Gila River
The river in the Gila Box Canyon in eastern Arizona
Country	United States
States	New Mexico, Arizona
Tributaries
- left	San Simon River, San Pedro River, Santa Cruz River
- right	San Francisco River, Salt River, Agua Fria River, Hassayampa River
Source	Confluence of East and West Forks
- location	Grant County, New Mexico
- elevation	5,551 ft (1,692 m)
- coordinates	33°10′47″N 108°12′22″W / 33.17972°N 108.20611°W / 33.17972; -108.20611 [1]
Mouth	Colorado River
- location	Yuma, Arizona
- elevation	118 ft (36 m)
- coordinates	32°43′11″N 114°33′19″W / 32.71972°N 114.55528°W / 32.71972; -114.55528 [1]
Length	649 mi (1,044 km) [2]
Basin	58,200 sq mi (150,737 km2) [2]
Discharge	for Dome, AZ; 12 mi (19 km) from the mouth
- average	247 cu ft/s (7 m3/s) [3]
- max	200,000 cu ft/s (5,663 m3/s)
- min	0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s)
Map of the Gila River watershed

The Gila River ( /ˈhiːlə/; O'odham [Pima]: Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil) is a 649-mile (1,044 km)^[2] tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of nearly 60,000 square miles (160,000 km²) that lies mainly within the U.S. but also extends into northern Sonora, Mexico. Indigenous peoples have lived along the river for at least 2,000 years, establishing complex agricultural societies before European exploration of the region began in the 1500s. However, whites did not permanently settle the Gila River watershed until the mid-19th century.

During the twentieth century, human development of the Gila River watershed necessitated the construction of large diversion and flood control structures on the river and its tributaries, and consequently the Gila now contributes only a small fraction of its historic flow to the Colorado. These engineering projects have transformed much of the river valley and its surrounds from arid desert to irrigated land, and supply water to over five million people that live in the watershed.

Geography[link]

The Gila River has its source in western New Mexico, in Sierra County on the western slopes of Continental Divide in the Black Range. It flows southwest through the Gila National Forest and the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, then westward into Arizona, past the town of Safford. After flowing along the southern slope of the Gila Mountains in Graham County through a series of canyons, the Gila is impounded by Coolidge Dam in San Carlos Lake south of Peridot.

It emerges from the mountains into the valley southeast of Phoenix, Arizona, where it crosses the Gila River Indian Reservation as an intermittent stream due to large irrigation diversions. Well west of Phoenix, the river bends sharply southward along the Gila Bend Mountains, then it swings westward again near the town of Gila Bend. It flows southwestward through the Gila Mountains in Yuma County, and finally it empties into the Colorado at Yuma, Arizona.

The Gila is joined by many tributaries, beginning with the East and West Forks of the river, which combine to form the main stem near Gila Hot Springs in New Mexico. Above Safford, it is joined by the San Francisco River and the intermittent San Simon River. Further downstream it is joined by the San Carlos River from the north in San Carlos Lake. At Winkelman, Arizona it picks up the San Pedro River and then is joined by the Santa Cruz River south of Casa Grande. The Salt River, its main tributary, joins in the Phoenix metro area, and further west the Gila receives its last two major tributaries, the Agua Fria and Hassayampa Rivers, from the north.

Although the Gila River flows entirely within the United States, the headwaters of two tributaries – the San Pedro and Santa Cruz Rivers – extend into Mexico. About 1,630 sq mi (4,200 km²), or 2.8% of the Gila's 58,200-square-mile (151,000 km²) watershed, is in Mexico.^[4] A further 3,300 sq mi (8,500 km²) or 5.7% lies within New Mexico, while the remaining majority, 53,270 sq mi (138,000 km²) or 91.5%, is in Arizona.^[5]

History[link]

A band of Pima (autonym "Akimel O'odham", river people), the Keli Akimel O'odham (Gila River People), have lived on the banks of the Gila River since before the arrival of Spanish explorers. Popular theory says that the word Gila was derived from a Spanish contraction of Hah-quah-sa-eel, a Yuma word meaning "running water which is salty".^[6] Their traditional way of life (himdagĭ, sometimes rendered in English as Him-dak) was and is centered at the river, which is considered holy. Traditionally, sand from the banks of the river is used as an exfoliant when bathing (often in rainstorms, especially during the monsoon).

Indigenous peoples such as the Hohokam were responsible for creating large, complex civilizations along the Gila and Salt Rivers between 600 and 1450 A.D. These native civilizations depended largely on irrigated agriculture, for the purposes of which they constructed over 200 miles (320 km) of canals.^[7]

The first European to see the Gila River was possibly Spanish explorer and missionary Juan de la Asunción. Asunción reached the Gila in 1538 after traveling northwards along one of its tributaries, either the San Pedro or Santa Cruz.^[8] In 1540, Hernando de Alarcón sailed up the Colorado and Gila Rivers; maps drawn by his expedition show the river as the Miraflores or Brazos de la Miraflores.^[9]

The Gila River near Coolidge Dam in Arizona

During the Mexican-American War, General Stephen Watts Kearny marched 100 cavalrymen from the 1st U.S. Dragoons along the Gila River in November 1846.^[10] This detachment was guided by Kit Carson. The Mormon Battalion followed Kearny's troops, building a wagon trail roughly following the river from December 1846 to January 1847.^[11]

After the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848, the Gila River served as a part of the border between the United States and Mexico until the 1853 Gadsden Purchase soon extended American territory well south of the Gila. The confluence of the Gila with the Colorado River was also used as a reference point for the southern border of California. Beginning in 1871, mainly Mormon settlers populated the Gila River valley around present-day Phoenix, using the Gila, Salt and San Pedro Rivers for irrigation and establishing at least six major settlements.^[12]

In 1944 twenty-five German POWs pulled off the largest and most spectacular escape from an American compound during the war, digging a 178-foot tunnel out of the Navy’s Papago Park Prisoner of War Camp in Arizona. All of the men were eventually captured, though some remained at large for more than a month. Among the last to be brought in were three German soldiers who had based their audacious but ill-fated escape plans on a stolen highway map of Arizona, which showed the Gila River leading to the Colorado River, which in turn led to Mexico.

Devising a scheme to flee by water, the Germans constructed a collapsible kayak under the noses of their American captors, tested it in a makeshift pool within the prison compound, then snuck it out through the tunnel. Their plan was perfect- except for the map. The Gila, shown as a healthy blue waterway, turned out to be little more than a dry rut.^[13]

Dams and diversions[link]

Painted Rock Dam in central Arizona, with its usually dry reservoir nearly full after heavy runoff in 2005

The only major dam on the Gila River is Coolidge Dam 31 miles (50 km) southeast of Globe, Arizona, which forms San Carlos Lake. The Painted Rock Dam crosses the Gila near Gila Bend, although the river is a transient one at that point. A number of minor diversion dams have been built on the river between the Painted Rock Dam and the Coolidge Dam, including the Gillespie Dam which was breached during a flood in 1993. Many dams have also been built on tributaries, including Theodore Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River, New Waddell Dam on the Agua Fria River, and Bartlett Dam on the Verde River. Many major dams in the Gila River system were built and operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation which also constructed most of the large dams throughout the Colorado River basin. Others, such as Coolidge Dam, are owned by local water supply agencies, irrigation districts or Native American tribes.

The Gila River and its main tributary, the Salt River, would both be perennial streams carrying large volumes of water, but irrigation and municipal water diversions turn both into usually dry rivers. Below Phoenix to the Colorado River, the Gila is usually either a trickle or completely dry, as is also the lower Salt from Granite Reef Diversion Dam downstream to the Gila, but both rivers can carry large volumes of water following rainfall. The Gila River a long time ago was navigable by boats from its mouth to near the Arizona – New Mexico border. The width varied from 150 to 1,200 feet (46 to 370 m) with a depth of 2 to 40 feet (0.61 to 12 m). The natural discharge of the river was roughly 1,300,000 acre feet (1.6 km³) per year, with a mean flow of about 1,800 cubic feet per second (51 m³/s) at the mouth.^[14] The river's present discharge near the mouth is less than 180,000 acre feet (0.22 km³) per year, with an average flow of just 247 cubic feet per second (7.0 m³/s).^[3] Overdraft from the Gila River system has prompted the construction of the Central Arizona Project, which delivers some 1,500,000 acre feet (1.9 km³) annually from the Colorado River to supplement water supplies in the basin.^[15]

The upper Gila River, including its entire length within New Mexico, is a free-flowing one. Recent efforts to allow for damming or otherwise diverting this stretch have met with stiff political resistance, having been named as one of the nation's most endangered rivers due to proposed dam projects such as Hooker Dam. During his time in office, former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson had promised to block any such attempt during his term, and he had even considered pushing for a statutory prohibition against any such projects on the state's portion of the river.^[16]

Recreation[link]

Middle Fork of the Gila River, SW New Mexico

Rock spires above the East Fork of the Gila River, Gila Wilderness

The Gila River between Virden, New Mexico and Solomon, Arizona is navigable during spring snowmelt and after summer and autumn storms. The river passes through many scenic canyons and stretches of Class I to III whitewater. Due to its desert surroundings, the river is characterized by erratic flows and flash floods that reach high peaks and drop off just as quickly. The Gila's Salt River tributary has even more difficult whitewater, ranging up to Class IV in places, and often has higher and more dependable flows than the Gila.

Boating and fishing are popular on San Carlos Lake and other basin reservoirs, including Lake Pleasant and Theodore Roosevelt Lake. The river system has 36 fish species,^[17] including largemouth bass, sunfish, channel catfish, flathead catfish and Gila Trout (Oncorhynchus gilae gilae).

Variant names[link]

The Gila River has also been known as:^[1]

• Akee-mull
• Apache de Gila
• Brazo de Miraflores
• Cina`ahuwipi (Chemehuevi language)
• Hah-quah-sa eel (Yuma language)
• Hela River
• Jila River
• Rio Azul
• Rio Gila
• Rio de las Balsas
• Rio del Nombre Jesus
• Rio del los Apostoles
• Zila River
• Xila River
• Keli Akimel

See also[link]

Gila River at U.S. 95

• San Francisco River
• San Pedro River
• Santa Cruz River
• Agua Fria River (Arizona)
• List of Arizona rivers
• List of New Mexico rivers
• List of tributaries of the Gila River
• List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem)
• Gila River War Relocation Center
• Needle's Eye Wilderness
• Gila and Salt River Meridian

References[link]

Footnotes[link]

Works cited[link]

• Benke, Arthur C.; Cushing, Colbert E. (2005). Rivers of North America. Academic Press. ISBN 0-12088-253-1. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Gila River

• Gila River Tourism Website
• Arizona Boating Locations Facilities Map
• Arizona Fishing Locations Map
• Where to Fish in Arizona Species Information
• Arizona Lake Levels

v t e Colorado River system Jurisdictions  United States (Arizona  · California  · Colorado  · Nevada  · New Mexico  · Utah  · Wyoming)  Mexico (Baja California  · Sonora) Canyons Byers Canyon Gore Canyon Red Gorge Glenwood Canyon De Beque Canyon Horsethief Canyon Ruby Canyon Westwater Canyon Cataract Canyon Narrow Canyon Glen Canyon Grand Canyon Marble Canyon Granite Gorge Middle Granite Gorge Lower Granite Gorge Grand Wash Canyon Iceberg Canyon Virgin Canyon Boulder Canyon Black Canyon Pyramid Canyon Mohave Canyon Natural features River course Rocky Mountains Colorado River Basin Grand Lake Sonoran Desert Mojave Desert Colorado Desert Imperial Valley Colorado Plateau New River Gulf of California/Sea of Cortez Salton Sea Delta Tributaries Blue River Dirty Devil River Dolores River Escalante River Eagle River Fraser River Gila River Green River Gunnison River Kanab Creek Little Colorado River Paria River Roaring Fork River San Juan River Virgin River Williams Fork Engineering Mainstem dams Shadow Mountain Granby Glen Canyon Hoover Davis Parker Palo Verde Imperial Laguna Morelos Major reservoirs Fontenelle Reservoir Flaming Gorge Reservoir Blue Mesa Reservoir Navajo Reservoir Lake Powell Lake Mead Lake Mohave Lake Havasu Theodore Roosevelt Lake San Carlos Lake Aqueducts and canals Grand Ditch Colorado River Aqueduct San Diego Aqueduct Central Arizona Project All-American Canal Coachella Canal Water projects Boulder Canyon Project  · Colorado-Big Thompson Project  · Colorado River Storage Project  · Grand Valley Project  · Yuma Project See also: Floyd Dominy  · International Boundary and Water Commission  · Metropolitan Water District of Southern California  · U.S. Bureau of Reclamation  · William Mulholland Designated areas Arches National Park Canyonlands National Park Colorado National Monument Dead Horse Point State Park Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Grand Canyon National Park Lake Mead National Recreation Area Rocky Mountain National Park

Nadine Ruth Mix (1912 – 1977) was the daughter of western film star Tom Mix, and a B-movie actress during the 1930s.

Born in Dewey, Oklahoma, to Tom and Olive Stokes Mix, she started her acting career following in her fathers footsteps. In the mid-1920s she starred in several silent films. She made a total of twelve westerns, particularly The Tonto Kid, Fighting Pioneers, Saddle Aces and Gunfire, all made in 1935. In 1936 she starred in three cliffhanger serials, The Black Coin, The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand, and Custer's Last Stand.

She played the female lead in a few B-westerns, starring alongside Wally Walls and Hoot Gibson. She then retired from acting and began taking the lead role for her fathers circus and wild west show. That business went bankrupt by the end of the 1930s, during the Great Depression. After that, she all but disappeared from acting circles. Some accounts say that she died in 1972, but it is most commonly believed that she died in 1977.

External links[link]

• Ruth Mix at the Internet Movie Database
• Ruth Mix at AllRovi
• B-Western Ladies, Ruth Mix

This article about a United States film actor or actress born in the 1910s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2011)

Robert "Tree" Cody (born in Los Angeles, California) is a Native American actor, dancer, and educator.^[1] He is one of the most notable performers of the Native American flute. He has released many albums^[2] with Canyon Records and has toured throughout the Americas, Europe, and East Asia. He performed the traditional carved wooden flute on several tracks of The Rippingtons' 1999 album Topaz.^[3]

Robert "Tree" Cody is the adopted son of the actor Iron Eyes Cody and his wife Bertha, who adopted Robert and his brother when they were very young. The brothers are of Dakota and Maricopa heritage. Robert is an enrolled member of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. His traditional name is Oou Kas Mah Qwet, meaning "Thunder Bear".

He resides on the Navajo Nation reservation with his wife Cynthia. His nickname, "Tree", comes from his height: he is 6 feet 10 inches tall.

Cody was featured playing his flute in the tenth episode of the PBS series Reading Rainbow, entitled "The Gift of the Sacred Dog" (based on the book by Paul Goble). It was shot at Montana's Crow Agency reservation on June 17, 1983.

References[link]