Rio Grande

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For other uses, see Rio Grande (disambiguation).
"Río Bravo" redirects here. For other uses, see Río Bravo (disambiguation).
Rio Grande
River
Historic photo of the Rio Grande, 1899
Country United States, Mexico
Source Hinsdale County, Colorado
 - elevation 3,900 m (12,795 ft)
Mouth Gulf of Mexico; Cameron County, Texas, Matamoros, Tamaulipas
 - elevation 0 m (0 ft)
Length 3,034 km (1,885 mi)
Basin 607,965 km2 (234,737 sq mi)
Discharge
 - average 160 m3/s (5,650 cu ft/s)
Map of the Rio Grande Watershed
Website: Handbook of Texas

The Rio Grande (known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte, or simply Río Bravo) is a river that forms part of the border between the United States and Mexico. At 1,885 miles (3,034 km) long, it is the fourth-longest river system in the United States.[1] It serves as a natural boundary along the border between the American state of Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas as well as a very small stretch with fellow American state New Mexico between Doña Ana County, New Mexico and El Paso County, Texas.

Contents

[edit] Description

The Rio Grande rises in the eastern part of the Rio Grande National Forest in the American state of Colorado. This river is formed by the joining of several streams at the base of Canby Mountain, just east of the Continental Divide. From there, it flows through the San Luis Valley, then south into the state of New Mexico and passes through Espanola, Albuquerque and Las Cruces to El Paso, Texas, where it begins to form the natural border between the United States and Mexico. A major tributary, the Río Conchos, enters at Ojinaga, Chihuahua, below El Paso, and supplies most of the water in the 1,254 miles (2,018 km) Texas border segment. Other well-known tributaries include the Pecos and the smaller Devils, which join the Rio Grande on the site of Amistad Dam. Despite its name and length, the Rio Grande is not navigable by ocean-going ships, nor are there smaller passenger boats or cargo barges using it as a route. In fact it is barely navigable at all, except by small fishing boats. The natural flow of the Rio Grande is only 1/20 the volume of that of the Colorado River, and less than 1/100 of that of the Mississippi River.[citation needed]

The Upper Rio Grande near Creede, Colorado

The Rio Grande at Bernalillo, New Mexico, with the Sandia Mountains

The river was the Texas-accepted border between Mexico and the Republic of Texas, but Mexico considered this border to be the Nueces River, which provided the excuse for the US invasion of Mexico in 1848. It has, since 1848, marked the boundary between Mexico and the United States from the twin cities of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, to the Gulf of Mexico. As such, it was across this river that some Texas slaves fled when seeking their freedom, aided by Mexico's liberal colonization policies and its abolitionist stance.[2]

The major international border crossings along the river are at Ciudad Juárez and El Paso; Presidio, Texas, and Ojinaga, Chihuahua; Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas; McAllen-Hidalgo, Texas, and Reynosa, Tamaulipas; and Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Tamaulipas. Other notable border towns are the Texas/Coahuila pairings of Del Rio–Ciudad Acuña and Eagle Pass–Piedras Negras.

The United States and Mexico share the water of this river under a series of agreements administered by the joint US-Mexico Boundary and Water Commission. The most notable of these treaties were signed in 1906 and 1944[3].

Use of that water belonging to the United States is regulated by the Rio Grande Compact, an interstate pact between Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. The water of the Rio Grande is over-appropriated: that is, there are more users for the water than there is water in the river. Because of both drought and overuse, the section from El Paso downstream through Ojinaga was recently tagged "The Forgotten River" by those wishing to bring attention to the river's deteriorated condition. [4]

In the summer of 2001, a 328-foot (100-meter) wide sandbar formed at the mouth of the river, marking the first time in recorded history that the Rio Grande failed to empty into the Gulf of Mexico. The sandbar was subsequently dredged, but it re-formed almost immediately. Spring rains the following year flushed the re-formed sandbar out to sea, but it returned in the summer of 2002. As of September 2006, the river once again reaches the Gulf.

The Rio Grande rises in high mountains and flows for much of its length at high elevation; El Paso is 3,762 feet (1,147 m) above sea level. In New Mexico, the river flows through the Rio Grande Rift from one sediment-filled basin to another, cutting canyons between the basins and supporting a fragile bosque ecosystem in its floodplain. From El Paso eastward the river flows through desert. Only in the sub-tropical lower Rio Grande Valley is there extensive irrigated agriculture. The river ends in a small sandy delta at the Gulf of Mexico. Due to the persistent period of dry weather, the river has only occasionally emptied into the Gulf Of Mexico since 2002.[5]

Millions of years ago, the Rio Grande ended at the bottom of the Rio Grande Rift in Lake Cabeza de Vaca, but about one million years ago, the stream was "captured" and began to flow east.

The Rio Grande was designated as one of the American Heritage Rivers in 1997.

The Rio Grande flowing in Big Bend National Park.

The Rio Grande in the Laredo Borderplex.

The Rio Grande in its lower course, between Matamoros (right) and Brownsville (left)

[edit] Names and pronunciation

The Rio Grande (Rio del Norte) as mapped in 1718 by Guillaume de L'Isle.

Río Grande is Spanish for "Big River" and Río Grande del Norte means "Great River of the North". In English, Rio Grande is pronounced either /ˈriːoʊ ˈɡrænd/ or /ˈriːoʊ ˈɡrɑːndeɪ/. Because "río" means "river" in Spanish, the phrase "Rio Grande River" is redundant.

In Mexico it is known as Río Bravo or Río Bravo del Norte, "bravo" meaning "fierce" or "brave". There is a city along its banks that bears its name (Río Bravo, Tamaulipas) located 10 miles (16 km) east of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, and directly across from the Texas city of Donna.

Historically, the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo has been called:

  • mets'ichi chena, Keresan, "Big River"
  • posoge, Tewa, "Big River"
  • paslápaane, Tiwa, "Big River"
  • hañapakwa, Towa, "Great Waters"
  • tó ba-ade, Navajo, "Female River" (the direction south is female in Navajo cosmology) [6]

Rio del Norte was the most common name for the upper Rio Grande (roughly, within the present-day borders of New Mexico) from Spanish colonial times to the end of the Mexican period in the mid-19th century. Its use was first documented in 1582. The use of the modern English name Rio Grande began with the early American settlers in south Texas. By the late 19th century, the name Rio Grande for the entire river, from Colorado to the sea, had become standard in the United States.[6]

Rio Bravo had become the standard Spanish name for the lower river, below its confluence with the Rio Conchos, by 1602.[6]

Note that the four Pueblo names likely predate the Spanish entrada by several centuries.[6]

[edit] Literature

  • Paul Horgan, Great River: The Rio Grande in North American History. Volume 1, Indians and Spain. Vol. 2, Mexico and the United States. 2 Vols. in 1, 1038 pages - Wesleyan University Press 1991, 4th Reprint, ISBN 0-8195-6251-3

[edit] See also

Texasflaginstate.PNG Texas portal
Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rio Grande (river)

[edit] References

  1. ^ J.C. Kammerer (May 1990). Largest Rivers in the United States. United States Geological Survey. http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1987/ofr87-242/. Retrieved 2006-07-15. 
  2. ^ "The UGRR on the Rio Grande"PDF (105 KiB)
  3. ^ IBWC: Treaties Between the U.S. and Mexico
  4. ^ [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0106/09/smn.08.html CNN SATURDAY MORNING NEWS: Rio Grande Sucked Dry for Irrigation, Industry (Aired June 9, 2001)]
  5. ^ Google Satellite Map of Rio Grande and surrounding area
  6. ^ a b c d Source for historical names: Carroll L. Riley, 1995, Rio del Norte, University of Utah Press. ISBN 0874804965

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 25°57′22″N 97°8′43″W / 25.95611°N 97.14528°W / 25.95611; -97.14528

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