Selma, Califeria Foto Original Naufragio De Tren De Colección 7 X 9 Pulgadas Ferrocarril 1941

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Vendedor: memorabilia111 ✉️ (807) 100%, Ubicación del artículo: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Realiza envíos a: US y muchos otros países, Número de artículo: 176283102550 SELMA, CALIFERIA FOTO ORIGINAL NAUFRAGIO DE TREN DE COLECCIÓN 7 X 9 PULGADAS FERROCARRIL 1941. User Amount Share. United States 15.0 90.9%. Ancestral Puebloan granaries at Nankoweap Creek. Colorado Desert. Sector Employees. Butterfly Two-tailed swallowtail. 1940 3,667 20.3%. Other research has tried to relate groundwater flow paths to possible levels of risk for contamination and identify vulnerability regions for the underlying aquifers. A VINTAGE ORIGINAL PHOTO FROM 194` MEASURING APPROXIMATELY  7X 9  INCHES FEATURING A TRAIN WRECK IN SELMA, CALIF 19311 SAN FRANCISCO BUREAU WIEN LOCOMOTIVE MEETS LOCOMOTIVE SELMA, CAL TP-~Here's what happened when locomotives of a southbound freight {left) and a northbound passenger train ((right) met headon on a siding near here, Miraculously, none was injured in crew of passengers, (NY CHICK COAST) CREDIT LINE (ACME) 11/20/41
Selma is a city in Fresno County, California. The population was 23,319 at the 2010 census, up from 19,240 at the 2000 census. Selma is located 16 miles (26 km) southeast of Fresno,[9] at an elevation of 308 feet (94 m).[7] Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city covers an area of 5.136 square miles (13.30 km2), all of it land.[10] Demographics Historical population Census Pop. Note %± 1890 1,150 — 1900 1,083 −5.8% 1910 1,750 61.6% 1920 3,158 80.5% 1930 3,047 −3.5% 1940 3,667 20.3% 1950 5,964 62.6% 1960 6,934 16.3% 1970 7,459 7.6% 1980 10,942 46.7% 1990 14,757 34.9% 2000 19,444 31.8% 2010 23,219 19.4% 2019 (est.) 24,825 [8] 6.9% U.S. Decennial Census[11] 2010 At the 2010 census Selma had a population of 23,219. The population density was 4,520.6 inhabitants per square mile (1,745.4/km2). The racial makeup of Selma was 12,869 (55.4%) White, 284 (1.2%) African American, 479 (2.1%) Native American, 1,057 (4.6%) Asian, 9 (0.0%) Pacific Islander, 7,630 (32.9%) from other races, and 891 (3.8%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 18,014 persons (77.6%).[12] The census reported that 23,054 people (99.3% of the population) lived in households, 50 (0.2%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 115 (0.5%) were institutionalized. There were 6,416 households, 3,411 (53.2%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 3,553 (55.4%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 1,158 (18.0%) had a female householder with no husband present, 560 (8.7%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 516 (8.0%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 27 (0.4%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 939 households (14.6%) were one person and 481 (7.5%) had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 3.59. There were 5,271 families (82.2% of households); the average family size was 3.89. The age distribution was 7,442 people (32.1%) under the age of 18, 2,677 people (11.5%) aged 18 to 24, 6,321 people (27.2%) aged 25 to 44, 4,483 people (19.3%) aged 45 to 64, and 2,296 people (9.9%) who were 65 or older. The median age was 29.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.8 males. There were 6,813 housing units at an average density of 1,326.4 per square mile (512.1/km2),of which 6,416 were occupied, 3,825 (59.6%) by the owners and 2,591 (40.4%) by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.4%; the rental vacancy rate was 5.5%. 13,229 people (57.0% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 9,825 people (42.3%) lived in rental housing units. 2000 As of the census[13] of 2006, there were 23,194 people in 5,596 households, including 4,538 families, in the city. The population density was 4,475.7 inhabitants per square mile (1,728.1/km2). There were 5,815 housing units at an average density of 1,338.5 per square mile (516.8/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 43.90% White, 0.75% Black or African American, 1.56% Native American, 3.18% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 46.09% from other races, and 4.48% from two or more races. 71.75% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 5,596 households 45.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.3% were married couples living together, 17.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.9% were non-families. 15.7% of households were one person and 8.7% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 3.45 and the average family size was 3.76. The age distribution was 33.1% under the age of 18, 11.8% from 18 to 24, 28.6% from 25 to 44, 16.2% from 45 to 64, and 10.3% 65 or older. The median age was 28 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.1 males. The median income for a household in the city was $34,713, and the median family income was $36,510. Males had a median income of $26,966 versus $22,672 for females. The per capita income for the city was $12,834. About 17.4% of families and 22.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 31.0% of those under age 18 and 10.9% of those age 65 or over. History and culture Selma owes its beginnings to farming and to the Southern Pacific Railroad, which began in the 1870s as a branch line of the Central Pacific Railroad. The route of the Southern Pacific through California's Central Valley gave rise to a string of small towns between Sacramento and Bakersfield. Selma was among them. In 1880, residents of the rural community that would become Selma established the Valley View School District. The first post office opened in 1880.[9] A decade later, four farmers – Jacob E. Whitson, Egbert H. Tucker, George Otis and Monroe Snyder – formed a partnership and developed a townsite along the railroad. They began auctioning lots and just three years later the city of Selma was formally incorporated. A persistent local legend is that Selma was named after Selma Gruenberg Lewis (c. 1867–1944) by Governor Leland Stanford, who was shown her picture by her father. As Lewis first told the story in 1925, Stanford, also a Director of the Central Pacific Railroad, was so taken that he ordered that the next town on the line be named for her. Lewis often repeated the story with further romantic embellishments, and it came to be accepted as fact despite a lack of documentary evidence. Lewis is buried in Floral Memorial Park in Selma, and her marker repeats the story. Subsequent investigation indicates instead that the town was in fact named for Selma Michelsen (1853–1910), wife of a railroad employee who had submitted her name for inclusion on a list of candidate names prepared by his supervisor. George Otis selected the name from this list, in consultation with other local businessmen.[14] Along with Fowler to its immediate north and Kingsburg to its south, Selma was a railroad stop where agricultural goods could be loaded for shipping. As in the rest of the United States, the railroad played a lesser role as the 20th century progressed. What was once a handsome passenger terminal in Selma's downtown became the city's police station. In the late 19th century, the town also boasted a water-driven mill for grinding wheat to flour. The mill was powered by the C&K Canal, a seasonal irrigation channel that was known in Selma as the Mill Ditch. Agribusiness Wheat growing was Selma's first economic engine but was replaced by orchards and vineyards when farmers realized how well peaches, plums, and grapes grew in the sandy soil, irrigated with snow-melt water imported through canals from the nearby Sierra Nevada mountain range. Although raisins soon became the major crop, Selma called itself the "Home of the Peach" and was also known as "A Peach of a City." Through the 1960s, the local peach cannery, where Libby's-brand fruit was packed, was a major seasonal employer. Peaches and other tree fruit are still grown in abundance. With 90 percent of U.S. raisins produced within eight miles (13 km) of Selma, the city adopted the slogan "Raisin Capital of the World" in 1963. Area vineyards also produce table grapes. A decline in family farming, the national trend in U.S. agriculture after World War II, and depressed prices for raisins and table grapes, especially in the last decades of the twentieth century, were drains on the Selma-area agribusiness economy. Harris Ranch is based in Selma. Shifting business center Like many other American cities, Selma suffered a decline in its old downtown in the late decades of the 20th century and into the 21st century. Post–World War II development spread the growing city to the north and east, away from its business center. U.S. Highway 99, once a main road running north–south through town, parallel to the railroad, was rebuilt as a freeway (now SR 99) in the 1960s. Several blocks to the west of the old road (now Whitson Street and Golden State Boulevard), the freeway bisects the oldest residential neighborhood in Selma. Freeway travel made the new shopping malls of Fresno more accessible. The freeway also made Selma more attractive as a place to live for Fresno workers, who contributed to ever-faster residential growth into the 21st century. The downtown experienced one of its biggest changes when Walmart built a large retail store at the intersection of East Floral Avenue and the freeway—at the northwest edge of town. As the 21st century began, this area became the de facto commercial center of the city providing great economic benefits. The old downtown, despite vacant storefronts, remained a struggling but viable district of city offices and small businesses. Media The weekly newspaper is The Selma Enterprise. Residents are also served by the daily Fresno Bee and by Fresno-based television and radio stations. Public schools The Selma Unified School District has eight neighborhood elementary schools. Students from all of these schools are channeled to Abraham Lincoln Middle School and continue on to Selma High School or two alternative high schools. Selma High School fields a range of sports teams nicknamed the Bears. School colors are orange and black. The yearbook is entitled the Magnet. Notable people Well-known people who have lived in and around Selma include 19th-century inventors Frank Dusy, Abijah McCall and William Deidrick; the poets William Everson (Brother Antoninus, 1912–94) and Larry Levis (1946–96); William R. Shockley (1918–1945), recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor in World War II; author–historian Victor Davis Hanson (1953– ); and Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox (1941– ). Clarence Berry (1867–1930), who struck it rich in the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897 and became known as an innovative mining engineer and businessman, had earlier been a fruit farmer in Selma. Also known as C.J. Berry, he left Selma for Canada's Yukon Territory after he was forced to declare bankruptcy. Beatrice Kozera (1920–2013), born Beatrice Rentería, also spent much of her childhood in Selma where her family worked in the fields. In 1947, she met Jack Kerouac who represented her as "The Mexican Girl" in On the Road where Selma is referred to as Sabinal. Frankie A. Rodriguez (1996– ), an actor from the Disney franchise High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, is also from Selma. The Grand Canyon (Hopi: Öngtupqa,[2] Yavapai: Wi:kaʼi:la, Navajo: Bidááʼ Haʼaztʼiʼ Tsékooh,[3][4] Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi,[5] Spanish: Gran Cañón or Gran Cañón del Colorado) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles (29 km) wide and attains a depth of over a mile (6,093 feet or 1,857 meters).[6]: 902  The canyon and adjacent rim are contained within Grand Canyon National Park, the Kaibab National Forest, Grand Canyon–Parashant National Monument, the Hualapai Indian Reservation, the Havasupai Indian Reservation and the Navajo Nation. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of the preservation of the Grand Canyon area and visited it on numerous occasions to hunt and enjoy the scenery. Nearly two billion years of Earth's geological history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted.[7][8] While some aspects about the history of incision of the canyon are debated by geologists,[7][9] several recent studies support the hypothesis that the Colorado River established its course through the area about 5 to 6 million years ago.[7][1][10][11] Since that time, the Colorado River has driven the down-cutting of the tributaries and retreat of the cliffs, simultaneously deepening and widening the canyon. For thousands of years, the area has been continuously inhabited by Native Americans, who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves. The Pueblo people considered the Grand Canyon a holy site, and made pilgrimages to it.[12] The first European known to have viewed the Grand Canyon was García López de Cárdenas from Spain, who arrived in 1540.[13] Geography Image of the Grand Canyon and surrounding area taken from the International Space Station The Grand Canyon from an airplane, with the Colorado River visible Grand Canyon, Arizona, Nevada, Lake Powell to Lake Mead, June 27, 2017, Sentinel-2 true-color satellite image. Scale 1:450,000. The Grand Canyon is a river valley in the Colorado Plateau that exposes uplifted Proterozoic and Paleozoic strata,[14] and is also one of the six distinct physiographic sections of the Colorado Plateau province.[15] Even though it is not the deepest canyon in the world (Kali Gandaki Gorge in Nepal is much deeper[16]), the Grand Canyon is known for its visually overwhelming size and its intricate and colorful landscape. Geologically, it is significant because of the thick sequence of ancient rocks that are well preserved and exposed in the walls of the canyon. These rock layers record much of the early geologic history of the North American continent.[7] Uplift associated with mountain formation later moved these sediments thousands of feet upward and created the Colorado Plateau. The higher elevation has also resulted in greater precipitation in the Colorado River drainage area, but not enough to change the Grand Canyon area from being semi-arid.[17] The uplift of the Colorado Plateau is uneven, and the Kaibab Plateau that the Grand Canyon bisects is over one thousand feet (300 m) higher at the North Rim than at the South Rim. Almost all runoff from the North Rim (which also gets more rain and snow) flows toward the Grand Canyon, while much of the runoff on the plateau behind the South Rim flows away from the canyon (following the general tilt).[7] The result is deeper and longer tributary washes and canyons on the north side and shorter and steeper side canyons on the south side.[6]: 406  Temperatures on the North Rim are generally lower than those on the South Rim because of the greater elevation (averaging 8,000 feet or 2,400 meters above sea level).[18] Heavy rains are common on both rims during the summer months. Access to the North Rim via the primary route leading to the canyon (State Route 67) is limited during the winter season due to road closures.[19] Geology Main article: Geology of the Grand Canyon area Diagram showing the placement, age and thickness of the rock units exposed in the Grand Canyon Rockfalls in recent times, along with other mass wasting, have further widened the canyon The Grand Canyon is part of the Colorado River basin which has developed over the past 70 million years.[7][20] Over more than 150 years, scientists have gathered data, proposed new ideas, and debated sometimes contentious theories about the geologic origins of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River. Formation of the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River may involve a complex history in which multiple factors and geologic processes have interacted over time and in different locations.[14] In the most recent round of "old river" vs. "young river" controversy, researchers have challenged estimates that had placed the age of the canyon at 5–6 million years. The research has aroused considerable controversy because it suggests a substantial departure from prior widely supported scientific consensus.[21][22][7] In a 2008 study, Victor Polyak examined caves near the Grand Canyon and placed their origins about 17 million years ago. The study, which was published in the journal Science in 2008, used uranium-lead dating to analyze calcite deposits found on the walls of nine caves throughout the canyon.[23][24][25] In another 2008 study, Rebecca Flowers reported on apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronometry results suggesting that parts of the Grand Canyon had reached a depth near to the modern depth around 20 million years ago.[26][27] In a subsequent study published in the journal Science in 2012, she suggested that the western part of the Grand Canyon could be as old as 70 million years.[28][26][29][30] The emerging scientific consensus is that the canyon is made up of multiple segments which formed at different times and eventually connected to become the waterway now traversed by the Colorado River. Of the three central segments, the "Hurricane" was formed 50–70 million years ago, and the "Eastern Grand Canyon" was cut 15–25 million years ago. In contrast, the "Marble Canyon" and "Westernmost Grand Canyon" segments at the ends of the canyon were carved in the last five to six million years.[31][32] The major geologic exposures in the Grand Canyon range in age from the two-billion-year-old Vishnu Schist at the bottom of the Inner Gorge to the 270-million-year-old Kaibab Limestone on the Rim. There is a gap of about a billion years between 1.75 billion and 1.25 billion years ago. This large unconformity indicates a long period for which no deposits are present.[7] Then, between 1.25 billion and 730 million years ago, intermittent sediments began to form the Grand Canyon Supergroup.[7] Many of the formations were deposited in warm shallow seas, near-shore environments (such as beaches), and swamps as the seashore repeatedly advanced and retreated over the edge of a proto-North America. Major exceptions include the Permian Coconino Sandstone, which contains abundant geological evidence of aeolian sand dune deposition. Several parts of the Supai Group also were deposited in non-marine environments. The great depth of the Grand Canyon and especially the height of its strata (most of which formed below sea level) can be attributed to 5,000–10,000 feet (1,500–3,000 m) of uplift of the Colorado Plateau, starting about 65 million years ago (during the Laramide orogeny). This uplift has steepened the stream gradient of the Colorado River and its tributaries, which in turn has increased their speed and thus their ability to cut through rock (see the elevation summary of the Colorado River for present conditions). Weather conditions during the ice ages also increased the amount of water in the Colorado River drainage system. The ancestral Colorado River responded by cutting its channel faster and deeper. The base level and course of the Colorado River (or its ancestral equivalent) changed 5.3 million years ago when the Gulf of California opened and lowered the river's base level (its lowest point). This increased the rate of erosion and cut nearly all of the Grand Canyon's current depth by 1.2 million years ago. The terraced walls of the canyon were created by differential erosion.[33] Between 100,000 and 3 million years ago, volcanic activity deposited ash and lava over the area which at times completely obstructed the river. These volcanic rocks are the youngest in the canyon. Hydrology Ribbon Falls, near the North Kaibab Trail, represents ground water reaching the surface. Groundwater flow in the Grand Canyon region is an active area of study. Groundwater forms when rain soaks down into the earth and reaches the water table. The composition of the earth in a given area determines its permeability, the ease with which water flows through it. Sand is more permeable than clay. Less permeable rock layers composed of clay can block the passage of water and are known as aquitards. More permeable areas of rock that hold and transport groundwater underground are known as aquifers. An area of water bounded by two aquitards is called a confined aquifer, while water below the surface and above an aquitard is called an unconfined aquifer.[34] The different geologic levels of the Grand Canyon have created two major aquifers where groundwater collects. The higher C-aquifer is an unconfined aquifer. It collects groundwater that seeps through the Kaibab and Toroweap Formations into the Coconino Sandstone. Below it, the Permian Hermit Formation and Supai Group provide a dense barrier. Groundwater from the C-acquifer can flow laterally, appearing as seeps along the canyon walls at the base of the Coconino Sandstone but can also descend vertically through fault zones to recharge the underlying confined R-aquifer. The R-aquifer, also known as the Red Wall Muav aquifer, is a karst aquifer. It involves an area of substantial fracturing through the Redwall Limestone, Temple Butte Formation and Cambrian Muav Limestone of the Tonto Group. Five individual systems flow through the R-aquifer and compose the regional groundwater-flow system which drains into the Grand Canyon: Kaibab, Uinkaret-Kanab, Marble-Shinumo, Cataract, and Blue Spring.[35] The flow of groundwater in the Grand Canyon region is influenced in multiple ways by geologic faults and folds. Discharge from the R-aquifer appears as springs and seeps in both the Grand Canyon and tributary canyons. Springs discharge to the Grand Canyon in areas of lower Paleozoic carbonates, and are associated with geologic faults and fractures. Fractures are believed to provide dominant pathways both for vertical circulation in the Paleozoic section, and for lateral collection and transport of water to springs deep in the canyons. The largest springs discharge from the R-aquifer. A smaller number of springs discharge at lower rates from the C-aquifer. Much of the water that could potentially recharge the aquifers is likely released as springs rather than reaching the aquifers.[35] Studies of the chemical composition of groundwater at sites across the Grand Canyon region indicate that groundwater contains a fraction of modern water (post-1950), and that many springs have a mix of modern water and older groundwater. Estimated mean ages for South Rim groundwater range from 6 years old (San Francisco Peaks) to nearly 20,000 years old (Bar Four well, Blue Spring). Groundwater age in the South Rim groundwater system also correlates to longitude, with age increasing from east to west from Red Canyon to Boucher springs. Surprisingly, the Canyon Mine Observation well is more similar to Redwall-Muav aquifer wells (R-aquifer) than to the Coconino C-aquifer. This suggests the possibility of a hydrologic connection or similar recharge sources for that hydrologic position. Old groundwater from Havasupai well may have a similar source to the Havasu Spring upwelling from the Redwall-Muav aquifer. Sites with younger estimated mean ages tend to be associated with the unconfined Coconino aquifer. They may recharge quickly as a result of snowmelt, run-off and local precipitation. It is likely that the deeper confined R-aquifer relies primarily on snowmelt from the San Francisco Peaks to recharge.[36] Other research has tried to relate groundwater flow paths to possible levels of risk for contamination and identify vulnerability regions for the underlying aquifers. Almost half of the Kaibab plateau's surface was associated with high to very high vulnerability of the unconfined Coconino aquifer (C-aquifer), while about a fifth of the Kaibab Plateau was estimated to be an area of high vulnerability for the Redwall-Muav aquifer (R-aquifer).[37][38] History Main article: History of the Grand Canyon area Ancestral Puebloan granaries at Nankoweap Creek Native Americans The Ancestral Puebloans were a Native American culture centered on the present-day Four Corners area of the United States. They were the first people known to live in the Grand Canyon area. The cultural group has often been referred to in archaeology as the Anasazi, although the term is not preferred by the modern Puebloan peoples.[39] The word "Anasazi" is Navajo for "enemy ancestors" or "alien ancestors".[40] Archaeologists still debate when this distinct culture emerged. The current consensus, based on terminology defined by the Pecos Classification, suggests their emergence was around 1200 BCE during the Basketmaker II Era. Beginning with the earliest explorations and excavations, researchers have believed that the Ancestral Puebloans are ancestors of the modern Pueblo peoples.[41] In addition to the Ancestral Puebloans, a number of distinct cultures have inhabited the Grand Canyon area. The Cohonina lived to the west of the Grand Canyon, between 500 and 1200 CE.[42][43] The Cohonina were ancestors of the Yuman, Havasupai, and Hualapai peoples who inhabit the area today.[44] The Sinagua were a cultural group occupying an area to the southeast of the Grand Canyon, between the Little Colorado River and the Salt River, between approximately 500 and 1425 CE. The Sinagua may have been ancestors of several Hopi clans. By the time of the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, newer cultures had evolved. The Hualapai inhabit a 100-mile (160 km) stretch along the pine-clad southern side of the Grand Canyon. The Havasupai have been living in the area near Cataract Canyon since the beginning of the 13th century, occupying an area the size of Delaware.[45] The Southern Paiutes live in what is now southern Utah and northern Arizona. The Navajo, or Diné, live in a wide area stretching from the San Francisco Peaks eastwards towards the Four Corners. Archaeological and linguistic evidence suggests the Navajo descended from the Athabaskan people near Great Slave Lake, Canada, who migrated after the 11th century.[46] In the mythology of some Third Mesa Hopi communities, the Grand Canyon was the location humankind arose out of the Third World from a sipapu.[47] European arrival and settlement Spanish explorers La conquista del Colorado (2017), by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau, depicts Francisco Vázquez de Coronado's 1540–1542 expedition. García López de Cárdenas can be seen overlooking the Grand Canyon. In September 1540, under orders from the conquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado to search for the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola, Captain García López de Cárdenas, along with Hopi guides and a small group of Spanish soldiers, traveled to the south rim of the Grand Canyon between Desert View and Moran Point. Pablo de Melgrossa, Juan Galeras, and a third soldier descended some one third of the way into the canyon until they were forced to return because of lack of water. In their report, they noted that some of the rocks in the canyon were "bigger than the great tower of Seville, Giralda".[48] It is speculated that their Hopi guides likely knew routes to the canyon floor, but may have been reluctant to lead the Spanish to the river. No Europeans visited the canyon again for more than two hundred years. Fathers Francisco Atanasio Domínguez and Silvestre Vélez de Escalante were two Spanish priests who, with a group of Spanish soldiers, explored southern Utah and traveled along the north rim of the canyon in Glen and Marble Canyons in search of a route from Santa Fe to California in 1776. They eventually found a crossing, formerly known as the "Crossing of the Fathers", that today lies under Lake Powell. Also in 1776, Fray Francisco Garces, a Franciscan missionary, spent a week near Havasupai, unsuccessfully attempting to convert a band of Native Americans to Christianity. He described the canyon as "profound".[48] American exploration James Ohio Pattie, along with a group of American trappers and mountain men, may have been the next European to reach the canyon, in 1826.[49][50] Jacob Hamblin, a Mormon missionary, was sent by Brigham Young in the 1850s to locate suitable river crossing sites in the canyon. Building good relations with local Hualapai and white settlers, he reached the Crossing of the Fathers,[51] crossed the location that would become Lees Ferry on a raft in 1858[52] and Pearce Ferry (later operated by, and named for, Harrison Pearce).[53] He also acted as an advisor to John Wesley Powell, before his second expedition to the Grand Canyon, serving as a diplomat between Powell and the local native tribes to ensure the safety of his party.[52] William Bell's photograph of the Grand Canyon, taken in 1872 as part of the Wheeler expedition In 1857, Edward Fitzgerald Beale was superintendent of an expedition to survey a wagon road along the 35th parallel from Fort Defiance, Arizona to the Colorado River. He led a small party of men in search of water on the Coconino Plateau near the canyon's south rim. On September 19, near present-day National Canyon, they came upon what May Humphreys Stacey described in his journal as "a wonderful canyon; four thousand feet deep. Everybody in the party admitted that he never before saw anything to match or equal this astonishing natural curiosity."[54] Also in 1857, the U.S. War Department asked Lieutenant Joseph Ives to lead an expedition to assess the feasibility of an up-river navigation from the Gulf of California. On December 31, 1857, Ives embarked from the mouth of the Colorado in the stern wheeler steamboat Explorer. His party reached the lower end of Black Canyon on March 8, 1858, then continued on by rowboat past the mouth of the Virgin River after the Explorer struck a rock.[55][56] Ives led his party east into the canyon – they may have been the first Europeans to travel the Diamond Creek drainage.[57] In his "Report Upon the Colorado River of the West" to the Senate in 1861 Ives states that "The marvellous story of Cardinas, that had formed for so long a time the only record concerning this rather mythical locality, was rather magnified than detracted from by the accounts of one or two trappers, who professed to have seen the cañon".[58] Noon rest in Marble Canyon, second Powell Expedition, 1872 According to the San Francisco Herald, in a series of articles run in 1853, Captain Joseph R. Walker in January 1851 with his nephew James T. Walker and six men, traveled up the Colorado River to a point where it joined the Virgin River and continued east into Arizona, traveling along the Grand Canyon and making short exploratory side trips along the way. Walker is reported to have said he wanted to visit the "Moqui" (Hopi) Indians. who he had met briefly before and found exceptionally interesting.[59] In 1858, John Strong Newberry became probably the first geologist to visit the Grand Canyon.[60] In 1869, Major John Wesley Powell set out to explore the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon in the first expedition down the canyon. Powell ordered a shipwright to build four reinforced Whitewall rowboats from Chicago and had them shipped west on the newly completed Continental railroad.[61] He hired nine men, including his brother Walter, and collected provisions for ten months. They set out from Green River, Wyoming, on May 24.[62] On June 7, they lost one of their boats, 1/3 of their food, and other badly-needed supplies: as a result the team eventually had to subsist on starvation rations.[63] Passing through (or portaging around) a series of dangerous rapids, the group passed down the Green River, reaching its confluence with the Colorado River, near present-day Moab, Utah, on July 17. Continuing on down the Colorado River, the party encountered more rapids and falls.[64] On August 28, 1869, faced with what some felt to be impassable rapids, three men left the expedition on foot in an attempt to reach a settlement 75 miles (121 km) away. Ironically, the remaining members went safely through the rapids on August 29, 1869, while Seneca Howland, Oramel Howland, and William H. Dunn were murdered.[63] The area through which the three men traveled was marked by tensions between farming and hunting Shivwits and incoming Mormon settlers. Which group was responsible for killing the three men has been hotly debated.[65] Powell himself visited the area the following year, and was told (through a Mormon interpreter) that the Shivwits had mistakenly killed the men, believing them to be prospectors who had murdered an Indian woman. He choose to smoke a peace pipe with them.[63][66] Powell went on to become the first Director of the U.S. Bureau of Ethnology of the Smithsonian Institution (1879–1902) and the second Director of the US Geological Survey (1881–1894).[67] He was the first to use the term "Grand Canyon", in 1871; previously it had been called the "Big Canyon".[68] In 1889, Frank M. Brown wanted to build a railroad along the Colorado River to carry coal. He, his chief engineer Robert Brewster Stanton, and 14 others started to explore the Grand Canyon in poorly designed cedar wood boats, with no life preservers. Brown drowned in an accident near Marble Canyon: Stanton made new boats and proceeded to explore the Colorado all of the way to the Gulf of California.[69] The Grand Canyon became an official national monument in 1908 and a national park in 1919.[70] Settlers in and near the canyon David Rust, c. 1910 Miners: "Captain" John Hance,[71] William W. Bass,[72] Louis Boucher "The Hermit",[73] Seth Tanner,[74] Charles Spencer,[75] D.W. "James" Mooney[76] Lees Ferry: John Doyle Lee, Emma Lee French (17th of John Lee's 19 wives),[77] James Simpson Emmett[78] Phantom Ranch: David Rust,[79] Mary Colter[80][81] Grand Canyon Village: Ralph H. Cameron,[82] Emery & Ellsworth Kolb[83] Federal protection: National Monument and Park Railway Station and El Tovar Hotel, Facing WNW, Grand Canyon Village. 1994 photo, HAER Fred Harvey postcard, The Towering Cliffs above Hermit Camp U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt visited the Grand Canyon in 1903. An avid outdoorsman and staunch conservationist, Roosevelt established the Grand Canyon Game Preserve on November 28, 1906. Livestock grazing was reduced, but predators such as mountain lions, eagles, and wolves were eradicated. Roosevelt along with other members of his conservation group, the Boone and Crockett Club helped form the National Parks Association, which in turn lobbied for the Antiquities Act of 1906 which gave Roosevelt the power to create national monuments. Once the act was passed, Roosevelt immediately added adjacent national forest lands and redesignated the preserve a U.S. National Monument on January 11, 1908.[84] Opponents such as land and mining claim holders blocked efforts to reclassify the monument as a U.S. National Park for 11 years. Grand Canyon National Park was finally established as the 17th U.S. National Park by an Act of Congress signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson on February 26, 1919.[42] The federal government administrators who manage park resources face many challenges. These include issues related to the recent reintroduction into the wild of the highly endangered California condor, air tour overflight noise levels, water rights[85] and management disputes, and forest fire management. The canyon's ecosystem was permanently changed after the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam in 1963. Average flood levels dropped from 85,000 to 8,000 cubic ft/sec. In the absence of natural flooding, sandbars and beaches eroded and invasive species began to displace native species. Federal officials started releasing floods in the Grand Canyon in hopes of restoring its ecosystem beginning with 1996, 2004, and 2008.[7][86] In 2018, the Department of Interior started experimenting with “adaptive management” of the Glen Canyon Dam, using a High-Flow Experiment (HFE) water release to shift volumes of sand and monitoring effects such as the dispersal of invasive tamarisk seeds.[87] However, as of 2022, extreme drought has caused water levels in Lake Powell to drop so much that a planned release of water has been delayed, to ensure that the Glen Canyon Dam can continue to generate hydropower.[88] Between 2003 and 2011, 2,215 mining claims had been requested that are adjacent to the canyon, including claims for uranium mines.[89] Critics of uranium mining are concerned that uranium will leach into the aquifers feeding the Colorado River and contaminate the water supply for up to 18 million people.[89] In 2009, U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar published a Notice of Intent to suspend approvals for new uranium mining in the area.[90] In 2012, Salazar established a 20-year moratorium (known as the "Northern Arizona Withdrawal") withdrawing 1 million acres (4,000 km2) from the permitting process for uranium and hardrock mining, stating "People from all over the country and around the world come to visit the Grand Canyon. Numerous American Indian tribes regard this magnificent icon as a sacred place and millions of people in the Colorado River Basin depend on the river for drinking water, irrigation, industrial and environmental use."[91] However, Salazar's 20-year moratorium on new mines still allows mines with previous authorization to operate.[91] Multiple challenges have been brought into court both against the moratorium and against the operation of uranium mines in the area.[92] The federal government's 2012 moratorium was upheld by the U.S. District Court for Arizona in 2014, but appealed in November 2014 as National Mining Association v. Jewell (No. 14-17350).[93] The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals again upheld the moratorium in 2017, stating that the Secretary of the Interior held valid withdrawal authority.[90] Havasupai Tribe v. Provencio was also argued at multiple court levels based on multiple grounds. The Havasupai people and the Grand Canyon Trust sought to block the reopening of the Pinyon Plain Mine (formerly Canyon Uranium Mine). Activity at the mine had ceased in 1992, ten years prior to the moratorium on new development in 2012. Appellants challenged the U.S. Forest Service's consultation process for approving reopening of the mine. As of February 22, 2022, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the arguments in No. 20-16401, concluding that the Forest Service had not acted arbitrarily in making its decision.[94] [95] A study examining samples of groundwater from 180 spring sites and 26 wells in the Grand Canyon region has assessed the presence of uranium in groundwater from September 1, 1981 to October 7, 2020. The goal of the study was to establish a baseline assessment of groundwater conditions in the Grand Canyon region. At 95% of sites, maximum observed uranium concentrations were below the EPA's Maximum Contaminant Level for drinking water, 30 µg/L. At 86% of sites, uranium concentrations were below the Canadian level for protection of freshwater aquatic life, 15 µg/L.[96] On August 8, 2023, it was announced that U.S. President Joe Biden will designate Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument, a move aimed at conserving nearly 1 million acres of greater Grand Canyon landscape.[97] South Rim buildings There are several historic buildings located along the South Rim with most in the vicinity of Grand Canyon Village. Desert View Watchtower in 2004 Buckey O'Neill Cabin was built during the 1890s by William Owen "Buckey" O'Neill. He built the cabin because of a copper deposit that was nearby. He had several occupations such as miner, judge, politician, author and tour guide. This cabin is the longest continually standing structure on the South Rim.[98] It is currently used as a guest house; booking is required well in advance. Kolb Studio was built in 1904 by brothers Ellsworth and Emery Kolb. They were photographers who made a living by photographing visitors walking down the Bright Angel Trail. In 1911, the Kolb brothers filmed their journey down the Green and Colorado Rivers. Emery Kolb showed this movie regularly in his studio until 1976 when he died at the age of 95. Today the building serves as an art gallery and exhibit.[83] The El Tovar Hotel was built in 1905 as a luxury hotel for the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway, on the South Rim near the railway's main line. It was designed by Charles Whittlesley, a staff architect for the railway. The hotel is reminiscent of a Swiss chalet or Norwegian villa, combined with local materials for a rustic appearance[99] sometimes called "National Park Service rustic."[100][101] It consists of 4 stories, with a gift shop and restaurant located inside the hotel. Hopi House was built by Mary Jane Colter in 1905. It is based on structures that were built in an ancient Hopi settlement called Old Oraibi, located on the Third Mesa in eastern Arizona. It served as a residence for the Hopi Indians who sold arts and crafts to South Rim visitors.[81][80] Verkamp's Curios, which stands next to the Hopi House, was built by John Verkamp in 1905. He sold arts and crafts as well as souvenirs. Until September 2008, it was run by his descendants;[102] in November 2008, the building reopened as a visitor center focusing on the history of the Grand Canyon Village community.[103] 1923-built steam locomotive No. 4960 at the Grand Canyon Depot Grand Canyon Railway Depot was completed in 1910 and contains 2 levels. Gordon Chappell, Regional Historian for the Park Service, claims that this depot building is one of only three log-cabin-style train stations currently standing, out of fourteen ever built in the U.S.[104] The depot is the northern terminus of the Grand Canyon Railway which begins in Williams, Arizona.[105][106] Lookout Studio, another Mary Colter design, was built in 1914. Photography, artwork, books, souvenirs, and rock and fossil specimens are sold here. A great view of Bright Angel Trail can be seen here.[81][80] Desert View Watchtower, one of Mary Colter's best-known works, was built in 1932. Situated at the far eastern end of the South Rim, 27 miles (43 km) from Grand Canyon Village, the tower stands 70 feet (21 m) tall. The top of the tower is 7,522 feet (2,293 m) above sea level, the highest point on the South Rim. It offers one of the few full views of the bottom of the canyon and the Colorado River. It was designed to mimic Ancestral Puebloans watchtowers, though, with four levels, it is significantly taller than historical towers.[107][81][80] Bright Angel Lodge was built of logs and stone in 1935. Mary Colter designed the lodge and it was built by the Fred Harvey Company. Inside the lodge is a small museum honoring Fred Harvey (1835–1901), who played a major role in popularizing the Grand Canyon. In the History Room is a stone fireplace layered in the same sequence as those in the canyon.[81][80] Weather Weather in the Grand Canyon varies according to elevation. The forested rims are high enough to receive winter snowfall, but along the Colorado River in the Inner Gorge, temperatures are similar to those found in Tucson and other low elevation desert locations in Arizona. Conditions in the Grand Canyon region are generally dry, but substantial precipitation occurs twice annually, during seasonal pattern shifts in winter (when Pacific storms usually deliver widespread, moderate rain and high-elevation snow to the region from the west) and in late summer (due to the North American Monsoon, which delivers waves of moisture from the southeast, causing dramatic, localized thunderstorms fueled by the heat of the day).[108] Average annual precipitation on the South Rim is less than 16 inches (41 cm), with 60 inches (150 cm) of snow; the higher North Rim usually receives 27 inches (69 cm) of moisture, with a typical snowfall of 144 inches (370 cm); and Phantom Ranch, far below the canyon's rims along the Colorado River at 2,500 feet (760 m) gets just 8 inches (20 cm) of rain, and snow is a rarity. Grand Canyon covered with snow Temperatures vary wildly throughout the year, with summer highs within the Inner Gorge commonly exceeding 100 °F (38 °C) and winter minimum temperatures sometimes falling below zero degrees Fahrenheit (−18 °C) along the canyon's rims.[108] Visitors are often surprised by these potentially extreme conditions, and this, along with the high altitude of the canyon's rims, can lead to unpleasant side effects such as dehydration, sunburn, and hypothermia. Weather conditions can greatly affect hiking and canyon exploration, and visitors should obtain accurate forecasts because of hazards posed by exposure to extreme temperatures, winter storms and late summer monsoons. While the park service posts weather information at gates and visitor centers, this is a rough approximation only, and should not be relied upon for trip planning. For accurate weather in the canyon, hikers should consult the National Weather Service's NOAA weather radio or the official National Weather Service website.[109] The National Weather Service has had a cooperative station on the South Rim since 1903. The record high temperature on the South Rim was 105 °F (41 °C) on June 26, 1974, and the record low temperature was −20 °F (−29 °C) on January 1, 1919, February 1, 1985, and December 23, 1990.[110][111][112] Air quality Smoke from prescribed fires on the South Rim, as seen from Yavapai Point, April 2007.[113] As of 1999 the Grand Canyon area had some of the cleanest air in the United States.[114]: p.5-2 [115] However, air quality in the area can be affected by air pollution from coal-fired power plants, mining, oil and gas, vehicles, and urban and industrial pollution from nearby states, California and Mexico.[116][117][118] Events such as forest fires and dust storms in the Southwest can have a considerable impact.[119] Differences in visibility tend to be seasonal: best during the winter and poorest during the summer.[120] Winter cold fronts tend to carry clean, crisp air from the northwest, a less populated area. However they can also carry pollution from nearby mines and power plants. The average visibility during the winter is 160 miles, with the potential to reach 210 miles under ideal conditions. In the summer, prevailing winds from the southwest carry pollution from major urban and industrial centers, and visibility on average is only 100 miles. Within the canyon itself, smog can be trapped.[121] Air quality and visibility in the canyon are affected mainly by sulfates, soils, and organics. The sulfates largely result from urban emissions in southern California, borne on the prevailing westerly winds throughout much of the year, and emissions from Arizona's copper smelter region, borne on southerly or southeasterly winds during the monsoon. Airborne soils originate with windy conditions and road dust. Organic particles result from vehicle emissions, long-range transport from urban areas, and forest fires, as well as from VOCs emitted by vegetation in the surrounding forests. Nitrates, carried in from urban areas, stationary sources, and vehicle emissions; as well as black carbon from forest fires and vehicle emissions, also contribute to a lesser extent.[115][122]: 26, 49–51  A number of actions have been taken to preserve and further improve air quality and visibility at the canyon. In 1990, amendments to the Clean Air Act established the Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission (GCVTC) to advise the US EPA on strategies for protecting visual air quality on the Colorado Plateau. The GCVTC released its final report in 1996 and initiated the Western Regional Air Partnership (WRAP), a partnership of state, tribal and federal agencies to help coordinate the implementation of the Commission's recommendations.[123][124] In 1999, the Regional Haze Rule established a goal of restoring visibility in national parks and wilderness areas (Class 1 areas), such as the Grand Canyon, to natural background levels by 2064. Subsequent revisions to the rule provide specific requirements for making reasonable progress toward that goal.[125] Natural fog sometimes fills the canyon, during temperature inversions In the early 1990s, studies indicated that emissions of SO2, a sulfate precursor, from the Navajo Generating Station affected visibility in the canyon, mainly in the winter.[126]: p.C-2, C-6  As a result, scrubbers were added to the plant's three units in 1997 through 1999 to reduce SO2 emissions by 90% on an annual average.[127] Before and after observations showed a wintertime decrease of 33% for particulate sulfur (Sp), improving visibility.[128] The plant also installed low-NOx SOFA burners in 2009–2011, reducing emissions of NOx, a nitrate precursor, by 40%[129] The plant shut down completely in 2019.[118] Emissions from the Mohave Generating Station to the west were similarly found to affect visibility in the canyon. The plant was required to have installed SO2 scrubbers, but was instead shut down in 2005, completely eliminating its emissions.[130] Prescribed fires are typically conducted in the spring and fall in the forests adjacent to the canyon to reduce the potential for severe forest fires and resulting smoke conditions. Although prescribed fires also affect air quality, the controlled conditions allow the use of management techniques to minimize their impact.[131][132]: p.86, 93  Climate change Grand Canyon Climate Summary Chart (NPS) Due to the increase of greenhouse gases, temperatures have steadily risen making recent years the warmest of the century.[133] Temperatures have increased in Arizona by 2.1 degrees Fahrenheit since 1895.[134] From 1916–2014, naturalized streamflow in the Upper Colorado River Basin decreased by 16.5%, in spite of a slight increase of +1.4% in annual precipitation over the same period.[135] Increases in temperature correlate to increased evaporation, loss of reflective snow, and decreases in snowpack, reducing available water in the Colorado River by an estimated 9.3% per degree Celsius of warming.[136][137] Over the last 30 years, the South Rim of the Grand Canyon has averaged 13.4 inches of rainfall per year, while the North Rim has averaged 24 inches.[138] The first dual distribution water system in the United States was built on the South Rim, treating and reclaiming wastewater for nonpotable reuse as early as 1926. Early on, water for human use was brought in by tankers, and pumped up from a spring deeper in the canyon.[139] In the 1960s, the Transcanyon Pipeline was built to carry water from the North Rim down into the canyon and back up to the South Rim.[140] Every day 500,000 gallons of water are pumped from underground springs on the North Rim through the pipeline to supply the more heavily developed South Rim with water.[7][141] As water consumption continues to soar due to increasing visitation in the park, both the sustainability of the water supply and the condition of the pipeline are in question.[7][141] As of 2019, plans to replace the aging 16-mile aluminum pipeline were proposed.[140] Another proposal, from the Bureau of Reclamation, recommended that the park drill a well into the Redwall-Muav aquifer to meet the increasing water consumption. However, the aquifer's recharge rate stands to decline over time due to decreases in precipitation and snowpack.[142] Some effects of over pumping aquifers include land subsidence, reduction in rivers and lakes, disrupted riparian systems, and poor water quality.[143] In the National Parks Service's "Climate Action Plan," goals were set to reduce greenhouse gases 30 percent below 2008 levels by 2020 and plan and implement measures that best allow the park to adapt to the impacts of climate change. Strategies to accomplish these goals included: "reduce [greenhouse gases] emissions resulting from activities within and by the park, developing and implementing a plan to adapt to current and future impacts of climate change, increase climate change education and outreach, and monitor progress and identify areas for improvement".[133] Biology and ecology Plants There are approximately 1,737 known species of vascular plants, 167 species of fungi, 64 species of moss, and 195 species of lichen found in Grand Canyon National Park.[144] This variety is largely due to the 8,000 foot (2,400 m) elevation change from the Colorado River up to the highest point on the North Rim.[144] Grand Canyon boasts a dozen endemic plants (known only within the Park's boundaries) while only ten percent of the Park's flora is exotic.[144] Sixty-three plants found here have been given special status by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.[144] Grand Canyon Clouds time lapse VP8 The Mojave Desert influences the western sections of the canyon, Sonoran Desert vegetation covers the eastern sections, and ponderosa and pinyon pine forests grow on both rims.[145] Natural seeps and springs percolating out of the canyon walls are home to 11% of all the plant species found in the Grand Canyon.[145] The canyon itself can act as a connection between the east and the west by providing corridors of appropriate habitat along its length.[145] The canyon can also be a genetic barrier to some species, like the tassel-eared squirrel.[145] The aspect, or direction a slope faces, also plays a major role in adding diversity to the Grand Canyon. North-facing slopes receive about one-third the normal amount of sunlight, so plants growing there are similar to plants found at higher elevations, or in more northern latitudes.[145] The south-facing slopes receive the full amount of sunlight and are covered in vegetation typical of the Sonoran Desert.[145] Animals A bighorn ram perched on a cliff in the Grand Canyon Of the 90 mammal species found along the Colorado River corridor, 18 are rodents and 22 are bats.[146] Life zones and communities The Park contains several major ecosystems.[18] Its great biological diversity can be attributed to the presence of five of the seven life zones and three of the four desert types in North America.[18] The five life zones represented are the Lower Sonoran, Upper Sonoran, Transition, Canadian, and Hudsonian.[18] This is equivalent to traveling from Mexico to Canada. Differences in elevation and the resulting variations in climate are the major factors that form the various life zones and communities in and around the canyon. Grand Canyon National Park contains 129 vegetation communities, and the composition and distribution of plant species are influenced by climate, geomorphology and geology.[144] Lower Sonoran The Lower Sonoran life zone spans from the Colorado River up to 3,500 feet (1,100 m). Along the Colorado River and its perennial tributaries, a riparian community exists.[144] Coyote willow, arrowweed, seep-willow, western honey mesquite, catclaw acacia, and exotic tamarisk (saltcedar) are the predominant species.[144] Hanging gardens, seeps and springs often contain rare plants such as the white-flowering western redbud, stream orchid, and Flaveria mcdougallii.[144] Endangered fish in the river include the humpback chub and the razorback sucker.[147] A bighorn ewe at the Grand Canyon, 2008 The three most common amphibians in these riparian communities are the canyon tree frog, red-spotted toad, and Woodhouse's Rocky Mountain toad.[148] Leopard frogs are very rare in the Colorado River corridor; they have undergone major declines and have not been seen in the Canyon in several years.[148] There are 33 crustacean species found in the Colorado River and its tributaries within Grand Canyon National Park. Of these 33, 16 are considered true zooplankton organisms.[149] Only 48 bird species regularly nest along the river, while others use the river as a migration corridor or as an overwintering habitat. The bald eagle is one species that uses the river corridor as a winter habitat.[150] River otters may have disappeared from the park in the late 20th century, and muskrats are extremely rare.[146] Beavers cut willows, cottonwoods, and shrubs for food, and can significantly affect the riparian vegetation.[146] Other rodents, such as antelope squirrels and pocket mice, are mostly omnivorous, using many different vegetation types.[146] Grand Canyon bats typically roost in desert uplands but forage on the abundance of insects along the river and its tributaries.[146] In addition to bats, coyotes, ringtails, and spotted skunks are the most numerous riparian predators and prey on invertebrates, rodents, and reptiles.[146] Raccoons, weasels, bobcats, gray foxes, and mountain lions are also present but are much rarer.[146] Ungulate species such as mule deer and desert bighorn sheep frequent the river corridor. Since the removal of 500 feral burros in the early 1980s, bighorn sheep numbers have rebounded.[146] Mule deer are generally not permanent residents along the river but travel down from the rim when food and water resources there become scarce.[146] The insect species commonly found in the river corridor and tributaries are midges, caddisflies, mayflies, stoneflies, black flies, mites, beetles, butterflies, moths, and fire ants.[151] Numerous species of spiders and several species of scorpions, including the bark scorpion and the giant desert hairy scorpion, inhabit the riparian zone.[151] Eleven aquatic and 26 terrestrial species of mollusks have been identified in and around Grand Canyon National Park.[152] Of the aquatic species, two are bivalves (clams) and nine are gastropods (snails).[152] Twenty-six species of terrestrial gastropods have been identified, primarily land snails and slugs.[152] There are approximately 41 reptile species in Grand Canyon National Park. Ten are considered common along the river corridor and include lizards and snakes.[153] Lizard density tends to be highest along the stretch of land between the water's edge and the beginning of the upland desert community.[153] The two largest lizards in the canyon are gila monsters and chuckwallas.[153] Many snake species, which are not directly dependent on surface water, may be found both within the inner gorge and the Colorado River corridor. Six rattlesnake species have been recorded in the park.[153] Above the river corridor a desert scrub community, composed of North American desert flora, thrives. Typical warm desert species such as creosote bush, white bursage, brittlebush, catclaw acacia, ocotillo, mariola, western honey mesquite, four-winged saltbush, big sagebrush, blackbrush, and rubber rabbitbrush grow in this community.[144] The mammalian fauna in the woodland scrub community consists of 50 species, mostly rodents and bats.[146] Three of the five Park woodrat species live in the desert scrub community.[146] Except for the western banded gecko, which seems to be distributed only near water along the Colorado River, all of the reptiles found near the river also appear in the uplands, but in lower densities.[153] The desert gopher tortoise, a threatened species, inhabits the desert scrublands in the western end of the park.[153] Some of the common insects and animals found at elevations above 2,000 feet (610 m) are orange paper wasps, honey bees, black flies, tarantula hawks, stink bugs, beetles, black ants, and monarch and swallowtail butterflies.[151] Solifugids, wood spiders, garden spiders, black widow spiders, and tarantulas can be found in the desert scrub and higher elevations.[151] Upper Sonoran and Transition A California condor in flight, photographed from Navajo Bridge at Marble Canyon, 2008. Wild condors are numbered to aid wildlife researchers. As of April 2009, there were 172 wild California condors known. The Upper Sonoran Life Zone includes most of the inner canyon and South Rim at elevations from 3,500 to 7,000 feet (1,100 to 2,100 m).[145] This zone is generally dominated by blackbrush, sagebrush, and pinyon-juniper woodlands. Elevations of 3,500 to 4,000 feet (1,100 to 1,200 m) are in the Mojave Desert Scrub community of the Upper Sonoran. This community is dominated by the four-winged saltbush and creosote bush; other important plants include Utah agave, narrowleaf mesquite, ratany, catclaw acacia, and various cacti species.[145] Approximately 30 bird species breed primarily in the desert uplands and cliffs of the inner canyon.[150] Virtually all bird species present breed in other suitable habitats throughout the Sonoran and Mohave deserts.[150] The abundance of bats, swifts, and riparian birds provides ample food for peregrines, and suitable eyrie sites are plentiful along the steep canyon walls. Also, several critically endangered California condors have made the eastern part of the Park their home, having been re-introduced to the Colorado Plateau on the Arizona Strip earlier.[150] Red-tailed Hawk flying at the south rim of Grand Canyon An elk searching for water at Grand Canyon National Park in 2018. The conifer forests provide habitat for 52 animal species.[145] Porcupines, shrews, red squirrels, tassel-eared Kaibab and Abert's squirrels, Indian peacocks, black bear, mule deer, and elk are found at the park's higher elevations on the Kaibab Plateau.[146] Above the desert scrub and up to 6,200 feet (1,900 m) is a pinyon pine forest and one seed juniper woodland.[144] Within this woodland one can find big sagebrush, snakeweed, Mormon tea, Utah agave, banana and narrowleaf Yucca, winterfat, Indian ricegrass, dropseed, and needlegrass.[144] There are a variety of snakes and lizards here, but one species of reptile, the mountain short-horned lizard, is a particularly abundant inhabitant of the piñon-juniper and ponderosa pine forests.[153] Ponderosa pine forests grow at elevations between 6,500 and 8,200 feet (2,000 and 2,500 m), on both North and South rims in the Transition life zone.[144] The South Rim includes species such as gray fox, mule deer, bighorn sheep, rock squirrels, pinyon pine, and Utah juniper.[145] Additional species such as Gambel oak, New Mexico locust, mountain mahogany, elderberry, creeping mahonia, and fescue have been identified in these forests.[144] The Utah tiger salamander and the Great Basin spadefoot toad are two amphibians that are common in the rim forests.[148] Of the approximately 90 bird species that breed in the coniferous forests, 51 are summer residents and at least 15 of these are known to be neotropical migrants.[150] Canadian and Hudsonian Elevations of 8,200 to 9,000 feet (2,500 to 2,700 m) are in the Canadian Life Zone, which includes the North Rim and the Kaibab Plateau.[145] Spruce-fir forests characterized by Engelmann spruce, blue spruce, Douglas fir, white fir, aspen, and mountain ash, along with several species of perennial grasses, groundsels, yarrow, cinquefoil, lupines, sedges, and asters, grow in this sub-alpine climate.[144] Mountain lions, Kaibab squirrels, and American goshawks are found here.[145] Montane meadows and subalpine grassland communities of the Hudsonian life zone are rare and located only on the North Rim.[144] Both are typified by many grass species. Some of these grasses include blue and black grama, big galleta, Indian ricegrass, and three-awns.[144] The wettest areas support sedges and forbs.[144] View from the South Rim Grand Canyon tourism Grand Canyon National Park is one of the world's premier natural attractions, attracting about five million visitors per year. Overall, 83% were from the United States: California (12%), Arizona (9%), Texas (5%), Florida (3%) and New York (4%) represented the top domestic visitors. Seventeen percent of visitors were from outside the United States; the most prominently represented nations were the United Kingdom (3%), Canada (4%), Japan (2%), Germany (2%) and the Netherlands (1%).[154] The South Rim is open all year round weather permitting. The North Rim is generally open mid-May to mid-October.[155] Activities Rafters in the Grand Canyon pass one of the rapids of the (mud-)"colored" Colorado River Aside from casual sightseeing from the South Rim (averaging 7,000 feet (2,100 m) above sea level), rafting, hiking, running, and helicopter tours are popular. The Grand Canyon Ultra Marathon is a 78-mile (126 km) race over 24 hours. The floor of the valley is accessible by foot, muleback, or by boat or raft from upriver. Hiking down to the river and back up to the rim in one day is discouraged by park officials because of the distance, steep and rocky trails, change in elevation, and danger of heat exhaustion from the much higher temperatures at the bottom. Rescues are required annually of unsuccessful rim-to-river-to-rim travelers. Nevertheless, hundreds of fit and experienced hikers complete the trip every year.[citation needed] Camping on the North and South rims is generally restricted to established campgrounds and reservations are highly recommended, especially at the busier South Rim. There is at large camping available along many parts of the North Rim managed by Kaibab National Forest. North Rim campsites are only open seasonally due to road closures from weather and winter snowpack. All overnight camping below the rim requires a backcountry permit from the Backcountry Office (BCO).[156] Each year Grand Canyon National Park receives approximately 30,000 requests for backcountry permits. The park issues 13,000 permits, and close to 40,000 people camp overnight.[156] The earliest a permit application is accepted is the first of the month, four months before the proposed start month. 6:06 A 6-minute video of a flight over the Grand Canyon (view in high quality) Tourists wishing for a more vertical perspective can go skydiving, board helicopters and small airplanes in Boulder, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Grand Canyon National Park Airport (seven miles from the South Rim) for canyon flyovers. Scenic flights are no longer allowed to fly within 1,500 feet (460 m) of the rim within the national park because of a late 1990s crash.[157] The last aerial video footage from below the rim was filmed in 1984. However, some helicopter flights land on the Havasupai and Hualapai Indian Reservations within Grand Canyon (outside of the park boundaries). In 2007, the Hualapai Tribe opened the glass-bottomed Grand Canyon Skywalk on their property, Grand Canyon West. The Skywalk is about 250 miles (400 km) by road from Grand Canyon Village at the South Rim.[158] The skywalk has attracted "thousands of visitors a year, most from Las Vegas".[159] In 2016, skydiving at the Grand Canyon become possible with the first Grand Canyon Skydiving operation opening up at the Grand Canyon National Park Airport, on the South Rim. In 2014, a developer announced plans to build a multimedia complex on the canyon's rim called the Grand Canyon Escalade. On 420 acres (170 ha) there would be shops, an IMAX theater, hotels and an RV park. A gondola would enable easy visits to the canyon floor where a "riverwalk" of "connected walkways, an eatery, a tramway station, a seating area and a wastewater package plant" would be situated. On October 31, 2017, the Navajo Nation Council voted against the project.[160] Viewing the canyon Guano Point – a popular vantage point for tourists, situated on the West Rim of the Grand Canyon, Hualapai Indian Reservation Lipan Point is a promontory located on the South Rim. This point is located to the east of the Grand Canyon Village along the Desert View Drive. There is a parking lot for visitors to Lipan Point. The trailhead to the Tanner Trail is located just before the parking lot. The view from Lipan Point shows a wide array of rock strata and the Unkar Delta area in the inner canyon.[161] Grand Canyon fatalities Mid-1800s to 2015 Grand Canyon rescue helicopter, 1978 About 770 deaths have occurred between the mid 1800s and 2015.[162][163] Of the fatalities that occurred from 1869 to 2001, some were as follows: 53 resulted from falls; 65 were attributable to environmental causes, including heat stroke, cardiac arrest, dehydration, and hypothermia; 7 were caught in flash floods; 79 were drowned in the Colorado River; 242 perished in airplane and helicopter crashes (128 of them in the 1956 disaster mentioned below); 25 died in freak errors and accidents, including lightning strikes and rock falls; and 23 were the victims of homicides.[164] 1956 air disaster Main article: 1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision In 1956, the Grand Canyon was the site of the deadliest commercial aviation disaster in history at the time. On the morning of June 30, 1956, a TWA Lockheed Super Constellation and a United Airlines Douglas DC-7 departed Los Angeles International Airport within three minutes of one another on eastbound transcontinental flights. Approximately 90 minutes later, the two propeller-driven airliners collided above the canyon while both were flying in unmonitored airspace. The wreckage of both planes fell into the eastern portion of the canyon, on Temple and Chuar Buttes, near the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers. The disaster killed all 128 passengers and crew members aboard both planes. This accident led to the institution of high-altitude airways and direct radar observation of aircraft (known as positive control) by en route ground controllers. South Kaibab Trail at Cedar Ridge. O'Neill Butte on the left. Over the Edge In Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon, Thomas M. Myers, a journalist and author, documents every death in the Grand Canyon.[165] Charlie Haeger On October 3, 2020, former Major League Baseball player Charlie Haeger was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on a canyon trail. He was under investigation for the murder of his ex-girlfriend which had taken place the day before in Scottsdale.[166] See also flag Arizona portal Earth sciences portal icon Geography portal icon Rivers portal Copper Canyon, Mexico Verdon Gorge, France Grand Canyon National Park Grand Canyon Suite Grand Canyon Ultra Marathon Jacob Lake, Arizona List of Colorado River rapids and features List of trails in Grand Canyon National Park Making North America (2015 PBS film) The Colorado River (Spanish: Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The 1,450-mile-long (2,330 km) river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states. The name Colorado derives from the Spanish language for "colored reddish" due to its heavy silt load. Starting in the central Rocky Mountains of Colorado, it flows generally southwest across the Colorado Plateau and through the Grand Canyon before reaching Lake Mead on the Arizona–Nevada border, where it turns south toward the international border. After entering Mexico, the Colorado approaches the mostly dry Colorado River Delta at the tip of the Gulf of California between Baja California and Sonora. Known for its dramatic canyons, whitewater rapids, and eleven U.S. National Parks, the Colorado River and its tributaries are a vital source of water for 40 million people.[6] An extensive system of dams, reservoirs, and aqueducts divert almost its entire flow for agricultural irrigation and urban water supply.[7][8][9] Its large flow and steep gradient are used to generate hydroelectricity, meeting peaking power demands in much of the Intermountain West. Intensive water consumption has dried up the lower 100 miles (160 km) of the river, which has rarely reached the sea since the 1960s.[7][10][11] Native Americans have inhabited the Colorado River basin for at least 8,000 years. Starting around 1 AD, large agriculture-based societies were established, but a combination of drought and poor land use practices led to their collapse in the 1300s. Their descendants include tribes such as the Puebloans, while others including the Navajo settled in the Colorado Basin after the 1000s. In the 1500s, Spanish explorers began mapping and claiming the watershed, which became part of Mexico upon its independence in 1821. Even after most of the watershed became US territory in 1846, much of the river's course remained unknown. Several expeditions charted the Colorado in the mid-19th century—one of which, led by John Wesley Powell, was the first to run the rapids of the Grand Canyon. Large-scale settlement of the lower basin began in the mid- to late-1800s, with steamboats sailing from the Gulf of California to landings along the river that linked to wagon roads to the interior. Starting in the 1860s, gold and silver strikes drew prospectors to the upper Colorado River basin. Large-scale river management began in the early 1900s, with major guidelines established in a series of international and US interstate treaties known as the "Law of the River". The US federal government constructed most of the major dams and aqueducts between 1910 and 1970; the largest, Hoover Dam, was completed in 1935. Numerous water projects have also involved state and local governments. With all of their waters fully allocated, both the Colorado and the neighboring Rio Grande are now considered among the most controlled and litigated river systems in the world. Since 2000, extended drought has conflicted with increasing demands for Colorado River water, and the level of human development and control of the river continues to generate controversy. Course Main article: Course of the Colorado River Headwaters of the Colorado River in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado The Colorado begins at La Poudre Pass in the Never Summer Mountains in Rocky Mountain National Park, 10,184 ft (3,104 m) above sea level.[12] After a short run south, the river turns west below Grand Lake, the largest natural lake in the state.[13] For the first 250 miles (400 km) of its course, the Colorado carves its way through the mountainous Western Slope, a sparsely populated region defined by the portion of the state west of the Continental Divide. As it flows southwest, it gains strength from many small tributaries, as well as larger ones including the Blue, Eagle and Roaring Fork rivers. After passing through De Beque Canyon, the Colorado emerges from the Rockies into the Grand Valley, a major farming and ranching region where it meets one of its largest tributaries, the Gunnison River, at Grand Junction. Most of the upper river is a swift whitewater stream ranging from 200 to 500 feet (60 to 150 m) wide, the depth ranging from 6 to 30 feet (2 to 9 m), with a few notable exceptions, such as the Blackrocks reach where the river is nearly 100 feet (30 m) deep.[14][15] In a few areas, such as the marshy Kawuneeche Valley near the headwaters[16] and the Grand Valley, it exhibits braided characteristics.[15] From Grand Junction, the Colorado turns northwest before cutting southwest across the eponymous Colorado Plateau, a vast area of high desert centered at the Four Corners of the southwestern United States. Here, the climate becomes significantly drier than that in the Rocky Mountains, and the river becomes entrenched in progressively deeper gorges of bare rock, beginning with Ruby Canyon and then Westwater Canyon as it enters Utah, now once again heading southwest.[17] Farther downstream it receives the Dolores River and defines the southern border of Arches National Park, before passing Moab and flowing through "The Portal", where it exits the Moab Valley between a pair of 1,000-foot (300 m) sandstone cliffs.[18] A narrow river flows through a narrow gorge flanked by high rocky bluffs Colorado River in the Grand Canyon seen from Pima Point, near Hermit's Rest In Utah, the Colorado flows primarily through the "slickrock" country, which is characterized by its narrow canyons and unique "folds" created by the tilting of sedimentary rock layers along faults. This is one of the most inaccessible regions of the continental United States.[19][20] Below the confluence with the Green River, its largest tributary, in Canyonlands National Park, the Colorado enters Cataract Canyon, named for its dangerous rapids,[21] and then Glen Canyon, known for its arches and erosion-sculpted Navajo sandstone formations.[22] Here, the San Juan River, carrying runoff from the southern slope of Colorado's San Juan Mountains, joins the Colorado from the east. The Colorado then enters northern Arizona, where since the 1960s Glen Canyon Dam near Page has flooded the Glen Canyon reach of the river, forming Lake Powell for hydroelectricity generation.[23][24] In Arizona, the river passes Lee's Ferry, an important crossing for early explorers and settlers and since the early 20th century the principal point where Colorado River flows are measured for apportionment to the seven U.S. and two Mexican states in the basin.[25] Downstream, the river enters Marble Canyon, the beginning of the Grand Canyon, passing under the Navajo Bridges on a now southward course. Below the confluence with the Little Colorado River, the river swings west into Granite Gorge, the most dramatic portion of the Grand Canyon, where the river cuts up to one mile (1.6 km) into the Colorado Plateau, exposing some of the oldest visible rocks on Earth, dating as long ago as 2 billion years.[26] The 277 miles (446 km) of the river that flow through the Grand Canyon are largely encompassed by Grand Canyon National Park and are known for their difficult whitewater, separated by pools that reach up to 110 feet (34 m) in depth.[27] At the lower end of Grand Canyon, the Colorado widens into Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the continental United States, formed by Hoover Dam on the border of Arizona and Nevada. Situated southeast of metropolitan Las Vegas, the dam is an integral component for management of the Colorado River, controlling floods and storing water for farms and cities in the lower Colorado River basin.[28] Below the dam the river passes under the Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge—which at nearly 900 feet (270 m) above the water is the highest concrete arch bridge in the Western Hemisphere[29]—and then turns due south towards Mexico, defining the Arizona–Nevada and Arizona–California borders. Top-down view of green agricultural lands surrounded by desert Satellite view of the Colorado River valley near Yuma, Arizona; Interstate 8 runs from left to right just below center. After leaving the confines of the Black Canyon, the river emerges from the Colorado Plateau into the Lower Colorado River Valley (LCRV), a desert region dependent on irrigation agriculture and tourism and also home to several major Indian reservations.[30] The river widens here to a broad, moderately deep waterway averaging 500 to 1,000 feet (150 to 300 m) wide and reaching up to 0.25 miles (400 m) across, with depths ranging from 8 to 60 feet (2 to 20 m).[31][32] Before channelization of the Colorado in the 20th century, the lower river was subject to frequent course changes caused by seasonal flow variations. Joseph C. Ives, who surveyed the lower river in 1861, wrote that "the shifting of the channel, the banks, the islands, the bars is so continual and rapid that a detailed description, derived from the experiences of one trip, would be found incorrect, not only during the subsequent year, but perhaps in the course of a week, or even a day."[33] The LCRV is one of the most densely populated areas along the river, and there are numerous towns including Bullhead City, Arizona, Needles, California, and Lake Havasu City, Arizona. Here, several large diversions draw from the river, providing water for both local uses and distant regions including the Salt River Valley of Arizona and metropolitan Southern California.[34] The last major U.S. diversion is at Imperial Dam, where over 90 percent of the river's flow is moved into the Gila Gravity Canal and Yuma Area Project, and the much bigger All-American Canal to irrigate California's Imperial Valley, the most productive winter agricultural region in the United States.[35] Colorado River as it exits the United States into Mexico beneath the San Luis Colorado-Colonia Miguel Aléman Bridge (September 2009) Below Imperial Dam, only a small portion of the Colorado River makes it beyond Yuma, Arizona, and the confluence with the intermittent Gila River—which carries runoff from western New Mexico and most of Arizona–before defining about 24 miles (39 km) of the Mexico–United States border. At Morelos Dam, the entire remaining flow of the Colorado is diverted to irrigate the Mexicali Valley, among Mexico's most fertile agricultural lands.[36] Below San Luis Río Colorado, the Colorado passes entirely into Mexico, defining the Baja California–Sonora border. Since 1960, the stretch of the Colorado between here and the Gulf of California has been dry or a trickle formed by irrigation return flows. The Hardy River provides most of the flow into the Colorado River Delta, a vast alluvial floodplain covering about 3,000 square miles (7,800 km2) of northwestern Mexico.[37] A large estuary is formed here before the Colorado empties into the Gulf about 75 miles (120 km) south of Yuma. Occasionally the International Boundary and Water Commission allows a springtime pulse flow to recharge the delta.[38] Before 20th-century development dewatered the lower Colorado, a major tidal bore was present in the delta and estuary; the first historical record was made by the Croatian missionary in Spanish service Father Ferdinand Konščak on July 18, 1746.[39] During spring tide conditions, the tidal bore—locally called El Burro—formed in the estuary about Montague Island in Baja California and propagated upstream.[40] Major tributaries View of a river winding through a series of narrow gorges that dramatically double back on each other The San Juan River near Mexican Hat, Utah View of a brownish river flowing between vegetated banks, with high bluffs rising in the background The Green River at Mineral Bottom, just north of Canyonlands National Park Main article: List of tributaries of the Colorado River The Colorado is joined by over 25 significant tributaries, of which the Green River is the largest by both length and discharge. The Green River takes drainage from the Wind River Range of west-central Wyoming, from Utah's Uinta Mountains, and from the Rockies of northwestern Colorado.[41] The Gila River is the second longest and drains a greater area than the Green,[42] but has a significantly lower flow because of a more arid climate and larger diversions for irrigation and cities.[43] Both the Gunnison and San Juan rivers, which derive most of their water from Rocky Mountains snowmelt, contribute more water than the Gila contributed naturally.[44] Statistics of the Colorado's longest tributaries Name State Length Watershed Discharge References mi km mi2 km2 cfs m3/s Green River Utah 730 1,170 48,100 125,000 6,048 171.3 [42][45][46][n 1] Gila River Arizona 649 1,044 58,200 151,000 247 7.0 [2][42][47][n 2] San Juan River Utah 383 616 24,600 64,000 2,192 62.1 [42][48][49][n 3] Little Colorado River Arizona 356 573 26,500 69,000 424 12.0 [42][50][51] Dolores River Utah 250 400 4,574 11,850 633 17.9 [42][52][53] Gunnison River Colorado 164 264 7,930 20,500 2,570 73 [42][48][54] Virgin River Nevada 160 260 13,020 33,700 239 6.8 [42][55][56][n 4] Discharge In its natural state, the Colorado River poured about 16.3 million acre-feet (20.1 km3) into the Gulf of California each year, equaling an average discharge of 22,500 cubic feet per second (640 m3/s)[disputed – discuss].[3] Its flow regime was not at all steady – indeed, "prior to the construction of federal dams and reservoirs, the Colorado was a river of extremes like no other in the United States."[57] Summer peak flows often exceeded 100,000 cubic feet per second (2,800 m3/s), and winter flows fell as low as 2,500 cubic feet per second (71 m3/s).[57] At Topock, Arizona (about 300 miles (480 km) upstream from the Gulf) a maximum historical discharge of 384,000 cubic feet per second (10,900 m3/s) was recorded in 1884, and a minimum of 422 cubic feet per second (11.9 m3/s) was recorded in 1935.[4][5][58][59] Since the construction of Hoover Dam, the lower Colorado rarely exceeds 35,000 cubic feet per second (990 m3/s) or drops below 4,000 cubic feet per second (110 m3/s).[60] Annual runoff volume also varies widely, from a high of 22.2 million acre-feet (27.4 km3) in 1984 to a low of 3.8 million acre-feet (4.7 km3) in 2002, although in most years only a small portion of this flow – if any – reaches the Gulf.[61][62] The average annual discharge of the Colorado River has shown a slight but noticeable decreasing trend between 1895 and 2004. Annual Colorado River discharge volumes at Lee's Ferry between 1895 and 2004 About 85–90 percent of the Colorado River's discharge originates in melting snowpack from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming.[61] The three major upper tributaries of the Colorado – the snow-fed Gunnison, Green, and San Juan – alone deliver almost 9 million acre-feet (11 km3) per year to the main stem.[63] The remaining 10 to 15 percent comes from a variety of sources, primarily groundwater and summer monsoon storms.[61] Tributaries in the Lower Basin are prone to monsoon–caused flash floods, but these storms do not often contribute significant volumes of runoff.[61][64] Annual runoff follows snowmelt, which typically begins in April, peaking in May and June before exhausting in July or August.[65] Due to water diversions, flows at the mouth of the river have steadily declined since the early 1900s. Since 1960, the Colorado has typically dried up before reaching the sea, with the exception of a few wet years.[66] In addition to water consumption, flows have declined due to evaporation from reservoirs and warming temperatures that reduce winter snow accumulation.[67][68][69] Several of the Colorado's major tributaries, including the Gila River, also no longer reach the Colorado due to upstream diversions.[70] The average flow rate of the Colorado River at the northernmost point of the Mexico–United States border (NIB, or Northerly International Boundary) is 3,869 cubic feet per second (109.6 m3/s), or 2.80 million acre-feet (3.45 km3) per year – about one-fifth of what the natural flow would be.[71] Below this location, the remaining flow is diverted to irrigate the Mexicali Valley, leaving a dry riverbed from Morelos Dam to the sea that is supplemented by intermittent flows of irrigation drainage water.[72] There have been exceptions, however, particularly in 1983–1987, when the Colorado once again reached the sea after consecutive seasons of record-breaking snowfall.[73] In 1984, 16.5 million acre-feet (20.4 km3) of excess runoff reached the ocean.[74] Discharge of the Colorado River at selected stream gauges Monthly discharge of the Colorado at Lee's Ferry, before and after construction of Glen Canyon Dam[78] The United States Geological Survey (USGS) operates or has operated 46 stream gauges to measure the discharge of the Colorado River, ranging from the headwaters near Grand Lake to the Mexico–U.S. border.[82] The tables at right list data associated with eight of these gauges. River flows as gauged at Lees Ferry, Arizona, about halfway along the length of the Colorado and 16 miles (26 km) below Glen Canyon Dam, are used to determine water allocations in the Colorado River basin.[83] The average discharge recorded there was approximately 14,600 cubic feet per second (410 m3/s), or 10.58 million acre-feet (13.05 km3) per year, from 1922 to 2020. This figure has been heavily affected by upstream diversions and reservoir evaporation, especially after the completion of the Colorado River Storage Project in the 1970s. Prior to the completion of Glen Canyon Dam in 1964, the average discharge recorded between 1912 and 1962 was 17,850 cubic feet per second (505 m3/s), or 12.93 million acre-feet (15.95 km3) per year.[78] Drainage basin Map showing the Upper and Lower Colorado River Basin, and adjacent areas supplied by Colorado River water. The Colorado River Basin consists of 246,000 square miles (640,000 km2), making it the seventh largest drainage basin in North America.[2] About 238,600 square miles (618,000 km2), or 97 percent of the basin, is in the United States.[42] The basin extends into western Colorado and New Mexico, southwestern Wyoming, eastern and southern Utah, southeastern Nevada and California, and most of Arizona. The areas drained within Baja California and Sonora in Mexico are very small and do not contribute significant runoff.[84] Aside from the Colorado River Delta, the basin extends into Sonora at a few locations further east, including the headwaters of the Santa Cruz River and San Pedro River (both tributaries of the Gila River).[85] For hydrological management purposes, the Colorado River Basin is divided into the Upper Basin (the drainage area above Lees Ferry), and the Lower Basin. The Upper Basin covers only 45 percent of the land area of the Colorado River Basin, but contributes 92 percent of the runoff.[86] The entire eastern boundary of the Colorado River Basin runs along the North American Continental Divide and is defined largely by the Rocky Mountains and the Rio Grande Basin. The Wind River Range in Wyoming marks the northern extent of the basin, and is separated from the Colorado Rockies by the endorheic Great Divide Basin in southwestern Wyoming. Streams that are nearby the east side of the divide drain into the Mississippi River and Rio Grande, while nearby areas north of the Wind River Range drain into the Columbia River.[85] The western boundary of the Colorado River Basin is formed by various ranges and plateaus that border the Great Basin, including the Uinta Mountains and Wasatch Range. Major Great Basin watersheds bordering the Colorado River Basin are the Great Salt Lake and Sevier Lake watersheds.[85] To the south, the Colorado River Basin borders several watersheds in Mexico draining into the Gulf of California, including the Sonoyta, Concepción, and Yaqui rivers.[85][87] Much of the basin is at high elevation; the mean elevation is 5,500 feet (1,700 m).[84][88] Lees Ferry, more than halfway along the Colorado River from its source, is 3,150 feet (960 m) above sea level.[89] The highest point in the Colorado River Basin is 14,321-foot (4,365 m) Uncompahgre Peak in Colorado's San Juan Mountains, while some water from the river drains via irrigation run-off into California's Salton Sea, 236 feet (72 m) below sea level.[90] The Black Suspension Bridge crosses the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon at Phantom Ranch, Arizona. About 72 percent of the Colorado River Basin is classified as arid, with the Sonoran and Mojave deserts covering the southern portion and the Colorado Plateau encompassing much of the central portion.[91] The Colorado Plateau is home to most of the major canyon systems formed by the Colorado River and its tributaries, particularly those of the Green and San Juan rivers. About 23 percent of the basin is forest, with the largest area in the Rocky Mountains; other significant forested areas include the Kaibab, Aquarius, and Markagunt plateaus in southern Utah and northern Arizona, and the Mogollon Rim in central Arizona.[91] These high plateaus and escarpments, often exceeding 9,000 feet (2,700 m) in elevation, form the northern and southern edges of the Colorado Plateau geological province.[92][93] Developed land use in the basin is mostly irrigated agriculture, chiefly in the Grand Valley, the Lower Colorado River Valley, and the Salt River Valley, but the total area of crop and pasture land is only 2–3 percent of the entire basin.[91] Urban areas cover less than 1 percent.[91] Climate in the Colorado River Basin ranges from subtropical hot desert at southern, lower elevations to alpine in the Rocky Mountains.[94] Mean monthly high temperatures are 25.3 °C (77.5 °F) in the Upper Basin and 33.4 °C (92.1 °F) in the Lower Basin, and lows average −3.6 and 8.9 °C (25.5 and 48.0 °F), respectively. Annual precipitation averages 6.5 inches (164 mm), ranging from over 60 inches (1,500 mm) in some areas of the Rockies to less than 4 inches (100 mm) in dry desert valleys.[86] The Upper Basin generally receives snow and rain during the winter and early spring, while precipitation in the Lower Basin falls mainly during intense but infrequent summer thunderstorms brought on by the North American Monsoon.[95] Precipitation is influenced by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) with El Niño being associated with wetter conditions and La Niña with drier conditions. The effect of ENSO is significantly more pronounced in the Lower Basin, where it has a strong impact on monsoonal rainfall.[86] Runoff patterns across the Colorado River Basin reflect this; most of the perennial tributaries originate in the Upper Basin, while tributaries in the Lower Basin are either ephemeral (such as the Little Colorado River) or highly seasonal (such as the Gila and Salt rivers).[86] As of 2010, approximately 13 million people lived within the Colorado River basin,[n 6] while about 40 million people live in areas supplied by Colorado River water. Colorado River basin states are among the fastest-growing in the US; the population of Nevada alone increased by about 66 percent between 1990 and 2000 as Arizona grew by some 40 percent.[99] Phoenix, Arizona, Las Vegas, Nevada and Mexicali, Baja California are the largest cities by population within the Colorado River Basin. Other significant cities include Tucson, Arizona, St. George, Utah and Flagstaff, Arizona. Due to the rugged and inhospitable topography through which the river flows, there are only a few major towns along the Colorado River itself, including Grand Junction, Colorado and Yuma, Arizona.[84] Geology As recently as the Cretaceous period about 100 million years ago, much of western North America was still part of the Pacific Ocean. Tectonic forces from the collision of the Farallon Plate with the North American Plate pushed up the Rocky Mountains between 50 and 75 million years ago in a mountain-building episode known as the Laramide orogeny.[100] The Colorado River first formed as a west-flowing stream draining the southwestern portion of the range, and the uplift also diverted the Green River, once a tributary of the Mississippi River, west towards the Colorado. About 30 to 20 million years ago, volcanic activity related to the orogeny led to the Mid-Tertiary ignimbrite flare-up, which created smaller formations such as the Chiricahua Mountains in Arizona and deposited massive amounts of volcanic ash and debris over the watershed.[101] The Colorado Plateau first began to rise during the Eocene, between about 55 and 34 million years ago, but did not attain its present height until about 5 million years ago, about when the Colorado River established its present course into the Gulf of California.[102] The time scale and sequence over which the river's present course and the Grand Canyon were formed is uncertain. Before the Gulf of California was formed around 12 to 5 million years ago by faulting processes along the boundary of the North American and Pacific plates,[103] the Colorado flowed west to an outlet on the Pacific Ocean—possibly Monterey Bay on the Central California coast, and may have played a role in the formation of the Monterey submarine canyon. Crustal extension in the Basin and Range Province began about 20 million years ago and the modern Sierra Nevada began forming about 10 million years ago, eventually diverting the Colorado southwards towards the Gulf.[104] As the Colorado Plateau continued to rise between 5 and 2.5 million years ago, the river maintained its ancestral course (as an antecedent stream) and began to cut the Grand Canyon. Antecedence played a major part in shaping other peculiar geographic features in the watershed, including the Dolores River's bisection of Paradox Valley in Colorado and the Green River's cut through the Uinta Mountains in Utah.[105] View showing hardened flows of dark volcanic rock descending over the side of a canyon Remnants of basalt flows from the Uinkaret volcanic field are seen here descending into the Grand Canyon, where they dammed the Colorado over 10 times in the past 2 million years. Sediments carried from the plateau by the Colorado River created a vast delta made of more than 10,000 cubic miles (42,000 km3) of material that walled off the northernmost part of the gulf in approximately 1 million years. Cut off from the ocean, the portion of the gulf north of the delta eventually evaporated and formed the Salton Sink, which reached about 260 feet (79 m) below sea level.[106][107] Since then the river has changed course into the Salton Sink at least three times, transforming it into Lake Cahuilla, which at maximum size flooded up the valley to present-day Indio, California. The lake took about 50 years to evaporate after the Colorado resumed flowing to the Gulf. The present-day Salton Sea can be considered the most recent incarnation of Lake Cahuilla, though on a much smaller scale.[108] Between 1.8 million and 10,000 years ago, massive flows of basalt from the Uinkaret volcanic field in northern Arizona dammed the Colorado River within the Grand Canyon. At least 13 lava dams were formed, the largest of which was more than 2,300 feet (700 m) high, backing the river up for nearly 500 miles (800 km) to present-day Moab, Utah.[109] The lack of associated sediment deposits along this stretch of the Colorado River, which would have accumulated in the impounded lakes over time, suggests that most of these dams did not survive for more than a few decades before collapsing or being washed away. Failure of the lava dams caused by erosion, leaks and cavitation caused catastrophic floods, which may have been some of the largest ever to occur in North America, rivaling the late-Pleistocene Missoula Floods of the northwestern United States.[110] Mapping of flood deposits indicate that crests as high as 700 feet (210 m) passed through the Grand Canyon,[111] reaching peak discharges as great as 17 million cubic feet per second (480,000 m3/s).[112] History Indigenous peoples Black and white photograph of a Native American woman holding a child Navajo woman and child, photographed by Ansel Adams, c. 1944 View of masonry ruins in hilly country Pueblos and cliff dwellings such as this one in New Mexico were inhabited by people of the Colorado River basin between 2,000 and 700 years ago. The first humans of the Colorado River basin were likely Paleo-Indians of the Clovis and Folsom cultures, who first arrived on the Colorado Plateau about 12,000 years ago. Very little human activity occurred in the watershed until the rise of the Desert Archaic Culture, which from 8,000 to 2,000 years ago constituted most of the region's human population. These prehistoric inhabitants led a generally nomadic lifestyle, gathering plants and hunting small animals (though some of the earliest peoples hunted larger mammals that became extinct in North America after the end of the Pleistocene epoch).[113] Another notable early group was the Fremont culture, whose peoples inhabited the Colorado Plateau from 2,000 to 700 years ago. The Fremont were likely the first peoples of the Colorado River basin to domesticate crops and construct masonry dwellings; they also left behind a large amount of rock art and petroglyphs, many of which have survived to the present day.[114][115] Beginning in the early centuries A.D., Colorado River basin peoples began to form large agriculture-based societies, some of which lasted hundreds of years and grew into well-organized civilizations encompassing tens of thousands of inhabitants. The Ancient Puebloan (also known as Anasazi or Hisatsinom) people of the Four Corners region were descended from the Desert Archaic culture.[116] The Puebloan people developed a complex distribution system to supply drinking and irrigation water in Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico.[117] The Puebloans dominated the basin of the San Juan River, and the center of their civilization was in Chaco Canyon.[118] In Chaco Canyon and the surrounding lands, they built more than 150 multi-story pueblos or "great houses", the largest of which, Pueblo Bonito, is composed of more than 600 rooms.[119][120] The Hohokam culture was present along the middle Gila River beginning around 1 A.D. Between 600 and 700 A.D. they began to employ irrigation on a large scale, and did so more prolifically than any other native group in the Colorado River basin.[121] An extensive system of irrigation canals was constructed on the Gila and Salt rivers, with various estimates of a total length ranging from 180 to 300 miles (290 to 480 km) and capable of irrigating 25,000 to 250,000 acres (10,000 to 101,000 ha). Both civilizations supported large populations at their height; the Chaco Canyon Puebloans numbered between 6,000 and 15,000[122] and estimates for the Hohokam range between 30,000 and 200,000.[123] Megadrought in 14th century These sedentary peoples heavily exploited their surroundings, practicing logging and harvesting of other resources on a large scale. The construction of irrigation canals may have led to a significant change in the morphology of many waterways in the Colorado River basin. Prior to human contact, rivers such as the Gila, Salt and Chaco were shallow perennial streams with low, vegetated banks and large floodplains. In time, flash floods caused significant downcutting on irrigation canals, which in turn led to the entrenchment of the original streams into arroyos, making agriculture difficult.[124] A variety of methods were employed to combat these problems, including the construction of large dams, but when a megadrought hit the region in the 14th century A.D. the ancient civilizations of the Colorado River basin abruptly collapsed.[124][125] Some Puebloans migrated to the Rio Grande Valley of central New Mexico and south-central Colorado, becoming the predecessors of the Hopi, Zuni, Laguna and Acoma people in western New Mexico.[113] Many of the tribes that inhabited the Colorado River basin at the time of European contact were descended from Puebloan and Hohokam survivors, while others already had a long history of living in the region or migrated in from bordering lands.[113][126] Native American names for the Colorado River Hopi: Pisisvayu[127] Maricopa: 'Xakxwet[128] Mohave: 'Aha Kwahwat[129] Navajo: Tó Ntsʼósíkooh Havasupai: Ha Ŧay Gʼam / Sil Gsvgov[130] Yavapai: ʼHakhwata[131] The Navajo were an Athabaskan people who migrated from the north into the Colorado River basin around 1025 A.D.[132] They soon established themselves as the dominant Native American tribe in the Colorado River basin, and their territory stretched over parts of present-day Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado – in the original homelands of the Puebloans. In fact, the Navajo acquired agricultural skills from the Puebloans before the collapse of the Pueblo civilization in the 14th century.[133] A profusion of other tribes have made a continued, lasting presence along the Colorado River. The Mohave have lived along the rich bottomlands of the lower Colorado below Black Canyon since 1200 A.D. They were fishermen—navigating the river on rafts made of reeds to catch Gila trout and Colorado pikeminnow— and farmers, relying on the annual floods of the river rather than irrigation to water their crops.[134] Ute peoples have inhabited the northern Colorado River basin, mainly in present-day Colorado, Wyoming and Utah, for at least 2,000 years, but did not become well established in the Four Corners area until 1500 A.D.[135][136] The Apache, Cocopah, Halchidhoma, Havasupai, Hualapai, Maricopa, Pima, and Quechan are among many other groups that live along or had territories bordering on the Colorado River and its tributaries.[113][137] Europeans arrive Beginning in the 17th century, contact with Europeans brought significant changes to the lifestyles of Native Americans in the Colorado River basin. Missionaries sought to convert indigenous peoples to Christianity – an effort sometimes successful, such as in Father Eusebio Francisco Kino's 1694 encounter with the "docile Pimas of the Gila Valley [who] readily accepted Kino and his Christian teachings".[137] From 1694 to 1702 Kino would explore the Gila and Colorado Rivers to determine if California was an island or peninsula. The Spanish introduced sheep and goats to the Navajo, who came to rely heavily on them for meat, milk and wool.[132] By the mid-16th century, the Utes, having acquired horses from the Spanish, introduced them to the Colorado River basin. The use of horses spread through the basin via trade between the various tribes and greatly facilitated hunting, communications, travel and warfare for indigenous peoples. The more aggressive tribes, such as the Utes and Navajos, often used horses to their advantage in raids against tribes that were slower to adopt them, such as the Goshutes and Southern Paiutes.[138] Black and white view of two men on the rocky bank of a river Two Mohave warriors beside the Colorado River in 1871 The gradual influx of European and American explorers, fortune seekers and settlers into the region eventually led to conflicts that forced many Native Americans off their traditional lands. After the acquisition of the Colorado River basin from Mexico in the Mexican–American War in 1846, U.S. military forces commanded by Kit Carson forced more than 8,000 Navajo men, women and children from their homes after a series of unsuccessful attempts to confine their territory, many of which were met with violent resistance. In what is now known as the Long Walk of the Navajo, the captives were marched from Arizona to Fort Sumner in New Mexico, and many died along the route. Four years later, the Navajo signed a treaty that moved them onto a reservation in the Four Corners region that is now known as the Navajo Nation. It is the largest Native American reservation in the United States, encompassing 27,000 square miles (70,000 km2) with a population of over 180,000 as of 2000.[139][140][141] Mohave expelled The Mohave were expelled from their territory after a series of minor skirmishes and raids on wagon trains passing through the area in the late 1850s, culminating in an 1859 battle with American forces that concluded the Mohave War.[142] In 1870, the Mohave were relocated to a reservation at Fort Mojave, which spans the borders of Arizona, California and Nevada.[143] Some Mohave were also moved to the 432-square-mile (1,120 km2) Colorado River Indian Reservation on the Arizona–California border, originally established for the Mohave and Chemehuevi people in 1865.[144] In the 1940s, some Hopi and Navajo people were also relocated to this reservation.[145] The four tribes now form a geopolitical body known as the Colorado River Indian Tribes.[144] Water rights of Native Americans in the Colorado River basin were largely ignored during the extensive water resources development carried out on the river and its tributaries in the 19th and 20th centuries. The construction of dams has often had negative impacts on tribal peoples, such as the Chemehuevi when their riverside lands were flooded after the completion of Parker Dam in 1938. Ten Native American tribes in the basin now hold or continue to claim water rights to the Colorado River.[146] The U.S. government has taken some actions to help quantify and develop the water resources of Native American reservations. The first federally funded irrigation project in the U.S. was the construction of an irrigation canal on the Colorado River Indian Reservation in 1867.[147] Other water projects include the Navajo Indian Irrigation Project, authorized in 1962 for the irrigation of lands in part of the Navajo Nation in north-central New Mexico.[148] The Navajo continue to seek expansion of their water rights because of difficulties with the water supply on their reservation; about 40 percent of its inhabitants must haul water by truck many miles to their homes. In the 21st century, they have filed legal claims against the governments of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah for increased water rights. Some of these claims have been successful for the Navajo, such as a 2004 settlement in which they received a 326,000-acre-foot (402,000 ML) allotment from New Mexico.[149] Early explorers La conquista del Colorado (2017), by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau, depicts Francisco Vázquez de Coronado's 1540–1542 expedition. García López de Cárdenas can be seen overlooking the Grand Canyon. During the 16th century, the Spanish began to explore and colonize western North America. An early motive was the search for the Seven Cities of Gold, or "Cibola", rumored to have been built by Native Americans somewhere in the desert Southwest. According to a United States Geological Survey publication, it is likely that Francisco de Ulloa was the first European to see the Colorado River when in 1536 he sailed to the head of the Gulf of California.[150] Francisco Vásquez de Coronado's 1540–1542 expedition began as a search for the fabled Cities of Gold, but after learning from natives in New Mexico of a large river to the west, he sent García López de Cárdenas to lead a small contingent to find it. With the guidance of Hopi Indians, Cárdenas and his men became the first outsiders to see the Grand Canyon.[151] Cárdenas was reportedly unimpressed with the canyon, assuming the width of the Colorado River at 6 feet (1.8 m) and estimating 300-foot (91 m)-tall rock formations to be the size of a man. After failing at an attempt to descend to the river, they left the area, defeated by the difficult terrain and torrid weather.[152] Painting of a company of armed men, some mounted Coronado Sets Out to the North, by Frederic Remington, c. 1905 In 1540, Hernando de Alarcón and his fleet reached the mouth of the river, intending to provide additional supplies to Coronado's expedition. Alarcón may have sailed the Colorado as far upstream as the present-day California–Arizona border. Coronado never reached the Gulf of California, and Alarcón eventually gave up and left. Melchior Díaz reached the delta in the same year, intending to establish contact with Alarcón, but the latter was already gone by the time of Díaz's arrival. Díaz named the Colorado River Rio del Tizon ("Firebrand River") after seeing a practice used by the local natives for warming themselves.[153] The name Tizon lasted for the next 200 years. The name Rio Colorado ("Red River") was first applied to the Colorado by Father Eusebio Francisco Kino in his maps and written reports resulting from his explorations to the Colorado River Delta and his discovery that California was not an island but a peninsula (1700–1702). Kino's 1701 map, "Paso por Tierra a la California," is the first known map to label the river as the Colorado.[154] During the 18th and early 19th centuries, many Americans and Spanish believed in the existence of the Buenaventura River, purported to run from the Rocky Mountains in Utah or Colorado to the Pacific Ocean.[155] The name Buenaventura was given to the Green River by Silvestre Vélez de Escalante as early as 1776, but Escalante did not know that the Green drained to the Colorado. Many later maps showed the headwaters of the Green and Colorado rivers connecting with the Sevier River (Rio San Ysabel) and Utah Lake (Lake Timpanogos) before flowing west through the Sierra Nevada into California. Mountain man Jedediah Smith reached the lower Colorado by way of the Virgin River canyon in 1826. Smith called the Colorado the "Seedskeedee", as the Green River in Wyoming was known to fur trappers, correctly believing it to be a continuation of the Green and not a separate river as others believed under the Buenaventura myth.[156] John C. Frémont's 1843 Great Basin expedition proved that no river traversed the Great Basin and Sierra Nevada, officially debunking the Buenaventura myth.[157] Exploration and navigation below Fort Yuma, 1850–1854 Between 1850 and 1854 the U. S. Army explored the lower reach of the Colorado River from the Gulf of California, looking for the river to provide a less expensive route to supply the remote post of Fort Yuma. First in November 1850 to January 1851, by its transport schooner, Invincible under Captain Alfred H. Wilcox and then by its longboat commanded by Lieutenant George Derby. Later Lieutenant Derby, in his expedition report, recommended that a shallow draft sternwheel steamboat would be the way to send supplies up river to the fort.[158] The next contractors George Alonzo Johnson with his partner Benjamin M. Hartshorne, brought two barges and 250 tons of supplies arriving at the river's mouth in February 1852, on the United States transport schooner Sierra Nevada under Captain Wilcox. Poling the barges up the Colorado, the first barge sank with its cargo a total loss. The second was finally, after a long struggle poled up to Fort Yuma, but what little it carried was soon consumed by the garrison. Subsequently, wagons again were sent from the fort to haul the balance of the supplies overland from the estuary through the marshes and woodlands of the Delta.[159]: 5–9  At last Derby's recommendation was heeded and in November 1852, the Uncle Sam, a 65-foot-long side-wheel paddle steamer, built by Domingo Marcucci, became the first steamboat on the Colorado River.[160]: 15  It was brought by the schooner Capacity from San Francisco to the delta by the next contractor to supply the fort, Captain James Turnbull. It was assembled and launched in the estuary, 30 miles above the mouth of the Colorado River. Equipped with only a 20-horsepower engine, the Uncle Sam could only carry 35 tons of supplies, taking 15 days to make the first 120-mile trip. It made many trips up and down the river, taking four months to finish carrying the supplies for the fort, improving its time up river to 12 days. Negligence caused it to sink at its dock below Fort Yuma, and was then washed away before it could be raised, in the spring flood of 1853. Turnbull in financial difficulty, disappeared. Nevertheless, he had shown the worth of steamboats to solve Fort Yuma's supply problem.[159]: 10–11  George Alonzo Johnson with his partner Hartshorne and a new partner Captain Alfred H. Wilcox (formerly of the Invincible and Sierra Nevada), formed George A. Johnson & Company and obtained the next contract to supply the fort. Johnson and his partners, all having learned lessons from their failed attempts ascending the Colorado and with the example of the Uncle Sam, brought the parts of a more powerful side-wheel steamboat, the General Jesup, with them to the mouth of the Colorado from San Francisco. There it was reassembled at a landing in the upper tidewater of the river and reached Fort Yuma, January 18, 1854. This new boat, capable of carrying 50 tons of cargo, was very successful making round trips from the estuary to the fort in only four or five days. Costs were cut from $200 to $75 per ton.[159]: 11–12 [161]: 34  Exploration and navigation above Fort Yuma, 1851–1887 Lithograph of Fort Yuma, c. 1875 Lorenzo Sitgreaves led the first Corps of Topographical Engineers mission across northern Arizona to the Colorado River (near modern Bullhead City, Arizona), and down its east bank to the river crossings of the Southern Immigrant Trail at Fort Yuma in 1851.[162][163] The second Corps of Topographical Engineers expedition passed along and crossed the Colorado was the 1853–1854 Pacific Railroad Survey expedition along the 35th parallel north from Oklahoma to Los Angeles, led by Lt. Amiel Weeks Whipple.[164] George A. Johnson was instrumental in getting the support for Congressional funding a military expedition up the river. With those funds Johnson expected to provide the transportation for the expedition but was angry and disappointed when the commander of the expedition Lt. Joseph Christmas Ives rejected his offer of one of his steamboats. Before Ives could finish reassembling his steamer in the delta, George A. Johnson set off from Fort Yuma on December 31, 1857, conducting his own exploration of the river above the fort in his steamboat General Jesup. He ascended the river in twenty one days as far as the first rapids in Pyramid Canyon, over 300 miles (480 km) above Fort Yuma and 8 miles (13 km) above the modern site of Davis Dam. Running low on food he turned back.[159]: 16–17, 19 [165] As he returned he encountered Lieutenant Ives, Whipple's assistant, who was leading an expedition to explore the feasibility of using the Colorado River as a navigation route in the Southwest. Ives and his men used a specially built steamboat, the shallow-draft U.S.S. Explorer, and traveled up the river as far as Black Canyon. He then took a small boat up beyond the canyon to Fortification Rock and Las Vegas Wash.[166]: Part 1, 85–87  After experiencing numerous groundings and accidents and having been inhibited by low water in the river, Ives declared: "Ours has been the first, and will doubtless be the last, party of whites to visit this profitless locality. It seems intended by nature that the Colorado River, along the greater portion of its lonely and majestic way, shall be forever unvisited and undisturbed."[167][168] Until 1866, El Dorado Canyon was the actual head of navigation on the Colorado River. In that year Captain Robert T. Rogers, commanding the steamer Esmeralda with a barge and ninety tons of freight, reached Callville, Nevada, on October 8, 1866.[159]: 49  Callville remained the head of navigation on the river until July 7, 1879, when Captain J. A. Mellon in the Gila left El Dorado Canyon landing, steamed up through the rapids in Black Canyon, making record time to Callville and tied up overnight. Next morning he to steamed up through the rapids in Boulder Canyon to reach the mouth of the Virgin River at Rioville July 8, 1879. From 1879 to 1887, Rioville, Nevada was the high water Head of Navigation for the steamboats and the mining company sloop Sou'Wester that carried the salt needed for the reduction of silver ore from there to the mills at El Dorado Canyon.[159]: 78  Powell's expeditions, 1869–1871 Up until the mid-19th century, long stretches of the Colorado and Green rivers between Wyoming and Nevada remained largely unexplored due to their remote location and dangers of navigation. Because of the dramatic drop in elevation of the two rivers, there were rumors of huge waterfalls and violent rapids, and Native American tales strengthened their credibility.[169] In 1869, one-armed Civil War veteran John Wesley Powell led an expedition from Green River Station in Wyoming, aiming to run the two rivers all the way down to St. Thomas, Nevada, near present-day Hoover Dam.[170] Powell and nine men – none of whom had prior whitewater experience – set out in May. After braving the rapids of the Gates of Lodore, Cataract Canyon and other gorges along the Colorado, the party arrived at the mouth of the Little Colorado River, where Powell noted down arguably the most famous words ever written about the Grand Canyon of the Colorado:[171] View of a steep-sided canyon from river level Marble Canyon, one of the many gorges that Powell's expedition traversed We are now ready to start on our way down the Great Unknown. Our boats, tied to a common stake, are chafing each other, as they are tossed by the fretful river. They ride high and buoyant, for their loads are lighter than we could desire. We have but a month's rations remaining. The flour has been re-sifted through the mosquito net sieve; the spoiled bacon has been dried, and the worst of it boiled; the few pounds of dried apples have been spread in the sun, and re-shrunken to their normal bulk; the sugar has all melted, and gone on its way down the river; but we have a large sack of coffee. The lighting of the boats has this advantage: they will ride the waves better, and we shall have little to carry when we make a portage. We are three-quarters of a mile in the depths of the earth, and the great river shrinks into insignificance, as it dashes its angry waves against the walls and cliffs, that rise to the world above; they are but puny ripples, and we but pigmies, running up and down the sands, or lost among the boulders. We have an unknown distance yet to run; an unknown river yet to explore. What falls there are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls rise over the river, we know not; Ah, well! we may conjecture many things. The men talk as cheerfully as ever; jests are bandied about freely this morning; but to me the cheer is somber and the jests are ghastly. — John Wesley Powell's journal, August 1869[171] On August 28, 1869, three men deserted the expedition, convinced that they could not possibly survive the trip through the Grand Canyon. They were allegedly killed by Native Americans after making it to the rim of the canyon; two days later, the expedition ran the last of the Grand Canyon rapids and reached St. Thomas.[172] Powell led a second expedition in 1871, this time with financial backing from the U.S. government.[173] The explorers named many features along the Colorado and Green rivers, including Glen Canyon, the Dirty Devil River, Flaming Gorge, and the Gates of Lodore. In what is perhaps a twist of irony, modern-day Lake Powell, which floods Glen Canyon, is also named for their leader.[174] American settlement Black and white photograph of a docked sternwheeler with two funnels The steamboat Mohave No. 2 at Yuma, c. 1876 Starting in the latter half of the 19th century, the lower Colorado below Black Canyon became an important waterway for steamboat commerce. In 1852, the Uncle Sam was launched to provide supplies to the U.S. Army outpost at Fort Yuma. Although this vessel accidentally foundered and sank early in its career, commercial traffic quickly proliferated because river transport was much cheaper than hauling freight over land.[175] Navigation on the Colorado River was dangerous because of the shallow channel and flow variations, so the first sternwheeler on the river, the Colorado of 1855, was designed to carry 60 short tons (54 t) while drawing less than 2 feet (0.6 m) of water.[176] The tidal bore of the lower Colorado also presented a major hazard; in 1922, a 15-foot (4.6 m)-high wave swamped a ship bound for Yuma, killing between 86 and 130 people.[177][178] Steamboats quickly became the principal source of communication and trade along the river until competition from railroads began in the 1870s, and finally the construction of dams along the lower river in 1909, none of which had locks to allow the passage of ships.[179] During the Manifest Destiny era of the mid-19th century, American pioneers settled many western states but generally avoided the Colorado River basin until the 1850s. Under Brigham Young's grand vision for a "vast empire in the desert",[180] (the State of Deseret) Mormon settlers were among the first whites to establish a permanent presence in the watershed, Fort Clara or Fort Santa Clara, in the winter of 1855–1856 along the Santa Clara River, tributary of the Virgin River. In the lower Colorado mining was the primary spur to economic development, copper mining in southwestern New Mexico Territory the 1850s then the Mohave War and a gold rush on the Gila River in 1859, the El Dorado Canyon Rush in 1860 and Colorado River Gold Rush in 1862. In 1860, anticipating the American Civil War, the Mormons established a number of settlements to grow cotton along the Virgin River in Washington County, Utah. From 1863 to 1865, Mormon colonists founded St. Thomas and other colonies on the Muddy and Virgin rivers in northwestern Arizona Territory, (now Clark County, Nevada). Stone's Ferry was established by these colonists on the Colorado at the mouth of the Virgin River to carry their produce on a wagon road to the mining districts of Mohave County, Arizona to the south. Also, in 1866, a steamboat landing was established at Callville, intended as an outlet to the Pacific Ocean via the Colorado River, for Mormon settlements in the Great Basin. These settlements reached a peak population of about 600 before being abandoned in 1871, and for nearly a decade these valleys became a haven for outlaws and cattle rustlers.[181] One Mormon settler Daniel Bonelli, remained, operating the ferry and began mining salt in nearby mines, bring it in barges, down river to El Dorado Canyon where it was used to process silver ore. From 1879 to 1887, Colorado Steam Navigation Company steamboats carried the salt, operating up river in the high spring flood waters, through Boulder Canyon, to the landing at Rioville at the mouth of the Virgin River. From 1879 to 1882 the Southwestern Mining Company, largest in El Dorado Canyon, brought in a 56-foot sloop the Sou'Wester that sailed up and down river carrying the salt in the low water time of year until it was wrecked in the Quick and Dirty Rapids of Black Canyon.[159]: 78  Black and white portrait of John D. Lee, who established Lee's Ferry across the Colorado River John D. Lee established a permanent ferry across the Colorado. Mormons founded settlements along the Duchesne River Valley in the 1870s, and populated the Little Colorado River valley later in the century, settling in towns such as St. Johns, Arizona.[136] They also established settlements along the Gila River in central Arizona beginning in 1871. These early settlers were impressed by the extensive ruins of the Hohokam civilization that previously occupied the Gila River valley, and are said to have "envisioned their new agricultural civilization rising as the mythical phoenix bird from the ashes of Hohokam society".[121] The Mormons were the first whites to develop the water resources of the basin on a large scale, and built complex networks of dams and canals to irrigate wheat, oats and barley in addition to establishing extensive sheep and cattle ranches.[180] One of the main reasons the Mormons were able to colonize Arizona was the existence of Jacob Hamblin's ferry across the Colorado at Lee's Ferry (then known as Pahreah Crossing), which began running in March 1864.[182] This location was the only section of river for hundreds of miles in both directions where the canyon walls dropped away, allowing for the development of a transport route. John Doyle Lee established a more permanent ferry system at the site in 1870. One reason Lee chose to run the ferry was to flee from Mormon leaders who held him responsible for the Mountain Meadows massacre, in which 120 emigrants in a wagon train were killed by a local militia disguised as Native Americans. Even though it was located along a major travel route, Lee's Ferry was very isolated, and there Lee and his family established the aptly named Lonely Dell Ranch.[182] In 1928, the ferry sank, resulting in the deaths of three men. Later that year, the Navajo Bridge was completed at a point 5 miles (8 km) downstream, rendering the ferry obsolete.[183] Gold strikes from the mid-19th to early 20th centuries played a major role in attracting settlers to the upper Colorado River basin. In 1859, a group of adventurers from Georgia discovered gold along the Blue River in Colorado and established the mining boomtown of Breckenridge.[184] During 1875, even bigger strikes were made along the Uncompahgre and San Miguel rivers, also in Colorado, and these led to the creation of Ouray and Telluride, respectively.[185][186] Because most gold deposits along the upper Colorado River and its tributaries occur in lode deposits, extensive mining systems and heavy machinery were required to extract them. Mining remains a substantial contributor to the economy of the upper basin and has led to acid mine drainage problems in some regional streams and rivers.[187][188] Harrison Gray Otis, president of the Colorado River Land Company The Colorado River region in Mexico became favored place for Americans to invest in agriculture in the late nineteenth century when Mexico President Porfirio Díaz welcomed foreign capital to develop the country. The Colorado River Land Company, formed by Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler, his father-in-law Harrison Gray Otis, and others, developed the Mexicali Valley in Baja California as a thriving land company. The company headquarters was nominally based in Mexico, but its real headquarters was in Los Angeles, California. Land was leased mainly to Americans who were required to develop it. Colorado River was used to irrigate the rich soil. The company largely escaped the turmoil of the Mexican Revolution (1910–20), but in the postrevolutionary period, the Mexican government expropriated the company's land to satisfy the demand for land reform.[189][190][191] Controversy over the name of the upper Colorado River The Colorado River did not officially flow through the State of Colorado until July 25, 1921. Prior to that date, the origin of the Colorado River was officially the confluence of the Grand and Green rivers at 38.1892°N 109.8857°W in what is now Canyonlands National Park of Utah. Fathers Dominguez and Escalante named the Grand River the Rio San Rafael in 1776. The Grand River above the confluence with the Gunnison River was also known as the Bunkara River, the Blue River, and the North Fork of the Grand River until the 1870s. In 1921, U.S. Representative Edward T. Taylor of Colorado petitioned the Congressional Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce to rename the Grand River as the Colorado River.[192][193] On July 25, 1921, President Warren G. Harding signed House Joint Resolution 32 - To change the name of the Grand River in Colorado and Utah to the Colorado River,[194] over the objections of representatives from Wyoming, Utah, and the United States Geological Survey, who noted that the Green River was longer and had a larger drainage basin, although the Grand River often contributed a greater flow of water.[192][195][n 7] Engineering and development Front view of a dam in a narrow canyon, with water shooting out of the gates Hoover Dam releasing water in 1998 See also: International Boundary and Water Commission, Dams in the Colorado River system, and Colorado River Compact About 40 million people depend on the Colorado River's water for agricultural, industrial and domestic needs.[197] The Colorado irrigates 5.5 million acres (2.2 million hectares) of farmland,[197] and its hydroelectric plants produce 12 billion kilowatt hours (KWh) of hydroelectricity each year.[198] Hydroelectricity from the Colorado is a key supplier of peaking power on the Southwest electric grid.[199][200] Often called "America's Nile",[201] the Colorado is so intensively managed that each drop of its water is used an average of 17 times in a single year.[202][203] Southern Nevada Water Authority has called the Colorado River one of the "most controlled, controversial and litigated rivers in the world".[204] Colorado River water allocations, in millions of acre-feet[205][206][207] User Amount Share United States 15.0 90.9% California 4.4 26.7% Colorado 3.88 23.5% Arizona 2.8 17.0% Utah 1.72 10.4% Wyoming 1.05 6.4% New Mexico 0.84 5.1% Nevada 0.3 1.8% Mexico 1.5 9.1% Total 16.5 100% In 1922, six U.S. states signed the Colorado River Compact, which divided half of the river's flow to both the Upper Basin (the drainage area above Lee's Ferry, comprising parts of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming and a small portion of Arizona) and the Lower Basin (Arizona, California, Nevada, and parts of New Mexico and Utah). The Upper and Lower Basin were each allocated 7.5 million acre-feet (9.3 km3) of water per year, a figure believed to represent half of the river's annual flow at Lee's Ferry.[205] The allotments operated under the premise that approximately 17.5 million acre-feet of water flowed through the river annually.[208] Arizona initially refused to ratify the compact because it feared that California would take too much of the lower basin allotment. In 1944 a compromise was reached in which Arizona was allocated 2.8 million acre-feet (3.5 km3), but with the caveat that California's 4.4-million-acre-foot (5.4 km3) allocation was prioritized during drought years.[209] These and nine other decisions, compacts, federal acts and agreements made between 1922 and 1973 constitute what is now known as the Law of the River.[209][210] In 1944, a treaty between the U.S. and Mexico allocated 1.5 million acre-feet (1.9 km3) of Colorado River water to Mexico each year.[206] Morelos Dam was constructed in 1950 to enable Mexico to utilize its share of the river. Water allocated to Mexico from the Colorado River is regulated by the International Boundary and Water Commission, which also apportions waters from the Rio Grande between the two countries.[211] Transmountain diversions Large-scale development of Colorado River water supplies started in the late 19th century, at the river's headwaters in La Poudre Pass. The Grand Ditch, directing runoff from the river's headwaters across the Continental Divide to arid eastern Colorado, was considered an engineering marvel when completed in 1890.[212] This was the first of twenty-four "transmountain diversions" constructed to draw water across the Rocky Mountains as the Front Range corridor increased in population.[213] These diversions draw water from the upper Colorado and its tributaries into the South Platte River, Arkansas River and Rio Grande basins.[214] Today, about 80 percent of Colorado's population lives on the Eastern Slope of the Rockies, while 80 percent of precipitation falls on the Western Slope.[215] The Grand Ditch, one of the earliest water diversions of the Colorado River, is still in use today. While first planned at the same time as the Grand Ditch, construction on the Colorado-Big Thompson Project (C-BT) did not begin until the 1930s. Today, the C-BT is the largest of the transmountain diversions, delivering 230,000 acre-feet (280,000,000 m3) per year from the Colorado River to cities north of Denver.[216] Numerous other projects followed, with the largest including the Roberts Tunnel, which delivers water from the Blue River to the city of Denver,[217][218] and the Fryingpan–Arkansas Project, which diverts water from the Fryingpan River to the Arkansas River basin.[219] Combined, the transmountain diversions draw about 580,000 acre-feet (720,000,000 m3) of water per year out of the Colorado River basin.[214] Historically, most of the water has been used for irrigation, although water usage is increasing for urban water supply and for recreational purposes such as snowmaking and increasing Eastern Slope streamflows for boating and fishing. Denver Water receives about 50 percent of its supply from the Colorado River basin. However, diversions have caused environmental harm to the upper Colorado River system by reducing streamflows in many tributaries.[214] A number of reservoirs have been built to offset the impact of transmountain diversions by storing water for dry season release on the Western Slope, including Williams Fork Reservoir in 1959[220] and Wolford Mountain Reservoir in 1996.[221] The Imperial Valley and the Salton Sea Main articles: Alamo Canal and Salton Sea In 1900, the California Development Company (CDC) envisioned irrigating the Imperial Valley, a then dry basin on the California–Mexico border, using water from the Colorado River. Due to the valley's location below sea level, water could be diverted and allowed to flow there entirely by gravity. Engineer George Chaffey was hired to design the Alamo Canal, which split from the Colorado near Pilot Knob, California and ran south into Mexico, where it joined the Alamo River, a dry arroyo which had historically carried overflowing floodwaters from the Colorado into the Salton Sink at the bottom of Imperial Valley. The scheme worked initially; by 1903, about four thousand people lived in the valley and more than 100,000 acres (40,000 ha) of farmland had been developed.[222][223] The Alamo Canal experienced continual problems due to the Colorado's high sediment content and its varying water levels. During low flows, the river often dropped below the level of the canal intake, while high flows silted up the intake, forcing the repeated excavation of new cuts. In early 1905, flooding destroyed the intake gates and water began to flow uncontrolled down the canal towards the Salton Sink. By August, the breach had grown large enough to swallow the entire flow of the river, which began to flood the bottom of the valley. The Southern Pacific Railroad attempted to dam the flow in order to protect their tracks which ran through the valley, but was hampered by repeated flooding.[223] It took seven attempts, more than $3 million, and two years for the railroad, the CDC, and the federal government to permanently block the breach and restore the river's original course – but not before part of the Imperial Valley was flooded under a 45-mile-long (72 km) lake, today's Salton Sea. The Imperial Valley fiasco demonstrated that further economic development of the region would require a dam to control the Colorado's unpredictable flows.[224][225][226] Boulder Canyon Project Hoover Dam under construction, 1934 The Imperial Dam (bottom right) diverts water into the All-American Canal (center) running towards Imperial Valley. A large dam on the Colorado River had been envisioned since the 1920s. In 1928, Congress authorized the Reclamation Service (today's U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, or USBR) to build the Boulder Canyon Project, whose key feature would be a dam on the Colorado in Black Canyon 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. On September 30, 1935, Hoover Dam was completed, forming Lake Mead, capable of holding more than two years of the Colorado's flow. Lake Mead was, and still is, the largest artificial lake in the U.S. by storage capacity.[28][227] The construction of Hoover Dam stabilized the lower channel of the Colorado River, stored water for irrigation in times of drought, captured sediment and controlled floods. Hoover was the tallest dam in the world at the time of construction and also had the world's largest hydroelectric power plant.[228] The Boulder Canyon Project Act also authorized the All-American Canal,[229] which was built as a permanent replacement for the Alamo Canal and follows a route entirely within the U.S. on its way to the Imperial Valley. The canal's intake is located at Imperial Dam, 20 miles (32 km) above Yuma, Arizona, which diverts the majority of the Colorado's flow with only a small portion continuing to Mexico. With a capacity of over 26,000 cubic feet per second (740 m3/s), the All-American Canal is the largest irrigation canal in the world.[230] Because the hot, sunny climate lends to a year-round growing season, the Imperial Valley has become one of the most productive farming regions in North America, providing much of the winter produce supply in the U.S.[8] The Imperial Irrigation District supplies water to 520,000 acres (210,000 ha) south of the Salton Sea.[231] The Coachella Canal, which branches northward from the All-American Canal, irrigates another 78,000 acres (32,000 ha) in the Coachella Valley.[232] Parker Dam was initially built as the diversion point for the Colorado River Aqueduct, planned by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to supply water to Los Angeles.[233] The construction of the dam was opposed by Arizona, which feared that California would take too much water from the Colorado; at one point, Arizona sent members of its National Guard to stop work on the dam. Ultimately, a compromise was reached, with Arizona dropping its objections in exchange for the USBR constructing the Gila Project, which irrigates 110,000 acres (450 km2) on the Arizona side of the river.[234] By 1941, the 241-mile (388 km) long Colorado River Aqueduct was completed, delivering 1.2 million acre-feet (1.5 km3) of water west to Southern California. The aqueduct enabled the continued growth of Los Angeles and its suburbs, and provides water to about 10 million people today.[235] The San Diego Aqueduct, which branches off from the Colorado River Aqueduct in Riverside County, California, opened in stages between 1954–1971 and provides water to another 3 million people in the San Diego metro area.[236] The Las Vegas Valley of Nevada experienced rapid growth after Hoover Dam, and by 1937 Las Vegas had tapped a pipeline into Lake Mead. Nevada officials, believing that groundwater resources in the southern part of the state were sufficient for future growth, were more concerned with securing a large amount of the dam's power supply than water from the Colorado; thus they settled for the smallest water allocation of all the states in the Colorado River Compact.[237] In 2018, due to declining water levels in Lake Mead, a second pipeline was completed with a lower intake elevation. Colorado River Storage Project Main article: Colorado River Storage Project In the first half of the 20th century, the Upper Basin states, with the exception of Colorado, had developed very little of their water allocations from the Colorado River Compact. By the 1950s, however, water demand was rapidly increasing in Utah's Wasatch Front (Salt Lake City metro area) and the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico, which both began exploring ways to divert water from the Colorado Basin.[238] The Upper Basin states were concerned that they would not be able to use their full Compact allocations due to increasing water demands in the Lower Basin. The Compact requires the Upper Basin to deliver a minimum annual flow of 7.5 million acre-feet (9.3×109 m3) past Lee's Ferry (measured on a 10-year rolling average). Without additional reservoir storage, the Upper Basin states could not utilize their allocations without impacting water deliveries to the Lower Basin in dry years.[239] Glen Canyon Dam, the largest dam of the Colorado River Storage Project In 1956 Congress authorized the USBR to construct the Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP), which planned several large reservoirs on the upper Colorado, Green, Gunnison and San Juan Rivers.[239] The initial blueprints for the CRSP included two dams on the Green River within Echo Park Canyon in Dinosaur National Monument – a move criticized by both the National Park Service and environmental groups such as the Sierra Club. The controversy received nationwide media attention, and the USBR dropped its plans for the Dinosaur dams in exchange for increasing the size of a proposed dam at Glen Canyon.[240] The controversy associated with Glen Canyon Dam did not build momentum until construction was well underway. Due to Glen Canyon's remote location, most of the American public did not even know of its existence; the few who did contended that it had much greater scenic value than Echo Park. The environmental movement in the American Southwest has opposed the damming and diversion of the Colorado River system due to negative effects on the ecology and natural beauty of the river and its tributaries. During the construction of Glen Canyon Dam (1956–66), environmental organizations[which?] vowed[clarification needed] to block any further development of the river, and a number of later dam and aqueduct proposals were defeated by citizen opposition. Sierra Club leader David Brower fought the dam both during the construction and for many years afterwards until his death in 2000. Brower believed that he was personally responsible for the failure to prevent Glen Canyon's flooding, calling it his "greatest mistake, greatest sin".[241][242] In addition to Glen Canyon Dam, the CRSP includes the Flaming Gorge Dam on the Green River, the Blue Mesa, Morrow Point and Crystal Dams on the Gunnison River, and the Navajo Dam on the San Juan River. A total of 22 "participating projects" (of which 16 have been constructed) were later authorized in order to develop local water supplies at various locations across the Upper Basin states.[239] These include the Central Utah Project, which delivers 102,000 acre-feet (126,000,000 m3) per year from the Green River basin to the Wasatch Front, and the San Juan–Chama Project, which diverts 110,000 acre-feet (140,000,000 m3) per year from the San Juan River to the Rio Grande Valley. Both are multi-purpose projects serving a variety of agricultural, municipal and industrial uses.[243][244] Pacific Southwest Water Plan The main canal of the Central Arizona Project, crossing the Sonoran Desert By the middle of the 20th century, planners were concerned that continued growth in water demand would outstrip the available water supply from the Colorado River. After exploring a multitude of potential projects, the USBR published a study in January 1964 known as the Pacific Southwest Water Plan, which proposed diverting water from the northwestern United States into the Colorado River basin.[245] Arizona's water allocation was a significant focus of the plan, due to the growing concern that its water supply could be curtailed due to California's seniority of water rights. In addition, the plan would guarantee full water supplies to Nevada, California and Mexico, allowing the Upper Basin states to utilize their full allocations without risking reductions in the Lower Basin.[245] The project would cost an estimated $3.1 billion.[246] The first stage of this plan would divert water from Northern California's Trinity, Klamath and Eel Rivers to Southern California, allowing more Colorado River water to be used, by exchange, in Arizona. A canal system, which ultimately would become the Central Arizona Project (CAP), would be constructed to deliver Arizona's Colorado River allocation to Phoenix and Tucson, both located far away from the Colorado River in the middle of the state. At this point, central Arizona was still entirely dependent on local water supplies, such as the 1911 Theodore Roosevelt Dam,[247] and was quickly running out of surplus water.[245] In order to supply the massive amount of power required to pump Colorado River water to central Arizona, two hydroelectric dams were proposed in the Grand Canyon (Bridge Canyon Dam and Marble Canyon Dam), which while not directly located in Grand Canyon National Park, would greatly impact flows of the Colorado River through the park.[245] With the controversy over Glen Canyon Dam still ongoing, the public pressure against these dams was immense.[246] As a result, the two Grand Canyon dams were omitted from the final CAP authorization in 1968.[248] In addition, the boundaries of Grand Canyon National Park were redrawn to prevent future dam projects in the area. The pumping power was replaced by the building of the coal-fired Navajo Generating Station near Page, Arizona, in 1976.[249][250][251] In 2019, the Navajo Generating Station ceased operation.[252] The CAP was constructed in stages from 1973 to 1993, ultimately extending 336 miles (541 km) from the Colorado River at Parker Dam to Tucson, Arizona. It delivers 1.4 million acre-feet (1.7 km3) of water per year, irrigates 830,000 acres (3,400 km2) of farmland and provides municipal water to about 5 million people.[249] Due to environmental concerns, most of the facilities proposed in the Pacific Southwest Water Plan were never built (though a smaller version of the Trinity River project was constructed as part of the unrelated Central Valley Project),[253] leaving Arizona and Nevada vulnerable to future water reductions under the Compact.[254] Post-2000 water supply See also: Southwestern North American megadrought [The Colorado is] a 'deficit' river, as if the river were somehow at fault for its overuse. — Marc Reisner, in Cadillac Desert[255] When the Colorado River Compact was drafted in the 1920s, it was based on barely 30 years of streamflow records that suggested an average annual flow of 17.5 million acre-feet (21.6 km3) past Lee's Ferry.[256] Modern studies of tree rings revealed that those three decades were probably the wettest in the past 500 to 1,200 years and that the natural long-term annual flow past Lee's Ferry is probably closer to 13.5 million acre-feet (16.7 km3),[257][n 8] with a natural flow at the mouth around 16.3 million acre-feet (20.1 km3).[3] This has resulted in more water being allocated to river users than actually exists in the Colorado.[259] Droughts have exacerbated the issue of water over-allocation.[260][261] View of a reservoir where the water level has dropped, showing white deposits on the surrounding mountains Lake Mead in 2010, showing the "bathtub ring" left behind by low water levels The most severe drought on record, the southwestern North American megadrought, began in the early 21st century, in which the river basin has produced above-average runoff in only five years between 2000 and 2021.[262] The region is experiencing a warming trend, which is accompanied by earlier snowmelt, lower precipitation and greater evapotranspiration. A 2004 study showed that a 1–6 percent decrease of precipitation would lead to runoff declining by as much as 18 percent by 2050.[263] Since 2000, reservoir levels have fluctuated greatly from year to year, but have experienced a steady long-term decline.[264] The particularly dry spell between 2000 and 2004 brought Lake Powell to just a third of capacity in 2005, the lowest level on record since initial filling in 1969.[265] In late 2010, Lake Mead was approaching the "drought trigger" elevation of 1,075 feet (328 m), at which water supplies to Arizona and Nevada would be reduced in accordance with the Colorado River Compact.[266] Due to Arizona and Nevada's water rights being junior to California's, their allocations can legally be cut to zero before any reductions are made on the California side.[259][267] A wet winter in 2011 temporarily raised lake levels,[268][269] but dry conditions returned in the next two years.[270] In 2014, the Bureau of Reclamation cut releases from Lake Powell by 10 percent —the first such reduction since the 1960s, when Lake Powell was being filled for the first time.[271] This resulted in Lake Mead dropping to its lowest recorded level since 1937, when it was first being filled.[272] Water year 2018 had a much lower-than-average snowpack.[273][274] In July 2021, after two more extremely dry winters, Lake Powell fell below the previous low set in 2005. In response, the Bureau of Reclamation began releasing water from upstream reservoirs in order to keep Powell above the minimum level for hydropower generation.[275][276] Lake Mead fell below the 1,075-foot (328 m) level expected to trigger federally mandated cuts to Arizona and Nevada's water supplies for the first time in history, and is expected to continue declining into 2022.[277] On August 16, 2021, the Bureau of Reclamation released the Colorado River Basin August 2021 24-Month Study, and for the first time declared a shortage and that because of "ongoing historic drought and low runoff conditions in the Colorado River Basin, downstream releases from Glen Canyon Dam and Hoover Dam will be reduced in 2022 due to declining reservoir levels."[278] The Lower Basin reductions will reduce the annual apportionments – Arizona's by 18 percent, Nevada's by 7 percent, and Mexico's by 5 percent.[279] On June 14, 2022, Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Touton told the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural resources that additional cuts of 2-4 million acre-feet were required to stabilize reservoir levels in 2023. Touton warned that if states were unable to negotiate the requisite cuts the Interior department may use its legal authority to cut releases.[280] When the states were unable to come to an agreement about how to share the proposed cuts, Reclamation began the legal steps to unilaterally reduce releases from Hoover and Glen Canyon Dams in 2023.[281] As of December 2022 the lower basin states of Nevada, Arizona, and California had not agreed on how to reduce water use by the approximately 30% required to keep levels in lakes Mead and Powell from crashing.[282] The Bureau of Reclamation has projected that water levels at Lake Powell could fall low enough that by July 2023 Glen Canyon Dam would no longer be able to generate any hydropower.[283] Arizona proposed a plan that severely cut allocations to California, and California responded with a plan that severely cut allocations to Arizona, failing to reach consensus. In April 2023, the federal government proposed cutting allocations to Nevada, Arizona, and California evenly which would cut deliveries by as much as one-quarter to each state, rather than according to senior water rights.[284] In May 2023, the states finally reached a temporary agreement to prevent deadpool, reducing allocations by 3 million acre-feet over three years (until the end of 2026). 700,000 acre-feet were to be negotiated later among California, Arizona, and Nevada.[285] The cuts were less than the federal government had demanded, and so further cuts will be needed after 2026.[285] Fewer cuts were needed in the short term because the Colorado River Basin experienced an unusually rainy and snowy weather in early 2023.[285][286] The agreement also became easier to negotiate because many cuts are being offset by one-time federal funding.[287] Billions of dollars in funding for programs in the Colorado River Basin to recycle water, increase efficiency, and competitive grants to pay water rights holders not to use water from the river are being provided by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act, and other programs funded through the United States Environmental Protection Agency and United States Department of the Interior. These are projected to reduce demand by hundreds of thousands of acre-feet per year.[288] Ecology Wildlife and plants Further information: List of flora of the Lower Colorado River Valley View of a wide river flowing through a forested area, with jagged mountains in the background Heavily forested banks of the Colorado River near Topock, Arizona The Colorado River and its tributaries often nourish extensive corridors of riparian growth as they traverse the arid desert regions of the watershed. Although riparian zones represent a relatively small proportion of the basin and have been affected by engineering projects and river diversion in many places, they have the greatest biodiversity of any habitat in the basin.[289] The most prominent riparian zones along the river occur along the lower Colorado below Davis Dam,[290] especially in the Colorado River Delta, where riparian areas support 358 species of birds despite the reduction in freshwater flow and invasive plants such as tamarisk (salt cedar).[291] Reduction of the delta's size has also threatened animals such as jaguars and the vaquita porpoise, which is endemic to the gulf.[292] Human development of the Colorado River has also helped to create new riparian zones by smoothing the river's seasonal flow, notably through the Grand Canyon.[293] More than 1,600 species of plants grow in the Colorado River watershed, ranging from the creosote bush, saguaro cactus, and Joshua trees of the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts to the forests of the Rocky Mountains and other uplands, composed mainly of ponderosa pine, subalpine fir, Douglas-fir and Engelmann spruce.[63] Before logging in the 19th century, forests were abundant in high elevations as far south as the Mexico–U.S. border, and runoff from these areas nourished abundant grassland communities in river valleys. Some arid regions of the watershed, such as the upper Green River valley in Wyoming, Canyonlands National Park in Utah and the San Pedro River valley in Arizona and Sonora, supported extensive reaches of grassland roamed by large mammals such as buffalo and antelope as late as the 1860s. Near Tucson, Arizona, "where now there is only powder-dry desert, the grass once reached as high as the head of a man on horse back".[294] Rivers and streams in the Colorado basin were once home to 49 species of native fish, of which 42 were endemic. Engineering projects and river regulation have led to the extinction of four species and severe declines in the populations of 40 species.[295] Bonytail chub, razorback sucker, Colorado pikeminnow, and humpback chub are among those considered the most at risk; all are unique to the Colorado River system and well adapted to the river's natural silty conditions and flow variations. Clear, cold water released by dams has significantly changed characteristics of habitat for these and other Colorado River basin fishes.[296] A further 40 species that occur in the river today, notably the brown trout, were introduced during the 19th and 20th centuries, mainly for sport fishing.[297] Impacts of development Most of the Colorado River basin water used by humans is used to grow feed for livestock—more than four times the amount used for crops for direct human consumption.[298] View of a narrow green river flowing between high, reddish-brown cliffs The Colorado was named for the reddish color caused by its natural sediment loads, but damming the river has caused it to acquire a clear green hue as seen here in lower Glen Canyon. Historically, the Colorado transported from 85 to 100 million short tons (77,000,000 to 91,000,000 t) of sediment or silt to the Gulf of California each year – second only to the Mississippi among North American rivers.[299] This sediment nourished wetlands and riparian areas along the river's lower course, particularly in its 3,000-square-mile (7,800 km2) delta, once the largest desert estuary on the continent.[300] Currently, the majority of sediments carried by the Colorado River are deposited at the upper end of Lake Powell, and most of the remainder ends up in Lake Mead. Various estimates place the time it would take for Powell to completely fill with silt at 300 to 700 years. Dams trapping sediment not only pose damage to river habitat but also threaten future operations of the Colorado River reservoir system.[301] Reduction in flow caused by dams, diversions, water for thermoelectric power stations,[302] and evaporation losses from reservoirs – the latter of which consumes more than 15 percent of the river's natural runoff[303]—has had severe ecological consequences in the Colorado River Delta and the Gulf of California. Historically, the delta with its large freshwater outflow and extensive salt marshes provided an important breeding ground for aquatic species in the Gulf. Today's desiccated delta, at only a fraction of its former size, no longer provides suitable habitat, and populations of fish, shrimp and sea mammals in the gulf have seen a dramatic decline.[198] Since 1963, the only times when the Colorado River has reached the ocean have been during El Niño events in the 1980s and 1990s.[304] Reduced flows have led to increases in the concentration of certain substances in the lower river that have impacted water quality. Salinity is one of the major issues and also leads to the corrosion of pipelines in agricultural and urban areas.[305] The lower Colorado's salt content was about 50 parts per million (ppm) in its natural state,[198] but by the 1960s, it had increased to well over 2000 ppm.[306] By the early 1970s, there was also serious concern about salinity caused by salts leached from local soils by irrigation drainage water, which were estimated to add 10 million short tons (9,100,000 t) of excess salt to the river per year. The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act was passed in 1974, mandating conservation practices including the reduction of saline drainage. The program reduced the annual load by about 1.2 million short tons (1,100,000 t), but salinity remains an ongoing issue.[307] In 1997, the USBR estimated that saline irrigation water caused crop damages exceeding $500 million in the U.S. and $100 million in Mexico. Further efforts have been made to combat the salt issue in the lower Colorado, including the construction of a desalination plant at Yuma.[308] In 2011, the seven U.S. states agreed upon a "Plan of Implementation", which aims to reduce salinity by 644,000 short tons (584,000 t) per year by 2030.[307] In 2013, the Bureau of Reclamation estimated that around $32 million was spent each year to prevent around 1.2 million tons of salt from entering and damaging the Colorado River.[305] Agricultural runoff containing pesticide residues has also been concentrated in the lower river in greater amounts. This has led to fish kills; six of these events were recorded between 1964 and 1968 alone.[309] The pesticide issue is even greater in streams and water bodies near agricultural lands irrigated by the Imperial Irrigation District with Colorado River water. In the Imperial Valley, Colorado River water used for irrigation overflows into the New and Alamo rivers and into the Salton Sea. Both rivers and the sea are among the most polluted bodies of water in the United States, posing dangers not only to aquatic life but to contact by humans and migrating birds.[310][311] Pollution from agricultural runoff is not limited to the lower river; the issue is also significant in upstream reaches such as Colorado's Grand Valley, also a major center of irrigated agriculture.[312] Large dams such as Hoover and Glen Canyon typically release water from lower levels of their reservoirs, resulting in stable and relatively cold year-round temperatures in long reaches of the river. The Colorado's average temperature once ranged from 85 °F (29 °C) at the height of summer to near freezing in winter, but modern flows through the Grand Canyon, for example, rarely deviate significantly from 46 °F (8 °C).[313] Changes in temperature regime have caused declines of native fish populations, and stable flows have enabled increased vegetation growth, obstructing riverside habitat.[314] These flow patterns have also made the Colorado more dangerous to recreational boaters; people are more likely to die of hypothermia in the colder water, and the general lack of flooding allows rockslides to build up, making the river more difficult to navigate.[315] Minute 319 In the 21st century, there has been renewed interest in restoring a limited water flow to the delta. In November 2012, the U.S. and Mexico reached an agreement, known as Minute 319, permitting Mexico storage of its water allotment in U.S. reservoirs during wet years, thus increasing the efficiency with which the water can be used. In addition to renovating irrigation canals in the Mexicali Valley to reduce leakage, this will make about 45,000 acre-feet (56,000,000 m3) per year available for release to the delta on average. The water will be used to provide both an annual base flow and a spring "pulse flow" to mimic the river's original snowmelt-driven regime.[316][317] The first pulse flow, an eight-week release of 105,000 acre-feet (130,000,000 m3), was initiated on March 21, 2014, with the aim of revitalising 2,350 acres (950 hectares) of wetland.[318] This pulse reached the sea on May 16, 2014, marking the first time in 16 years that any water from the Colorado flowed into the ocean, and was hailed as "an experiment of historic political and ecological significance" and a landmark in U.S.–Mexican cooperation in conservation.[11][319][320] The pulse will be followed by the steady release of 52,000 acre-feet (64,000,000 m3) over the following three years, just a small fraction of its average flow before damming.[318][needs update] Recreation View of two small boats in a river, with high cliffs rising immediately behind them A rafting party on the Colorado River Famed for its dramatic rapids and canyons, the Colorado is one of the most desirable whitewater rivers in the United States, and its Grand Canyon section—run by more than 22,000 people annually[321]—has been called the "granddaddy of rafting trips".[322] Grand Canyon trips typically begin at Lee's Ferry and take out at Diamond Creek or Lake Mead; they range from one to eighteen days for commercial trips and from two to twenty-five days for private trips.[323] Private (noncommercial) trips are extremely difficult to arrange because the National Park Service limits river traffic for environmental purposes; people who desire such a trip often have to wait more than 10 years for the opportunity.[324] Several other sections of the river and its tributaries are popular whitewater runs, and many of these are also served by commercial outfitters. The Colorado's Cataract Canyon and many reaches in the Colorado headwaters are even more heavily used than the Grand Canyon, and about 60,000 boaters run a single 4.5-mile (7.2 km) section above Radium, Colorado, each year.[325] The upper Colorado also includes many of the river's most challenging rapids, including those in Gore Canyon, which is considered so dangerous that "boating is not recommended".[325] Another section of the river above Moab, known as the Colorado "Daily" or "Fisher Towers Section", is the most visited whitewater run in Utah, with more than 77,000 visitors in 2011 alone.[326] The rapids of the Green River's Gray and Desolation Canyons[327] and the less difficult "Goosenecks" section of the lower San Juan River are also frequently traversed by boaters.[328] Eleven U.S. national parks—Arches, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Petrified Forest, Rocky Mountain, Saguaro, and Zion—are in the watershed, in addition to many national forests, state parks, and recreation areas.[329] Hiking, backpacking, camping, skiing, and fishing are among the multiple recreation opportunities offered by these areas. Fisheries have declined in many streams in the watershed, especially in the Rocky Mountains, because of polluted runoff from mining and agricultural activities.[330] The Colorado's major reservoirs are also heavily traveled summer destinations. Houseboating and water-skiing are popular activities on Lakes Mead, Powell, Havasu, and Mojave, as well as Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Utah and Wyoming, and Navajo Reservoir in New Mexico and Colorado. Lake Powell and surrounding Glen Canyon National Recreation Area received more than two million visitors per year in 2007,[331] while nearly 7.9 million people visited Lake Mead and the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in 2008.[332] Colorado River recreation employs some 250,000 people and contributes $26 billion each year to the Southwest economy.[333] See also flag Arizona portal flag California portal flag Colorado portal flag Mexico portal flag United States portal flag Utah portal Colorado River Delta Colorado Desert List of Colorado River rapids and features List of dams in the Colorado River system List of largest reservoirs in the United States List of longest rivers of Mexico List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem) London Bridge (Lake Havasu City) Moab uranium mill tailings pile Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program Notes  Discharge data is for Green River, Utah, 117.6 miles (189.3 km) upstream from the mouth. The stream gauge here measures flow from an area of 44,850 square miles (116,200 km2), representing about 93.2 percent of the basin.[46]  Before large irrigation and municipal diversions, the Gila River discharged about 1.3 million acre-feet (1.6 km3) per year,[43] which equals a flow of nearly 2,000 cubic feet per second (57 m3/s).  Discharge data is for Bluff, Utah, located about 113.5 miles (182.7 km) above the confluence with the Colorado. The gauge measures flow from an area of 23,000 square miles (60,000 km2), about 93.5 percent of the basin.[49]  Discharge data is for Littlefield, Arizona, about 66 miles (106 km) from the confluence with the Colorado, and also upstream of the confluence with its major tributary, the Muddy River. The gauge measures flow from an area of 5,090 square miles (13,200 km2), about 39.1 percent of the total basin.[56]  NIB = "Northerly International Boundary", or the point at which the Colorado begins to form the Mexico–U.S. border, south of Yuma. Also note that the SIB ("Southerly International Boundary") is the point at which the Colorado ceases to form the border and passes entirely into Mexico.  American population (9.7 million) calculated from statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau[96] and the State of Colorado.[97] The population in Mexico is about 3 million.[98]  The average discharge of the Colorado (Grand) River at Cisco, Utah, about 97 miles (156 km) upstream from the Green River confluence, is 7,181 cubic feet per second (203.3 m3/s); between here and the confluence, only a few small, intermittent tributaries join the river.[77]The Green River has an average discharge of 6,048 cubic feet per second (171.3 m3/s) as measured at Green River, Utah, about 117.6 miles (189.3 km) above the confluence;[46] below here the only major tributary is the San Rafael River, which contributes an average of 131 cubic feet per second (3.7 m3/s), resulting in a total of 6,169 cubic feet per second (174.7 m3/s), still significantly lower than the discharge of the Colorado at their confluence.[196]  The discrepancy between the natural flow at Lee's Ferry (13.5 million acre-feet or 16.65 km3) and the gauged flow between 1922 and 2020 (10.58 million acre-feet or 13.05 km3)[83] is mostly due to water diversions above Lee's Ferry and evaporation from reservoirs, especially Lake Powell.[258] Arizona (/ˌærɪˈzoʊnə/ i ARR-ih-ZOH-nə; Navajo: Hoozdo Hahoodzo [hoː˥z̥to˩ ha˩hoː˩tso˩];[10] O'odham: Alĭ ṣonak [ˈaɭi̥ ˈʂɔnak])[11] is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th-largest and the 14th-most-populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Four Corners region with Utah to the north, Colorado to the northeast, and New Mexico to the east; its other neighboring states are Nevada to the northwest, California to the west and the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California to the south and southwest. Arizona is the 48th state and last of the contiguous states to be admitted to the Union, achieving statehood on February 14, 1912. Historically part of the territory of Alta California in New Spain, it became part of independent Mexico in 1821. After being defeated in the Mexican–American War, Mexico ceded much of this territory to the United States in 1848. The southernmost portion of the state was acquired in 1853 through the Gadsden Purchase. Southern Arizona is known for its desert climate, with very hot summers and mild winters. Northern Arizona features forests of pine, Douglas fir, and spruce trees; the Colorado Plateau; mountain ranges (such as the San Francisco Mountains); as well as large, deep canyons, with much more moderate summer temperatures and significant winter snowfalls. There are ski resorts in the areas of Flagstaff, Sunrise, and Tucson. In addition to the internationally known Grand Canyon National Park, which is one of the world's seven natural wonders, there are several national forests, national parks, and national monuments. Arizona's population and economy have grown dramatically since the 1950s because of inward migration, and the state is now a major hub of the Sun Belt. Cities such as Phoenix and Tucson have developed large, sprawling suburban areas. Many large companies, such as PetSmart and Circle K,[12] have headquarters in the state, and Arizona is home to major universities, including the University of Arizona and Arizona State University. The state is known for a history of conservative politicians such as Barry Goldwater and John McCain, though it has become a swing state since the 1990s. Arizona is home to a diverse population. About one-quarter of the state[13][14] is made up of Indian reservations that serve as the home of 27 federally recognized Native American tribes, including the Navajo Nation, the largest in the state and the United States, with more than 300,000 citizens. Since the 1980s, the proportion of Hispanics in the state's population has grown significantly owing to migration from Mexico. A substantial portion of the population are followers of the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Etymology The state's name appears to originate from an earlier Spanish name, Arizonac, derived from the O'odham name alĭ ṣonak, meaning 'small spring'. Initially this term was applied by Spanish colonists only to an area near the silver mining camp of Planchas de Plata, Sonora.[15][16][17][18] To the European settlers, the O'odham pronunciation sounded like Arissona.[19] The area is still known as alĭ ṣonak in the O'odham language.[11] Another possible origin is the Basque phrase haritz ona 'the good oak', as there were numerous Basque sheepherders in the area.[20][21][22] A native-born Mexican of Basque ancestry established the ranchería (small rural settlement) of Arizona between 1734 and 1736 in the current Mexican state of Sonora. It became notable after a significant discovery of silver there around 1737.[23] The misconception that the state's name purportedly originated from the Spanish term Árida Zona 'Arid Zone' is considered a case of folk etymology.[19] History Main article: History of Arizona For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Arizona. For thousands of years before the modern era, Arizona was home to many ancient Native American civilizations. Hohokam, Mogollon, and Ancestral Puebloan cultures were among those that flourished throughout the state. Many of their pueblos, cliffside dwellings, rock paintings and other prehistoric treasures have survived and attract thousands of tourists each year.[citation needed] La conquista del Colorado, by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau, depicts Francisco Vázquez de Coronado's 1540–1542 expedition. García López de Cárdenas can be seen overlooking the Grand Canyon. In 1539, Marcos de Niza, a Spanish Franciscan, became the first European to contact Native Americans. He explored parts of the present state and made contact with native inhabitants, probably the Sobaipuri. The expedition of Spanish explorer Coronado entered the area in 1540–1542 during its search for Cíbola.[24] Few Spanish settlers migrated to Arizona. One of the first settlers in Arizona was José Romo de Vivar.[25] Father Kino was the next European in the region. A member of the Society of Jesus ("Jesuits"), he led the development of a chain of missions in the region. He converted many of the Indians to Christianity in the Pimería Alta (now southern Arizona and northern Sonora) in the 1690s and early 18th century. Spain founded presidios ("fortified towns") at Tubac in 1752 and Tucson in 1775.[26] When Mexico achieved its independence from the Kingdom of Spain and its Spanish Empire in 1821, what is now Arizona became part of its Territory of Nueva California, ("New California"), also known as Alta California ("Upper California").[27] Descendants of ethnic Spanish and mestizo settlers from the colonial years still lived in the area at the time of the arrival of later European-American migrants from the United States.[citation needed] Mexico in 1824. Alta California is the northwesternmost state. During the Mexican–American War (1847–1848), the U.S. Army occupied the national capital of Mexico City and pursued its claim to much of northern Mexico, including what later became Arizona Territory in 1863 and later the State of Arizona in 1912.[28] The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) specified that, in addition to language and cultural rights of the existing inhabitants of former Mexican citizens being considered as inviolable, the sum of $15 million in compensation (equivalent to $507,346,153.85 in 2022) be paid to the Republic of Mexico.[29] In 1853, the U.S. acquired the land south below the Gila River from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase along the southern border area as encompassing the best future southern route for a transcontinental railway.[30] What is now the state of Arizona was administered by the United States government as part of the Territory of New Mexico from 1850 until the southern part of that region seceded from the Union to form the Territory of Arizona.[31] This newly established territory was formally organized by the federal government of the Confederate States on Saturday, January 18, 1862, when President Jefferson Davis approved and signed An Act to Organize the Territory of Arizona,[32] marking the first official use of the name "Territory of Arizona". The Southern territory supplied the Confederate government with men, horses, and equipment. Formed in 1862, Arizona scout companies served with the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Arizona has the westernmost military engagement on record during the Civil War with the Battle of Picacho Pass (1862). [33] Geronimo (far right) and his Apache warriors fought against both Mexican and American settlers. The Federal government declared a new U.S. Arizona Territory, consisting of the western half of earlier New Mexico Territory, in Washington, D.C., on February 24, 1863.[34] These new boundaries would later form the basis of the state. The first territorial capital, Prescott, was founded in 1864 following a gold rush to central Arizona.[35] The capital was later moved to Tucson, back to Prescott, and then to its final location in Phoenix in a series of controversial moves as different regions of the territory gained and lost political influence with the growth and development of the territory.[36] Although names including "Gadsonia", "Pimeria", "Montezuma" and "Arizuma" had been considered for the territory,[37] when 16th President Abraham Lincoln signed the final bill, it read "Arizona", and that name was adopted. (Montezuma was not derived from the Aztec emperor, but was the sacred name of a divine hero to the Pima people of the Gila River Valley. It was probably considered – and rejected – for its sentimental value before Congress settled on the name "Arizona".)[citation needed] Brigham Young, patriarchal leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City in Utah, sent Mormons to Arizona in the mid- to late 19th century. They founded Mesa, Snowflake, Heber, Safford, and other towns. They also settled in the Phoenix Valley (or "Valley of the Sun"), Tempe, Prescott, and other areas. The Mormons settled what became northern Arizona and northern New Mexico. At the time these areas were in a part of the former New Mexico Territory. During the nineteenth century, a series of gold and silver rushes occurred in the territory, the best known being the 1870s stampede to the silver bonanzas of Tombstone, Arizona in southeast Arizona, also known for its legendary outlaws and lawmen.[38] By the late 1880s, copper production eclipsed the precious metals with the rise of copper camps like Bisbee, Arizona and Jerome, Arizona.[39][40] The boom and bust economy of mining also left hundreds of ghost towns across the territory, but copper mining continued to prosper with the territory producing more copper than any other state by 1907, which earned Arizona the nickname "the Copper State" at the time of statehood.[41][42] During the first years of statehood the industry experienced growing pains and labor disputes with the Bisbee Deportation of 1917 the result of a copper miners' strike.[43] Children of Depression-era migrant workers, Pinal County, 1937 20th century to present During the Mexican Revolution from 1910 to 1920, several battles were fought in the Mexican towns just across the border from Arizona settlements. Throughout the revolution, many Arizonans enlisted in one of the several armies fighting in Mexico. Only two significant engagements took place on U.S. soil between U.S. and Mexican forces: Pancho Villa's 1916 Columbus Raid in New Mexico and the Battle of Ambos Nogales in 1918 in Arizona. After Mexican federal troops fired on U.S. soldiers, the American garrison launched an assault into Nogales, Mexico. The Mexicans eventually surrendered after both sides sustained heavy casualties. A few months earlier, just west of Nogales, an Indian War battle had occurred, considered the last engagement in the American Indian Wars, which lasted from 1775 to 1918. U.S. soldiers stationed on the border confronted Yaqui Indians who were using Arizona as a base to raid the nearby Mexican settlements, as part of their wars against Mexico.[citation needed] Arizona became a U.S. state on February 14, 1912. Arizona was the 48th state admitted to the U.S. and the last of the contiguous states to be admitted.[44] Eleanor Roosevelt at the Gila River relocation center, April 23, 1943 Cotton farming and copper mining, two of Arizona's most important statewide industries, suffered heavily during the Great Depression.[45] But during the 1920s and even the 1930s, tourism began to develop as the important Arizonan industry it is today. Dude ranches, such as the K L Bar and Remuda in Wickenburg, along with the Flying V and Tanque Verde in Tucson, gave tourists the chance to take part in the flavor and activities of the "Old West". Several upscale hotels and resorts opened during this period, some of which are still top tourist draws. They include the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in central Phoenix (opened 1929) and the Wigwam Resort on the west side of the Phoenix area (opened 1936).[46] [47] Arizona was the site of German prisoner of war camps during World War II and Japanese American internment camps.[48] Because of wartime fears of a Japanese invasion of the U.S. West Coast (which in fact materialized in the Aleutian Islands Campaign in June 1942), from 1942 to 1945, persons of Japanese descent were forced to reside in internment camps built in the interior of the country. Many lost their homes and businesses. The camps were abolished after World War II.[49] The Phoenix-area German P.O.W. site was purchased after the war by the Maytag family (of major home appliance fame). It was developed as the site of the Phoenix Zoo. A Japanese-American internment camp was on Mount Lemmon, just outside the state's southeastern city of Tucson. Another POW camp was near the Gila River in eastern Yuma County. Arizona was also home to the Phoenix Indian School, one of several federal Indian boarding schools designed to assimilate Native American children into mainstream European-American culture. Children were often enrolled in these schools against the wishes of their parents and families. Attempts to suppress native identities included forcing the children to cut their hair, to take and use English names, to speak only English, and to practice Christianity rather than their native religions.[50] Numerous Native Americans from Arizona fought for the United States during World War II. Their experiences resulted in a rising activism in the postwar years to achieve better treatment and civil rights after their return to the state. After Maricopa County did not allow them to register to vote, in 1948 veteran Frank Harrison and Harry Austin, of the Mojave-Apache Tribe at Fort McDowell Indian Reservation, brought a legal suit, Harrison and Austin v. Laveen, to challenge this exclusion. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled in their favor.[51] Arizona's population grew tremendously with residential and business development after World War II, aided by the widespread use of air conditioning, which made the intensely hot summers more comfortable. According to the Arizona Blue Book (published by the Arizona Secretary of State's office each year), the state population in 1910 was 294,353. By 1970, it was 1,752,122. The percentage growth each decade averaged about 20% in the earlier decades, and about 60% each decade thereafter.[citation needed] In the 1960s, retirement communities were developed. These age-restricted subdivisions catered exclusively to the needs of senior citizens and attracted many retirees who wanted to escape the harsh winters of the Midwest and the Northeast. Sun City, established by developer Del Webb and opened in 1960, was one of the first such communities. Green Valley, south of Tucson, was another such community, designed as a retirement subdivision for Arizona's teachers. Many senior citizens from across the United States and Canada come to Arizona each winter and stay only during the winter months; they are referred to as snowbirds.[citation needed] In March 2000, Arizona was the site of the first legally binding election ever held over the internet to nominate a candidate for public office.[52] In the 2000 Arizona Democratic Primary, under worldwide attention, Al Gore defeated Bill Bradley. Voter turnout in this state primary increased more than 500% over the 1996 primary. In the 21st century, Arizona has frequently garnered national attention for its efforts to quell illegal immigration into the state. In 2004, voters passed Proposition 200, requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. The Supreme Court of the United States struck this restriction down in 2013.[53] In 2010, Arizona enacted SB 1070 which required all immigrants to carry immigration papers at all times, but the Supreme Court also invalidated parts of this law in Arizona v. United States in 2012.[54] On January 8, 2011, a gunman shot congresswoman Gabby Giffords and 18 others at a gathering in Tucson. Giffords was critically wounded. The incident sparked national attention regarding incendiary political rhetoric.[55] Three ships named USS Arizona have been christened in honor of the state, although only USS Arizona (BB-39) was so named after statehood was achieved. Geography Main article: Geography of Arizona Köppen climate types of Arizona The Grand Canyon Arizona is in the Southwestern United States as one of the Four Corners states. Arizona is the sixth largest state by area, ranked after New Mexico and before Nevada. Of the state's 113,998 square miles (295,000 km2), approximately 15% is privately owned. The remaining area is public forest and parkland, state trust land and Native American reservations. There are 24 National Park Service maintained sites in Arizona, including the three national parks of Grand Canyon National Park, Saguaro National Park, and the Petrified Forest National Park.[56] Arizona is well known for its desert Basin and Range region in the state's southern portions, which is rich in a landscape of xerophyte plants such as the cactus. This region's topography was shaped by prehistoric volcanism, followed by the cooling-off and related subsidence. Its climate has exceptionally hot summers and mild winters. The state is less well known for its pine-covered north-central portion of the high country of the Colorado Plateau (see Arizona Mountains forests). Like other states of the Southwest United States, Arizona is marked by high mountains, the Colorado plateau, and mesas. Despite the state's aridity, 27% of Arizona is forest,[57] a percentage comparable to modern-day Romania or Greece.[58] The world's largest stand of ponderosa pine trees is in Arizona.[59] The Mogollon Rim (/ ˌmoʊ gəˈyoʊn /), a 1,998-foot (609 m) escarpment, cuts across the state's central section and marks the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau. In 2002, this was an area of the Rodeo–Chediski Fire, the worst fire in state history until 2011. Located in northern Arizona, the Grand Canyon is a colorful, deep, steep-sided gorge, carved by the Colorado River. The canyon is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World and is largely contained in the Grand Canyon National Park – one of the first national parks in the United States. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of designating the Grand Canyon area as a National Park, often visiting to hunt mountain lion and enjoy the scenery. The canyon was created by the Colorado River cutting a channel over millions of years, and is about 277 miles (446 km) long, ranges in width from 4 to 18 miles (6 to 29 km) and attains a depth of more than 1 mile (1.6 km). Nearly two billion years of the Earth's history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut through layer after layer of sediment as the Colorado Plateau uplifted. Arizona is home to one of the most well-preserved meteorite impact sites in the world. Created around 50,000 years ago, the Barringer Meteorite Crater (better known simply as "Meteor Crater") is a gigantic hole in the middle of the high plains of the Colorado Plateau, about 25 miles (40 km) west of Winslow.[60] A rim of smashed and jumbled boulders, some of them the size of small houses, rises 150 feet (46 m) above the level of the surrounding plain. The crater itself is nearly a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide and 570 feet (170 m) deep. Arizona is one of two U.S. states, along with Hawaii, that does not observe Daylight Saving Time, though the large Navajo Nation in the state's northeastern region does. Adjacent states Utah (north) Colorado (northeast) Nevada (northwest) Sonora, Mexico (south) Baja California, Mexico (southwest) New Mexico (east) California (west) Climate Further information: Climate change in Arizona Due to its large area and variations in elevation, the state has a wide variety of localized climate conditions. In the lower elevations the climate is primarily desert, with mild winters and extremely hot summers. Typically, from late fall to early spring, the weather is mild, averaging a minimum of 60 °F (16 °C). November through February are the coldest months, with temperatures typically ranging from 40 to 75 °F (4 to 24 °C), with occasional frosts.[61] About midway through February, the temperatures start to rise, with warm days, and cool, breezy nights. The summer months of June through September bring a dry heat from 90 to 120 °F (32 to 49 °C), with occasional high temperatures exceeding 125 °F (52 °C) having been observed in the desert area.[61] Arizona's all-time record high is 128 °F (53 °C) recorded at Lake Havasu City on June 29, 1994, and July 5, 2007; the all-time record low of −40 °F (−40 °C) was recorded at Hawley Lake on January 7, 1971.[62] Due to the primarily dry climate, large diurnal temperature variations occur in less-developed areas of the desert above 2,500 ft (760 m). The swings can be as large as 83 °F (46 °C) in the summer months. In the state's urban centers, the effects of local warming result in much higher measured night-time lows than in the recent past. Arizona has an average annual rainfall of 12.7 in (323 mm),[63] which comes during two rainy seasons, with cold fronts coming from the Pacific Ocean during the winter and a monsoon in the summer.[64] The monsoon season occurs toward the end of summer. In July or August, the dewpoint rises dramatically for a brief period. During this time, the air contains large amounts of water vapor. Dewpoints as high as 81 °F (27 °C)[65] have been recorded during the Phoenix monsoon season. This hot moisture brings lightning, thunderstorms, wind, and torrential, if usually brief, downpours. These downpours often cause flash floods, which can turn deadly. In an attempt to deter drivers from crossing flooding streams, the Arizona Legislature enacted the Stupid Motorist Law. It is rare for tornadoes or hurricanes to occur in Arizona. Arizona's northern third is a plateau at significantly higher altitudes than the lower desert, and has an appreciably cooler climate, with cold winters and mild summers, though the climate remains semiarid to arid. Extremely cold temperatures are not unknown; cold air systems from the northern states and Canada occasionally push into the state, bringing temperatures below 0 °F (−18 °C) to the state's northern parts.[66] Indicative of the variation in climate, Arizona is the state which has both the metropolitan area with the most days over 100 °F (38 °C) (Phoenix), and the metropolitan area in the lower 48 states with the most days with a low temperature below freezing (Flagstaff).[67] Average daily maximum and minimum temperatures for selected cities in Arizona[68] Location July (°F) July (°C) December (°F) December (°C) Phoenix 106/83 41/28 66/45 19/7 Tucson 100/74 38/23 65/39 18/4 Yuma 107/82 42/28 68/46 20/8 Flagstaff 81/51 27/11 42/17 6/−8 Prescott 89/60 32/16 51/23 11/−5 Kingman 98/66 37/19 56/32 13/0 Cities and towns See also: List of places in Arizona, List of cities and towns in Arizona, and List of Arizona counties This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) View of suburban development in Scottsdale, 2006 Phoenix, in Maricopa County, is Arizona's capital and largest city. Other prominent cities in the Phoenix metro area include Mesa (Arizona's third largest city), Chandler (Arizona's fourth largest city), Glendale, Peoria, Buckeye, Sun City, Sun City West, Fountain Hills, Surprise, Gilbert, El Mirage, Avondale, Tempe, Tolleson and Scottsdale, with a total metropolitan population of just over 4.7 million.[69] The average high temperature in July, 106 °F (41 °C), is one of the highest of any metropolitan area in the United States, offset by an average January high temperature of 67 °F (19 °C), the basis of its winter appeal. Tucson, with a metro population of just over one million, is the state's second-largest city. Located in Pima County, approximately 110 miles (180 km) southeast of Phoenix, it was incorporated in 1877, making it the oldest incorporated city in Arizona. It is home to the University of Arizona. Major incorporated suburbs of Tucson include Oro Valley and Marana northwest of the city, Sahuarita south of the city, and South Tucson in an enclave south of downtown. It has an average July temperature of 100 °F (38 °C) and winter temperatures averaging 65 °F (18 °C). Saguaro National Park, just west of the city in the Tucson Mountains, is the site of the world's largest collection of Saguaro cacti. The Prescott metropolitan area includes the cities of Prescott, Cottonwood, Camp Verde and many other towns in the 8,123 square miles (21,000 km2) of Yavapai County area. With 212,635 residents, this cluster of towns is the state's third largest metropolitan area. The city of Prescott (population 41,528) lies approximately 100 miles (160 km) northwest of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Situated in pine tree forests at an elevation of about 5,500 feet (1,700 m), Prescott enjoys a much cooler climate than Phoenix, with average summer highs around 88 °F (31 °C) and winter temperatures averaging 50 °F (10 °C). Yuma is the center of the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Arizona. Located in Yuma County, it is near the borders of California and Mexico. It is one of the hottest cities in the United States, with an average July high of 107 °F (42 °C). (The same month's average in Death Valley is 115 °F (46 °C).) The city features sunny days about 90% of the year. The Yuma Metropolitan Statistical Area has a population of 160,000. Yuma attracts many winter visitors from all over the United States. Flagstaff, in Coconino County, is the largest city in northern Arizona, and is at an elevation of nearly 7,000 feet (2,100 m). With its large Ponderosa pine forests, snowy winter weather and picturesque mountains, it is a stark contrast to the desert regions typically associated with Arizona. It is sited at the base of the San Francisco Peaks, the highest mountain range in the state of Arizona, which contains Humphreys Peak, the highest point in Arizona at 12,633 feet (3,851 m). Flagstaff has a strong tourism sector, due to its proximity to numerous tourist attractions including: Grand Canyon National Park, Sedona, and Oak Creek Canyon. Historic U.S. Route 66 is the main east–west street in the town. The Flagstaff metropolitan area is home to 134,421 residents and the main campus of Northern Arizona University. Lake Havasu City, in Mohave County, known as "Arizona's playground", was developed on the Colorado River and is named after Lake Havasu. Lake Havasu City has a population of about 57,000 people. It is famous for huge spring break parties, sunsets and the London Bridge, relocated from London, England. Lake Havasu City was founded by real estate developer Robert P. McCulloch in 1963.[70] It has two colleges, Mohave Community College and ASU Colleges in Lake Havasu City.[71]    Largest cities or towns in Arizona Source:[72] Rank Name County Pop. Rank Name County Pop. Phoenix Phoenix Tucson Tucson 1 Phoenix Maricopa 1,624,569 11 Goodyear Maricopa 101,733 Mesa Mesa Chandler Chandler 2 Tucson Pima 543,242 12 Buckeye Maricopa 101,315 3 Mesa Maricopa 509,475 13 Yuma Yuma 97,093 4 Chandler Maricopa 279,458 14 Avondale Maricopa 90,564 5 Gilbert Maricopa 273,136 15 Flagstaff Coconino 76,989 6 Glendale Maricopa 249,630 16 Queen Creek Maricopa / Pinal 66,346 7 Scottsdale Maricopa 242,753 17 Maricopa Pinal 62,720 8 Peoria Maricopa 194,917 18 Lake Havasu City Mohave 58,284 9 Tempe Maricopa 184,118 19 Casa Grande Pinal 57,699 10 Surprise Maricopa 149,191 20 Marana Pima 54,895 Demographics Main article: Demographics of Arizona A population density map of Arizona A population density map of Arizona   Map of counties in Arizona by racial plurality, per the 2020 U.S. census Legend Non-Hispanic White   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80% Native American   40–50%   70–80% Hispanic or Latino   60–70%   80–90% Map of counties in Arizona by racial plurality, per the 2020 U.S. census Legend   Extent of the Spanish language in the state of Arizona Extent of the Spanish language in the state of Arizona   Ethnic origins in Arizona Ethnic origins in Arizona Historical population Census Pop. Note %± 1860 6,482 — 1870 9,658 49.0% 1880 40,440 318.7% 1890 88,243 118.2% 1900 122,931 39.3% 1910 204,354 66.2% 1920 334,162 63.5% 1930 435,573 30.3% 1940 499,261 14.6% 1950 749,587 50.1% 1960 1,302,161 73.7% 1970 1,770,900 36.0% 1980 2,718,215 53.5% 1990 3,665,228 34.8% 2000 5,130,632 40.0% 2010 6,392,017 24.6% 2020 7,151,502 11.9% 2022 (est.) 7,359,197 2.9% Sources: 1910–2020[73] Note that early censuses may not include Native Americans in Arizona 2022[74] The United States Census Bureau records Arizona's population as 7,151,502 in the 2020 census,[7] a 12% increase since the 2010 United States census.[73] Arizona remained sparsely settled for most of the 19th century.[75] The 1860 census reported the population of "Arizona County" to be 6,482, of whom 4,040 were listed as "Indians", 21 as "free colored", and 2,421 as "white".[76][77] Arizona's continued population growth puts an enormous stress on the state's water supply.[78] As of 2011, 61% of Arizona's children under age one belonged to racial groups of color. [79] The population of metropolitan Phoenix increased by 45% from 1991 through 2001, helping to make Arizona the second fastest-growing state in the U.S. in the 1990s (the fastest was Nevada).[80] As of July 2018, the population of the Phoenix area is estimated to be over 4.9 million. According to the 2010 United States census, Arizona had a population of 6,392,017. In 2010, illegal immigrants constituted an estimated 8% of the population. This was the second highest percentage of any state in the U.S.[81][b] Metropolitan Phoenix (4.7 million) and Tucson (1.0 million) are home to about five-sixths of Arizona's people (as of the 2010 census). Metro Phoenix alone accounts for two-thirds of the state's population. According to HUD's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report, there were an estimated 13,553 homeless people in Arizona.[82][83] In 2018, The top countries of origin for Arizona’s immigrants were Mexico, Canada, India, the Philippines and China.[84] Race and ethnicity See also: Hispanics and Latinos in Arizona and Indigenous peoples of Arizona Ethnic composition as of the 2020 census  Race and ethnicity[85] Alone Total White (non-Hispanic) 53.4%   56.8%   Hispanic or Latino[c] — 30.7%   African American (non-Hispanic) 4.4%   5.5%   Native American (non-Hispanic) 3.7%   4.9%   Asian 3.5%   4.5%   Pacific Islander 0.2%   0.4%   Other 0.4%   1.2%   Historical racial demographics  Racial composition 1970[86] 1990[86] 2000[87] 2010[88] White (non-Hispanic) 74.3% 71.7% 63.8% 57.8% Native (non-Hispanic) 5.4% 5.6% 5.0% 4.6% Black (non-Hispanic) - - - 4.1% Asian - - - 2.8% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander - – – 0.2% Other race - - - 11.6% Two or more races – – - 3.4% Languages Top 10 non-English languages spoken in Arizona Language Percentage of population (as of 2010)[89] Spanish 21% Navajo 2% German <1% Chinese (including Mandarin) <1% Tagalog <1% Vietnamese <1% Other North American indigenous languages (especially indigenous languages of Arizona) <1% French <1% Arabic <1% Apache <1% Korean <1% A Navajo man on horseback in Monument Valley As of 2010, 73% (4,215,749) of Arizona residents age five and older spoke only English at home, while 21% (1,202,638) spoke Spanish, 2% (85,602) Navajo, <1% (22,592) German, <1% (22,426) Chinese (which includes Mandarin), <1% (19,015) Tagalog, <1% (17,603) Vietnamese, <1% (15,707) Other North American Indigenous Languages (especially indigenous languages of Arizona), and French was spoken as a main language by <1% (15,062) of the population over the age of five. In total, 27% (1,567,548) of Arizona's population age five and older spoke a mother language other than English.[89] Arizona is home to the largest number of speakers of Native American languages in the 48 contiguous states, as more than 85,000 individuals reported speaking Navajo,[90] and 10,403 people reported Apache, as a language spoken at home in 2005.[90] Arizona's Apache County has the highest concentration of speakers of Native American Indian languages in the United States.[91] Religion The Spanish mission of San Xavier del Bac, founded in 1700 Religious self-identification, per Public Religion Research Institute's 2022 American Values Survey[92]   Protestantism (32%)   Catholicism (24%)   Mormonism (6%)   Jehovah's Witness (1%)   Unaffilated (31%)   Judaism (2%)   New Age (1%)   Other (3%) The 2010 U.S. Religion Census: Religious Congregations & Membership Study by ARDA reported that the three largest denominational groups in Arizona were the Catholic Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and non-denominational Evangelical Protestants. The Catholic Church had the highest number of adherents in Arizona (at 930,001), followed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with 392,918 members reported and then non-denominational Evangelical Protestant churches, reporting 281,105 adherents. The religious body with the largest number of congregations is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (with 811 congregations) followed by the Southern Baptist Convention (with 323 congregations).[93] This census accounted for about 2.4 million of Arizona's 6.4 million residents in 2010. According to the Association of Religion Data Archives, the fifteen largest denominations by number of adherents in 2010 and 2000 were:[94][95] Religion 2010 population 2000 population Unclaimed[96][97] 4,012,089 Catholic Church 930,001 974,884 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 410,263 251,974 Non-denominational Christianity 281,105 63,885[d] Southern Baptist Convention 126,830 138,516 Assemblies of God 123,713 82,802 United Methodist Church 54,977 53,232 Christian Churches and Churches of Christ 48,386 33,162 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 42,944 69,393 Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod 26,322 24,977 Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 26,078 33,554 Episcopal Church (United States) 24,853 31,104 Seventh-day Adventist Church 20,924 11,513 Church of the Nazarene 16,991 18,143 Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ 14,350 0 Churches of Christ 14,151 14,471 Hinduism became the largest non-Christian religion (when combining all denominations) in 2010 with more than 32,000 adherents, followed by Judaism with more than 20,000 and Buddhism with more than 19,000.[94][98][99] By the publication of the Public Religion Research Institute's 2020 study, 68% of the population identified as Christian.[100] At the Pew Research Center's 2014 study, 67% of Arizona was Christian.[101] Among the irreligious population from 2014 to 2020 per both studies, they have decreased from 27% of the population to 24% of self-identified irreligious or agnostic Arizonans. Additionally, a third separate study by the Association of Religion Data Archives in 2020 determined Christianity as the dominant religion in the state, with Catholics numbering 1,522,410 adherents and non-denominational Christians increasing to 402,842 Arizonan Christians.[102] Economy See also: Economy of Arizona and Arizona locations by per capita income Arizona's Meteor Crater is a tourist attraction. The 2020 total gross state product was $373 billion. The composition of the state's economy is moderately diverse, although health care, transportation and the government remain the largest sectors.[103] The state's per capita income is $40,828, ranking 39th in the U.S. The state had a median household income of $50,448, making it 22nd in the country and just below the U.S. national mean.[104] Early in its history, Arizona's economy relied on the "five C's": copper (see Copper mining in Arizona), cotton, cattle, citrus, and climate (tourism). Copper is still extensively mined from many expansive open-pit and underground mines, accounting for two-thirds of the nation's output. Employment Total employment (2016): 2,379,409 Total employer establishments (2016): 139,134[105] The state government is Arizona's largest employer, while Banner Health is the state's largest private employer, with more than 39,000 employees (2016). As of August 2020, the state's unemployment rate was 5.9%.[106] The largest employment sectors in Arizona are (August 2020, Nonfarm Employment):[106] Sector Employees Trade, transportation, and utilities 553,300 Education and health services 459,400 Government 430,400 Professional and business services 419,200 Leisure and hospitality 269,400 Financial activities 231,900 Manufacturing 170,900 Construction 169,900 Other services 95,600 Information 46,100 Mining and logging 13,300 State symbols of Arizona List of state symbols Flag of Arizona Seal of Arizona Slogan The Grand Canyon State Living insignia Amphibian Arizona tree frog Bird Cactus wren Butterfly Two-tailed swallowtail Fish Apache trout Flower Saguaro cactus blossom Mammal Ringtail Reptile Arizona ridge-nosed rattlesnake Tree Palo verde Inanimate insignia Color(s) Blue, old gold Dinosaur Sonorasaurus Firearm Colt Single Action Army revolver Fossil Petrified wood Gemstone Turquoise Mineral Copper Rock Petrified wood Ship USS Arizona State route marker Route marker State quarter Arizona quarter dollar coin Released in 2008 Lists of United States state symbols Largest employers According to The Arizona Republic, the largest private employers in the state as of 2019 were:[107] Taxation Tax is collected by the Arizona Department of Revenue.[108] Arizona collects personal income taxes in five brackets: 2.59%, 2.88%, 3.36%, 4.24% and 4.54%.[109] The state transaction privilege tax is 5.6%; however, county and municipal sales taxes generally add an additional 2%. In 2020, Arizona voters approved Proposition 208 to create an additional income tax bracket of 8% for incomes over $250,000 (single filers) and $500,000 (joint filers).[110] The Goldwater Institute filed a lawsuit challenging it, but it was rejected by Maricopa County Arizona Superior Court judge John Hannah Jr.[111][112] The state rate on transient lodging (hotel/motel) is 7.27%. The state of Arizona does not levy a state tax on food for home consumption or on drugs prescribed by a licensed physician or dentist. However, some cities in Arizona do levy a tax on food for home consumption. All fifteen Arizona counties levy a tax. Incorporated municipalities also levy transaction privilege taxes which, with the exception of their hotel/motel tax, are generally in the range of 1-to-3%. These added assessments could push the combined sales tax rate to as high as 10.7%.[citation needed] Single Tax rate Joint Tax rate 0 – $10,000 2.59% 0 – $20,000 2.59% $10,000 – $25,000 2.88% $20,001 – $50,000 2.88% $25,000 – $50,000 3.36% $50,001 – $100,000 3.36% $50,000 – $150,001 4.24% $100,000 – $300,001 4.24% $150,001 + 4.54% $300,001 + 4.54% Agriculture Romaine, Yuma Multiple crops are grown in Arizona, including lettuce, spinach, cantaloupe, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and watermelon.[113] The whitefly Bemisia tabaci B was introduced through the poinsettia trade in the 1980s, displacing the previous A biotype.[115] In 2004 the Q biotype (from the Mediterranean) was first found here, also on poinsettia.[115] The Colorado Potato Beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) is either native or an early introduction here.[116] Unusually, the population here commonly feeds on Silverleaf Nightshade (Solanum elaeagnifolium), which is usually a less attractive host for this beetle.[116] The CPB is an occasional pest of tomato.[116] Transportation Main article: Transportation in Arizona Entering Arizona on I-10 from New Mexico Highways Interstate highways  I-8 |  I-10 |  Future I-11 |  I-15 |  I-17 |  I-19 |  I-40 U.S. routes  US 60 |  US 64 |  Historic US 66 |  US 70 |  Historic US 80 |  US 89 |  US 89A |  US 91 |  US 93 |  US 95 |  US 160 |  US 163 |  US 180 |  US 191 Main Interstate routes include I-17, and I-19 traveling north–south, I-8, I-10, and I-40, traveling east–west, and a short stretch of I-15 traveling northeast–southwest through the extreme northwestern corner of the state. In addition, the various urban areas are served by complex networks of state routes and highways, such as the Loop 101, which is part of Phoenix's vast freeway system.[117] Public transportation, Amtrak, and intercity bus See also: List of passenger train stations in Arizona The Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas are served by public bus transit systems. Yuma and Flagstaff also have public bus systems. Greyhound Lines serves Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, Yuma, and several smaller communities statewide. A light rail system, called Valley Metro Rail, was completed in December 2008; it connects Central Phoenix with the nearby cities of Mesa and Tempe.[118] In Tucson, the Sun Link streetcar system travels through the downtown area, connecting the main University of Arizona campus with Mercado San Agustin on the western edge of downtown Tucson. Sun Link, loosely based on the Portland Streetcar, launched in July 2014.[119] Amtrak Southwest Chief route serves the northern part of the state, stopping at Winslow, Flagstaff, Williams and Kingman. The Texas Eagle and Sunset Limited routes serve South-Central Arizona, stopping at Tucson, Maricopa, Yuma and Benson. Phoenix lost Amtrak service in 1996 with the rerouting of the Sunset Limited, and now an Amtrak bus runs between Phoenix and the station in Maricopa. As of 2021, Amtrak has proposed to restore rail service between Phoenix and Tucson.[120] Law and government Main article: Government of Arizona See also: Arizona Constitution, United States congressional delegations from Arizona, List of Arizona Governors, Political party strength in Arizona, and Arizona Revised Statutes This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Capitol complex The original Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix The capital of Arizona is Phoenix. The original Capitol building, with its distinctive copper dome, was dedicated in 1901 (construction was completed for $136,000 in 1900) when the area was a territory. Phoenix became the official state capital with Arizona's admission to the union in 1912.[121] The House of Representatives and Senate buildings were dedicated in 1960, and an Executive Office Building was dedicated in 1974 (the ninth floor of this building is where the Office of the Governor is located). The original Capitol building was converted into a museum. The Capitol complex is fronted and highlighted by the richly landscaped Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza, named after Wesley Bolin, a governor who died in office in the 1970s. The site also includes many monuments and memorials, including the anchor and signal mast from the USS Arizona (one of the U.S. Navy ships sunk in Pearl Harbor) and a granite version of the Ten Commandments. State legislative branch The Arizona Legislature is bicameral and consists of a thirty-member Senate and a 60-member House of Representatives. Each of the thirty legislative districts has one senator and two representatives. Legislators are elected for two-year terms.[122] Each Legislature covers a two-year period. The first session following the general election is known as the first regular session, and the session convening in the second year is known as the second regular session. Each regular session begins on the second Monday in January and adjourns sine die (terminates for the year) no later than Saturday of the week in which the 100th day from the beginning of the regular session falls. The President of the Senate and Speaker of the House, by rule, may extend the session up to seven additional days. Thereafter, the session can be extended only by a majority vote of members present of each house. The majority party is the Republican Party, which has held power in both houses since 1993. The Democratic Party picked up several legislative seats in recent elections, bringing both chambers one seat away from being equally divided as of 2021.[123] Arizona state senators and representatives are elected for two-year terms and are limited to four consecutive terms in a chamber, though there is no limit on the total number of terms. When a lawmaker is term-limited from office, it is common for him or her to run for election in the other chamber. State executive branch State of Arizona elected officials Governor Katie Hobbs (D) Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) State Treasurer Kimberly Yee (R) Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne (R) State Mine Inspector Paul Marsh (R) Corporation Commissioner Nick Myers (R) James O'Connor (R) Lea Márquez Peterson (R) Anna Tovar (D) Kevin Thompson (R) Speaker of the House Ben Toma (R) President of the Senate Warren Petersen (R) Arizona's executive branch is headed by a governor, who is elected to a four-year term. The governor may serve any number of terms, though no more than two in a row. Arizona is one of the few states that has no governor's mansion. During their term, the governors reside within their private residence, with executive offices housed in the executive tower at the state capitol. The governor of Arizona is Katie Hobbs (D). Governor Jan Brewer assumed office in 2009 after Janet Napolitano had her nomination by Barack Obama for Secretary of Homeland Security confirmed by the Senate.[124] Arizona has had four female governors, more than any other state. Other elected executive officials include the Secretary of State, State Treasurer, State Attorney General, Superintendent of Public Instruction, State Mine Inspector, and a five-member Corporation Commission. All elected officials hold a term of four years, and are limited to two consecutive terms (except the office of the State Mine Inspector, which is limited to four terms).[125] Arizona is one of five states that do not have a lieutenant governor. The elected secretary of state is first in line to succeed the governor in the event of death, disability, resignation, or removal from office. If appointed, the Secretary of State is not eligible and the next governor is selected from the next eligible official in the line of succession, including the attorney general, state treasurer, and superintendent of public instruction. Since 1977, four secretaries of state and one attorney general have succeeded to Arizona's governorship. State judicial branch The Arizona Supreme Court is the highest court in Arizona, consisting of a chief justice, a vice chief justice, and five associate justices. Justices are appointed by the governor from a list recommended by a bipartisan commission and must be sustained in office by election after the first two years following their appointment. Subsequent sustaining elections occur every six years. The supreme court has appellate jurisdiction in death penalty cases, but nearly all other appellate cases go through the Arizona Court of Appeals first. The court has original jurisdiction in a few other circumstances, as outlined in the state constitution. The court meets in the Arizona Supreme Court Building at the capitol complex (at the southern end of Wesley Bolin Plaza). The Arizona Court of Appeals, subdivided into two divisions, is the intermediate court in the state. Division One is based in Phoenix, consists of nineteen judges, and has jurisdiction in the Western and Northern regions of the state, along with the greater Phoenix area. Division Two is based in Tucson, consists of nine judges, and has jurisdiction over the Southern regions of the state, including the Tucson area. Judges are selected in a method similar to the one used for state supreme court justices. Each county of Arizona has a superior court, the size and organization of which are varied and generally depend on the size of the particular county. Counties Art Deco doors of the Cochise County Courthouse in Bisbee Arizona is divided into 15 counties, ranging in size from 1,238 square miles (3,210 km2) to 18,661 square miles (48,330 km2). Arizona counties County name County seat Founded 2020 population[126] Percent of total Area (sq mi) Percent of total Apache St. Johns February 24, 1879 66,021 0.9% 11,218 9.8% Cochise Bisbee February 1, 1881 125,447 1.8% 6,219 5.5% Coconino Flagstaff February 18, 1891 145,101 2.0% 18,661 16.4% Gila Globe February 8, 1881 53,272 0.7% 4,796 4.2% Graham Safford March 10, 1881 38,533 0.5% 4,641 4.1% Greenlee Clifton March 10, 1909 9,563 0.1% 1,848 1.6% La Paz Parker January 1, 1983 16,557 0.2% 4,513 4.0% Maricopa Phoenix February 14, 1871 4,420,568 61.8% 9,224 8.1% Mohave Kingman November 9, 1864 213,267 3.0% 13,470 11.8% Navajo Holbrook March 21, 1895 106,717 1.5% 9,959 8.7% Pima Tucson November 9, 1864 1,043,433 14.6% 9,189 8.1% Pinal Florence February 1, 1875 425,264 6.0% 5,374 4.7% Santa Cruz Nogales March 15, 1899 47,669 0.7% 1,238 1.1% Yavapai Prescott November 9, 1864 236,209 3.3% 8,128 7.1% Yuma Yuma November 9, 1864 203,881 2.9% 5,519 4.8% Totals: 15 7,151,502 113,997 Federal representation Arizona's two United States Senators are Kyrsten Sinema (I) and Mark Kelly (D). Arizona's United States Representatives are David Schweikert (R-1), Eli Crane (R-2), Ruben Gallego (D-3), Greg Stanton (D-4), Andy Biggs (R-5), Juan Ciscomani (R-6), Raul Grijalva (D-7), Debbie Lesko (R-8), and Paul Gosar (R-9). Arizona gained a ninth seat in the House of Representatives due to redistricting based on the 2010 United States census. Political culture See also: Elections in Arizona, Political party strength in Arizona, and United States presidential elections in Arizona Voter registration as of July 2023[127] Party Number of voters Percentage Other 1,450,697 34.55% Republican 1,445,127 34.42% Democratic 1,260,659 30.02% Libertarian 33,738 0.80% No Labels 8,505 0.20% Total 4,198,726 100.00% Party registration by Arizona county (January 2023)   Democrat ≥ 30%   Democrat ≥ 40%   Democrat ≥ 50%   Republican ≥ 30%   Republican ≥ 40%   Republican ≥ 50%   Unaffiliated ≥ 30% From statehood through the late 1940s, Arizona was primarily dominated by the Democratic Party. During this time, the Democratic candidate for the presidency carried the state each election, the only exceptions being the elections of 1920, 1924 and 1928 – all three were national Republican landslides. In 1924, Congress had passed a law granting citizenship and suffrage to all Native Americans, some of whom had previously been excluded as members of tribes on reservations. Legal interpretations of Arizona's constitution prohibited Native Americans living on reservations from voting, classifying them as being under "guardianship".[51] This interpretation was overturned as being incorrect and unconstitutional in 1948 by the Arizona Supreme Court, following a suit by World War II Indian veterans Frank Harrison and Harry Austin, both of the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation. The landmark case is Harrison and Austin v. Laveen. After the men were refused the opportunity to register in Maricopa County, they filed suit against the registrar. The National Congress of American Indians, the Department of Justice, the Department of the Interior, and the American Civil Liberties Union all filed amicus curiae (friends of the court) briefs in the case. The State Supreme Court established the rights of Native Americans to vote in the state; at the time, they comprised about 11% of the population.[51] That year, a similar provision was overturned in New Mexico when challenged by another Indian veteran in court. These were the only two states that had continued to prohibit Native Americans from voting.[128][51] Arizona voted Republican in every presidential election from 1952 to 1992, with Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan winning the state by particularly large margins. During this forty-year span, it was the only state not to be carried by a Democrat at least once. United States presidential election results for Arizona[129]  Year Republican Democratic Third party No.  % No.  % No.  % 2020 1,661,686 48.91% 1,672,143 49.22% 63,559 1.87% 2016 1,252,401 48.08% 1,161,167 44.58% 191,089 7.34% 2012 1,233,654 53.48% 1,025,232 44.45% 47,673 2.07% 2008 1,230,111 53.39% 1,034,707 44.91% 39,020 1.69% 2004 1,104,294 54.77% 893,524 44.32% 18,284 0.91% 2000 781,652 50.95% 685,341 44.67% 67,120 4.38% 1996 622,073 44.29% 653,288 46.52% 129,044 9.19% 1992 572,086 38.47% 543,050 36.52% 371,870 25.01% 1988 702,541 59.95% 454,029 38.74% 15,303 1.31% 1984 681,416 66.42% 333,854 32.54% 10,627 1.04% 1980 529,688 60.61% 246,843 28.24% 97,414 11.15% 1976 418,642 56.37% 295,602 39.80% 28,475 3.83% 1972 402,812 61.64% 198,540 30.38% 52,153 7.98% 1968 266,721 54.78% 170,514 35.02% 49,701 10.21% 1964 242,535 50.45% 237,753 49.45% 482 0.10% 1960 221,241 55.52% 176,781 44.36% 469 0.12% 1956 176,990 60.99% 112,880 38.90% 303 0.10% 1952 152,042 58.35% 108,528 41.65% 0 0.00% 1948 77,597 43.82% 95,251 53.79% 4,217 2.38% 1944 56,287 40.90% 80,926 58.80% 421 0.31% 1940 54,030 36.01% 95,267 63.49% 742 0.49% 1936 33,433 26.93% 86,722 69.85% 4,008 3.23% 1932 36,104 30.53% 79,264 67.03% 2,883 2.44% 1928 52,533 57.57% 38,537 42.23% 184 0.20% 1924 30,516 41.26% 26,235 35.47% 17,210 23.27% 1920 37,016 55.61% 29,546 44.39% 0 0.00% 1916 20,524 35.37% 33,170 57.17% 4,327 7.46% 1912 3,021 12.74% 10,324 43.52% 10,377 43.74% Democrat Lyndon Johnson, in 1964, lost the state by fewer than 5,000 votes to Arizona Senator and native Barry Goldwater. (This was the most closely contested state in what was otherwise a landslide victory for Johnson that year.) Democrat Bill Clinton ended this streak in 1996, when he won Arizona by a little over two percentage points (Clinton had previously come within less than two percent of winning Arizona's electoral votes in 1992). From 2000 until 2016, the majority of the state continued to support Republican presidential candidates by solid margins. In the 2020 United States presidential election, Joe Biden again broke the streak by becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Arizona since 1996.[130] Since the mid 20th century, the Republican Party has also dominated Arizona politics in general. The fast-growing Phoenix and Tucson suburbs became reliably Republican areas from the 1950s onward. During this time, many "Pinto Democrats", or conservative Democrats from rural areas, became increasingly willing to support Republicans at the state and national level. While the state normally supports Republicans at the federal level, Democrats are often competitive in statewide elections. Two of the last six governors have been Democrats. On March 4, 2008, Senator John McCain effectively clinched the Republican nomination for 2008, becoming the first major party presidential nominee from the state since Barry Goldwater in 1964. Arizona politics are dominated by a longstanding rivalry between its two largest counties, Maricopa and Pima – home to Phoenix and Tucson, respectively. The two counties have almost 75 percent of the state's population and cast almost 80 percent of the state's vote. They also elect a substantial majority of the state legislature. Maricopa County is home to almost 60 percent of the state's population, and most of the state's elected officials live there. Before Joe Biden won Maricopa County in 2020, it had voted Republican in every presidential election since 1952. This includes the 1964 run of native son Barry Goldwater; he would not have carried his home state without his 20,000-vote margin in Maricopa County. Similarly, McCain won Arizona by eight percentage points in 2008, aided by his 130,000-vote margin in Maricopa County. In contrast, Pima County, home to Tucson, and most of southern Arizona have historically voted more Democratic. While Tucson's suburbs lean Republican, they hold to a somewhat more moderate brand of Republicanism than is common in the Phoenix area. Arizona teacher's strike and rally on April 26, 2018 Arizona rejected a same-sex marriage ban in a referendum as part of the 2006 elections. Arizona was the first state in the nation to do so. Same-sex marriage was not recognized in Arizona, but this amendment would have denied any legal or financial benefits to unmarried homosexual or heterosexual couples.[131] In 2008, Arizona voters passed Proposition 102, an amendment to the state constitution to define marriage as a union of one man and one woman. It passed by a more narrow majority than similar votes in a number of other states.[132] In 2010, Arizona adopted SB 1070, called the "toughest immigration law" in the United States. A fierce debate erupted between supporters and detractors of SB 1070.[133] The United States Supreme Court struck down portions of the Arizona law, which required all immigrants to carry immigration papers at all times, in Arizona v. United States.[134] The West Virginia teachers' strike in 2018 inspired teachers in other states, including Arizona, to take similar action.[135] Arizona retains the death penalty. There is currently a gubernatorial hold on executions. Authorized methods of execution include the gas chamber.[136] Same-sex marriage and civil unions In 2006, Arizona became the first state in the United States to reject a proposition, Prop 107, that would have banned same-sex marriage and civil unions.[137] However, in 2008, Arizona voters approved of Prop 102, a constitutional amendment that prohibited same-sex marriage but not other unions.[138] Prior to same-sex marriage being legal, the City of Bisbee became the first jurisdiction in Arizona to approve of civil unions.[139] The state's Attorney General at the time, Tom Horne, threatened to sue, but rescinded the threat once Bisbee amended the ordinance; Bisbee approved of civil unions in 2013.[140] The municipalities of Clarkdale, Cottonwood, Jerome, Sedona, and Tucson also passed civil unions.[141] A November 2011 Public Policy Polling survey found 44% of Arizona voters supported the legalization of same-sex marriage, while 45% opposed it and 12% were not sure. A separate question on the same survey found 72% of respondents supported legal recognition of same-sex couples, with 40% supporting same-sex marriage, 32% supporting civil unions, 27% opposing all legal recognition and 1% not sure. Arizona Proposition 102, known by its supporters as the Marriage Protection Amendment, appeared as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on the November 4, 2008 ballot in Arizona, where it was approved: 56–43%. It amended the Arizona Constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman.[142] On October 17, 2014, Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne announced his office would no longer object to same-sex marriage, in response to a U.S. District Court Ruling on Arizona Proposition 102. On that day, each county's Clerk of the Superior Court began to issue same-sex marriage licenses, and Arizona became the 31st state to legalize same-sex marriage.[143] The 2023 American Values Atlas by Public Religion Research Institute found that an overwhelming majority of residents support same-sex marriage.[144] Education Elementary and secondary education Public schools in Arizona are separated into about 220 local school districts which operate independently, but are governed in most cases by elected county school superintendents; these are in turn overseen by the Arizona State Board of Education and the Arizona Department of Education. A state Superintendent of Public Instruction (elected in partisan elections every even-numbered year when there is not a presidential election, for a four-year term). In 2005, a School District Redistricting Commission was established with the goal of combining and consolidating many of these districts.[145] Higher education The University of Arizona (the Mall) in Tucson Arizona State University (a biodesign building) in Tempe Northern Arizona University (The Skydome) in Flagstaff Arizona is served by three public universities: The University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and Northern Arizona University. These schools are governed by the Arizona Board of Regents. Private higher education in Arizona is dominated by a large number of for-profit and "chain" (multi-site) universities.[146] Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott and Prescott College are Arizona's only non-profit four-year private colleges.[147] Arizona has a wide network of two-year vocational schools and community colleges. These colleges were governed historically by a separate statewide board of directors but, in 2002, the state legislature transferred almost all oversight authority to individual community college districts.[148] The Maricopa County Community College District includes 11 community colleges throughout Maricopa County and is one of the largest in the nation. Public universities in Arizona Arizona State University, (Sun Devils) Tempe/Phoenix/Mesa/Glendale/Lake Havasu Northern Arizona University, (Lumberjacks) Flagstaff/Yuma/Prescott University of Arizona, (Wildcats) Tucson/Sierra Vista, MD college in downtown Phoenix and UA Agricultural Center in Yuma/Maricopa Private colleges and universities in Arizona For a more comprehensive list, see List of colleges and universities in Arizona. American Indian College Carrington College Arizona Christian University Art Center College of Design Art Institute of Tucson Art Institute of Phoenix A.T. Still University Brookline College Brown Mackie College Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Grand Canyon University International Baptist College Midwestern University Northcentral University Ottawa University Park University University of Phoenix Penn Foster College[149] Prescott College Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine Thunderbird School of Global Management University of Advancing Technology Western International University Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences Community colleges For a more comprehensive list, see List of community colleges in Arizona. Arizona Western College Central Arizona College Cochise College Coconino Community College Diné College Eastern Arizona College Chandler-Gilbert Community College Estrella Mountain Community College GateWay Community College Glendale Community College Maricopa County Community College District Mesa Community College Mohave Community College Northland Pioneer College Paradise Valley Community College Phoenix College Pima Community College Rio Salado Community College Scottsdale Community College South Mountain Community College Yavapai College Art and culture This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Visual arts and museums See also: List of museums in Arizona Phoenix Art Museum, on the historic Central Avenue Corridor in Phoenix, is the Southwest's largest collection of visual art from across the world. The museum displays international exhibitions alongside the museum's collection of more than 18,000 works of American, Asian, European, Latin American, Western American, modern and contemporary art, and fashion design. With a community education mandate since 1951, Phoenix Art Museum holds a year-round program of festivals, live performances, independent art films and educational programs. The museum also has PhxArtKids, an interactive space for children; photography exhibitions through the museum's partnership with the Center for Creative Photography; the landscaped Sculpture Garden and dining at Arcadia Farms.[150] Arizona is a recognized center of Native American art, with a number of galleries showcasing historical and contemporary works. The Heard Museum, also in Phoenix, is a major repository of Native American art. Some of the signature exhibits include a full Navajo hogan, the Mareen Allen Nichols Collection containing 260 pieces of contemporary jewelry, the Barry Goldwater Collection of 437 historic Hopi kachina dolls, and an exhibit on the 19th-century boarding school experiences of Native Americans. The Heard Museum has about 250,000 visitors a year. Sedona, Jerome, and Tubac are known as budding artist colonies, and small arts scenes exist in the larger cities and near the state universities.[151] Film See also: List of films shot in Arizona View of Monument Valley from John Ford's Point Several major Hollywood films, such as Billy Jack, U Turn, Waiting to Exhale, Just One of the Guys, Can't Buy Me Love, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, The Scorpion King, The Banger Sisters, Used Cars, and Raising Arizona have been made there (as have many Westerns). The 1993 science fiction movie Fire in the Sky, based on a reported alien abduction in the town of Snowflake, was set in Snowflake. It was filmed in the Oregon towns of Oakland, Roseburg, and Sutherlin. The 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, for which Ellen Burstyn won the Academy Award for Best Actress, and also starring Kris Kristofferson, was set in Tucson. The climax of the 1977 Clint Eastwood film The Gauntlet takes place in downtown Phoenix. The final segments of the 1984 film Starman take place at Meteor Crater outside Winslow. The Jeff Foxworthy comedy documentary movie Blue Collar Comedy Tour was filmed almost entirely at the Dodge Theatre. Some of Alfred Hitchcock's classic film Psycho was shot in Phoenix, the ostensible home town of the main character. Some of the television shows filmed or set in Arizona include The New Dick Van Dyke Show, Medium, Alice, The First 48, Insomniac with Dave Attell, Cops, and America's Most Wanted. The TV sitcom Alice, which was based on the movie was set in Phoenix. Twilight had passages set in Phoenix at the beginning and the end of the film. Music Main article: Music of Arizona Arizona is prominently featured in the lyrics of many Country and Western songs, such as Jamie O'Neal's hit ballad "There Is No Arizona". George Strait's "Oceanfront Property" uses "ocean front property in Arizona" as a metaphor for a sucker proposition. The line "see you down in Arizona Bay" is used in a Tool song in reference to the possibility (expressed as a hope by comedian Bill Hicks) that Southern California will one day fall into the ocean. Glen Campbell, a notable resident, popularized the song "By The Time I Get To Phoenix". Standin' on the Corner Park and mural in Winslow, Arizona "Arizona" was the title of a popular song recorded by Mark Lindsay. Arizona is mentioned by the hit song "Take It Easy", written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey and performed by the Eagles. Arizona is also mentioned in the Beatles' song "Get Back", credited to John Lennon and Paul McCartney; McCartney sings: "JoJo left his home in Tucson, Arizona, for some California grass." "Carefree Highway", released in 1974 by Gordon Lightfoot, takes its name from Arizona State Route 74 north of Phoenix.[152] Arizona's budding music scene is helped by emerging bands, as well as some well-known artists. The Gin Blossoms, Chronic Future, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, Jimmy Eat World, Caroline's Spine, and others began their careers in Arizona. Also, a number of punk and rock bands got their start in Arizona, including JFA, The Feederz, Sun City Girls, The Meat Puppets, The Maine, The Summer Set, and more recently Authority Zero and Digital Summer. Arizona also has many singers and other musicians. Singer, songwriter and guitarist Michelle Branch is from Sedona. Chester Bennington, the former lead vocalist of Linkin Park, and mash-up artist DJ Z-Trip are both from Phoenix. One of Arizona's better known musicians is shock rocker Alice Cooper, who helped define the genre. Maynard James Keenan, the lead singer of the bands Tool, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer, calls the town of Cornville home. Other notable singers include country singers Dierks Bentley and Marty Robbins, folk singer Katie Lee, Fleetwood Mac's Stevie Nicks, CeCe Peniston, Rex Allen, 2007 American Idol winner Jordin Sparks, and Linda Ronstadt. Arizona is also known for its heavy metal scene, which is centered in and around Phoenix. In the early to mid-1990s, it included bands such as Job for a Cowboy, Knights of the Abyss, Greeley Estates, Eyes Set To Kill, blessthefall, The Word Alive, The Dead Rabbitts, and Abigail Williams. The band Soulfly calls Phoenix home and Megadeth lived in Phoenix for about a decade. Beginning in and around 2009, Phoenix began to host a burgeoning desert rock and sludge metal underground, (ala' Kyuss in 1990s California) led by bands like Wolves of Winter, Asimov, and Dead Canyon. American composer Elliott Carter composed his first String Quartet (1950–51) while on sabbatical (from New York) in Arizona. The quartet won a Pulitzer Prize and other awards and is now a staple of the string quartet repertoire.[citation needed] Sports Main article: Sports in Arizona Club Sport League Championships Arizona Cardinals American football National Football League 2 (1925, 1947) Arizona Diamondbacks Baseball Major League Baseball 1 (2001) Phoenix Suns Basketball National Basketball Association 0 Arizona Coyotes Ice hockey National Hockey League 0 Phoenix Mercury Basketball Women's National Basketball Association 3 (2007, 2009, 2014) Phoenix Rising FC Soccer USL Championship 0 Tucson Roadrunners Ice hockey American Hockey League 0 Arizona Rattlers Indoor football Indoor Football League 6 (1994, 1997, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017) State Farm Stadium in Glendale Four Super Bowls have been held in Arizona, including Super Bowl LVII which was held at State Farm Stadium on February 12, 2023.[153] Due to its numerous golf courses, Arizona is home to several stops on the PGA Tour, most notably the Phoenix Open, held at the TPC of Scottsdale, and the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Marana.[154] Auto racing is another sport known in the state. Phoenix Raceway in Avondale is home to NASCAR race weekends twice a year. Firebird International Raceway near Chandler is home to drag racing and other motorsport events.[155] College sports College sports are also prevalent in Arizona. The Arizona State Sun Devils and the Arizona Wildcats belong to the Pac-12 Conference while the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks compete in the Big Sky Conference and the Grand Canyon Antelopes compete in the Western Athletic Conference. The rivalry between Arizona State Sun Devils and the Arizona Wildcats predates Arizona's statehood, and is the oldest rivalry in the NCAA.[156] The Territorial Cup, first awarded in 1889 and certified as the oldest trophy in college football,[157] is awarded to the winner of the annual football game between the two schools. Arizona also hosts several college football bowl games. The Fiesta Bowl, originally held at Sun Devil Stadium, is now held at State Farm Stadium in Glendale. The Fiesta Bowl is part of the new College Football Playoff (CFP). University of Phoenix Stadium was also home to the 2007 and 2011 BCS National Championship Games. A spring training game between the Cubs and White Sox at HoHoKam Park State Farm Stadium hosted the Final Four of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament in 2017 and is scheduled to host it again in 2024.[158] Baseball Arizona is a popular location for Major League Baseball spring training, as it is the site of the Cactus League. Spring training was first started in Arizona in 1947, when Brewers owner Veeck sold them in 1945 but went on to purchase the Cleveland Indians in 1946. He decided to train the Cleveland Indians in Tucson and convinced the New York Giants to give Phoenix a try. Thus, the Cactus League was born.[159] On March 9, 1995, Arizona was awarded a franchise to begin to play for the 1998 season. A $130 million franchise fee was paid to Major League Baseball and on January 16, 1997, the Diamondbacks were officially voted into the National League. Since their debut, the Diamondbacks have won five National League West titles, one National League Championship pennant, and the 2001 World Series.[160] Notable people For a more comprehensive list, see List of people from Arizona. See also flag Arizona portal Outline of Arizona Index of Arizona-related articles USS Arizona, 4 ships Notes  Elevation adjusted to North American Vertical Datum of 1988.  second to Nevada with 9% in 2010  Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin are not distinguished between total and partial ancestry.  In 2000, this designation was broken into two groups: Independent, Non-Charismatic Churches (34,130 adherents) and Independent, Charismatic Churches (29,755 adherents)
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