado, about 750 km to New Mexico and slightly more than 2000 km to Texas.
The name of the river
The river had a variety of names: Rio Grande, so Big River, he was translated into the languages of various Indian tribes, where he wore the name Mets'ichi Chena, P'osoge and Paslápane. The Comanches called ocuebi the river.
The arriving in the 16th century Spaniards called the river first Río de las Palmas; for they know him from the mouth ago, in which extensive beaches were covered with light sand and a variety of palm trees.
Alone at the Spaniards, who in the early days at various locations " newly discovered " him and at that time did not know that it is always to the same river, the Río de las Palmas, acted, he wore a variety of names: Río Caudaloso (water -rich river), Río de la Nuestra Señora ( River of Our patron saint ), Río Turbio ( Turbid river), Guadalquivir River (named after the river in Spain), Río de la Concepción ( flow conception) Río de la Buenaventura del Norte ( flow of Bonaventura of the North), Río del Norte ( River of the North), Río del Norte y Nuevo México ( River of the North and New Mexico ), Río Bravo del Norte ( Wild River of the North) and Río Grande del Norte ( Large River of the North). In the U.S., he wore the name Tiguex River ( Tiguex was named the river in the language of Tiwa, an Indian tribe that was native to New Mexico and western Texas), River of May ( River of May) and Grand River (Grand River ).
Still bears the river two names: north of the river ( in the U.S.) it is called Rio Grande, south thereof ( in Mexico) he called Rio Bravo ( Wild River ) or Río Bravo del Norte ( Wild River of the North).
The name of the Río Bravo ( Wild River ) in 1598, awarded after an expedition of Juan de Oñate Basques two horses had come in the floods of the river died.
The river
Colorado
The Rio Grande originates in the San Juan Mountains, extending from southwestern Colorado to northern New Mexico and forms a part of the Rocky Mountains. The source of the river is located in the Rio Grande National Forest, San Juan County, Colorado at an altitude of more than 3,600 meters and is mainly fed by the melting snow on the still several hundred meters higher mountain peaks on the Continental Divide. While the snow melt on the west side over the Animas River, San Juan River and the Colorado River flows into the Lake Powell, the snowmelt connects on the east side of the Rio Grande.
The fledgling Rio Grande is first stopped in an early 20th century by some farmers of rock and earth dam built, bearing the name of Farmer's Junior Dam. The area behind the dam at around 2,700 meters above sea level became known as the Rio Grande Reservoir. From here, the cold water flows downward through a narrow stretch of about 80 km and is mainly trout region. Subsequently, the fledgling River in 180 km long and up to 90 km wide San Luis Valley spreads, which in located in north-south direction between the San Juan Mountains in the west and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains extends east.
New Mexico
During the Rio Grande flows leisurely through the San Luis Valley and its speed when leaving the same at the level of Lobatos Bridge maintains, first, a tremendous change occurs around 40 km and located below the bridge at Lee 's Trail. Here the current is ripping and barely passable. Michael Jenkinson, author of Wild Rivers of America, means that portion of Lee Trail to the confluence with the Red River as a "pure horror ". On this section of just 20 km length of the river loses about 200 meters altitude.
The section described above is part of the Rio Grande Gorge; a 125 km long and up to 300 m deep gorge that the river has itself created ages ago to flow through the basalt of the Taos Plateau.
After a long haul through largely uninhabited area of the river from flowing around 70 km south of Taos for the first time by a small town called Española and from here through the Santa Fe National Forest in Albuquerque, the largest city of New Mexico.
About 200 km to the south begins in 1916, completed in Elephant Butte Reservoir, which extends over a length of 60 km and an average width of 2.4 km and thus is the largest reservoir of New Mexico.
About 40 km downstream is the Caballo Lake built in the 1930 another reservoir, which is nearly 29 km long and was originally built to take advantage drained from Elephant Butte Reservoir water to generate electricity.
The Elephant Butte Reservoir is located about 8 km to the north, the Caballo Reservoir, about 25 km south of the town of Truth or Consequences.
Further downstream flows through the Rio Grande, Las Cruces, the second largest city in the state of New Mexico, he leaves about 3 km southwest of the Texas border town of Anthony.
Border between Texas and Mexico
From the western boundary of El Paso and the city lying on the opposite bank of the Rio Grande Juarez is up to its outflow in the Gulf of Mexico on roughly 2,000 km, the boundary between the United States and Mexico.
In the 20th century the river was straightened several times artificially, making his way between El Paso and the former Fort Quitman was now almost reduced to the half: while the natural route was 248 km, it measures today only 137 km and is therefore almost with the land route of 130 km identical.
The river lying behind Fort Quitman, however, was not straightened and fights since then with the problem of leading to a little water. Until the influx of the Río Conchos approximately 320 km downstream, close to the border towns of Presidio (Texas ) and Ojinaga (Chihuahua ), the Rio Grande degenerates to a largely invisible waters, which was almost completely destroyed by the numerous there existing tamarisk. This plant was imported in the 19th century to stabilize the river basin from North Africa and Central Asia, but has long been proved to the detriment of the river, so the distance between El Paso and Fort Quitman as "The Forgotten River" ( The Forgotten River ) is now known. The river will forget named because it is largely invisible and largely looks nothing like the photo on the right above, showing a period of drought from the further downstream Big Bend National Park; because even after the influx of the Río Conchos water masses are not always huge, although the springing in the Mexican state of Chihuahua largest tributary of the Rio Grande was known in earlier times just to supply the main stream with sufficient water. But there is an obvious increasing water withdrawal for irrigation of agricultural land in Chihuahua ensured that the volume of water of the Río Conchos is significantly decreased, since the relationship between the U.S. state of Texas and the Mexican state of Chihuahua is quite tense. However, while the farmers in Texas to push the responsibility for the low water volume primarily Mexico, throw the Mexican settlers on the other side of the Rio Grande the U.S. for the destruction of the river basin through the tamarisk. But even among the U.S. states of Colorado, New Mexico and Texas, there are significant discrepancies regarding the use and transfer of water from the Rio Grande.
A few miles beyond Presidio flows of the Rio Grande about 95 km along the Big Bend Ranch State Park, which stops short of Lajitas. Behind Lajitas reached the Rio Grande, Big Bend National Park, on the edge of it forms the border between the U.S. and Mexico for 393 km. On the Mexican side of the Rio Grande is leaving after just over a third of this route the state of Chihuahua and enters the state of Coahuila.
In the last 111 km of the Big Bend National Park and the adjoining stretch of 214 km of the current flows through a region called the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River. It is the only area where the river strikes a northern direction.
A few hundred kilometers behind the National Park flows through the Rio Grande the Amistad Reservoir. This is located in the Amistad National Recreation Area, in the connect to the Pecos River and Devils River, two of the main tributaries to the Rio Grande. From the end of the reservoir there are downstream 19 km to the Texan city of Del Rio and its Mexican sister city of Acuña.
From there, needed the Rio Grande 88 km to the border towns of Eagle Pass (Texas ) and Piedras Negras ( Coahuila ). In the next 92 km to Laredo ( Texas) and Nuevo Laredo ( Tamaulipas ) leaves the Rio Grande on the Mexican side behind only around 1,500 inhabitants village Hidalgo the state of Coahuila and flows for a distance of only 15 Km to Nuevo Leon along ( the only settlement here is only about 500 inhabitants place Colombia ) before the stream continues its last section along the state of Tamaulipas.
64 km southeast of Laredo and Nuevo Laredo, the Falcon International Reservoir located with the Falcon Dam and the influx of Mexican Río Salado in the Rio Grande. Halfway between the reservoir and the border towns of Reynosa ( Tamaulipas ) and McAllen (Texas ), the Mexican San Juan River flows into the Rio Grande at Camargo.
The last section of the river is happening on the U.S. side belonging to Texas districts Starr County, Hidalgo County and Cameron County, which all belong to the Lower Rio Grande Valley, one of the poorest neighborhoods of the United States. The two most important towns of the Rio Grande Valley are located in Hidalgo County McAllen and its further downstream located in Cameron County, the largest city of Brownsville. From this and its Mexican sister city of Matamoros, there are still about 40 miles to the mouth of the Rio Grande into the Gulf of Mexico. However, these are to the unusual conclusion of a river, because the Rio Grande is soon behind these last two border towns, is proliferating and seeps in the river delta. It is rather the end of the river as its mouth, as the Mexican guide Gilberto Rodríguez has expressed to the author in January Reid. Sun Jan Reid finally comes to the conclusion: " We have the Rio Grande can be degenerated into a river that can not find its way into the sea. "