Gila River

Common card · No. 223733

The Gila River ( HEE-lə; O'odham: Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa: Xiil) is a 649-mile-long (1,044 km) tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of nearly 60,000 square miles (160,000 km2) that lies mostly within the U.S., but also extends into northern Sonora, Mexico. Indigenous peoples have lived along the river for at least 2,000 years, establishing complex agricultural societies before European exploration of the region began in the 16th century. European Americans did not permanently settle the Gila River watershed until the mid-19th century. During the 20th century, development in the Gila River watershed prompted the construction of large diversion and flood control structures on the river and its tributaries, consequently the Gila contributes only a small fraction of its historic flow to the Colorado. The historic natural discharge of the river was around 1,900 cubic...

Read on Wikipedia · Image BLM, Public domain