Bill Williams River

The Bill Williams River is a tributary of the Colorado River in western Arizona with a length of about 64 kilometers. It drains a rugged remote area of the Sonoran Desert plateau northwest of Phoenix and forms in the parched area a river oasis.

It is formed by the confluence of the Big Sandy River and the Santa Maria River northwest of Wickenburg, then flows westward on the northern edge of the Buckskin Mountains along and ends just above the Parker Dam in the Lake Havasu. In this way it flows through the dammed Alamo Lake.

For a long time the river valley was characterized by extensive poplar and willow tree stands, which described John C. Fremont, who discovered the area in the 19th century. The construction of the Alamo Dam in 1968 made ​​the natural flood periods to an end, so the old ecosystem lost its foundation. Only a small stock of poplars has been preserved in the Bill Williams National Wildlife Refuge.

Riverside earlier Indians of the Mojave and Chemehuevi tribes have lived, the baskets artfully crafted from the pastures manufactured. The Indians were relocated further east and north in reserves in the 19th century. The river is named after Bill S. Williams, who traveled through the area in 1800.