Gila
Gila is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- 33.11°, -111.26°
About Gila
The Gila River ( HEE-lə; O'odham: Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa: Xiil) is a 649-mile-long (1,044 km) tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of nearly 60,000 square miles (160,000 km2) that lies mostly within the U.S., but also extends into northern Sonora, Mexico.
Indigenous peoples have lived along the river for at least 2,000 years, establishing complex agricultural societies before European exploration of the region began in the 16th century. European Americans did not permanently settle the Gila River watershed until the mid-19th century.
During the 20th century, development in the Gila River watershed prompted the construction of large diversion and flood control structures on the river and its tributaries, consequently the Gila contributes only a small fraction of its historic flow to the Colorado. The historic natural discharge of the river was around 1,900 cubic feet per second (54 m3/s), but has declined to only 247 cubic feet per second (7.0 m3/s).
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Gila River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Gila in Depth
Geography
The Gila River has its source in western New Mexico, in Sierra County on the western slopes of the Continental Divide in the Black Range. It flows southwest through the Gila National Forest, the Gila Wilderness, and 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, primarily at the Hayden Ashurst Diversion Dam.
Hydrology
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 intermittent at that point. The majority of the water is diverted at the Ashurst-Hayden Diversion Dam near Florence, Arizona. 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 been built on tributaries to the Gila River, including Theodore Roosevelt Dam, Horse Mesa Dam, and Mormon Flat Dam on the Salt River, New Waddell Dam on the Agua Fria River, and Bartlett Dam on the Verde River.
History
A band of Akimel O'odham (Pima), 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 Quechan word meaning "running water which is salty". 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 Middle Gila River and Salt River between 600 and 1450 AD.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Gila River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Gila: Key Facts
| Length | 1,044 km |
|---|---|
| Average discharge | 172 m³/s |
| Drainage basin | 150,737 km² |
| Source | East Fork Gila River |
| Mouth | Colorado River |
| Drainage system | Gila River basin |
| Tributaries | Agua Fria River, Salt River, San Francisco River, Santa Cruz River, San Pedro River, Eagle Creek, Hassayampa River |
Facts from Wikidata Q838143 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Gila: Quick Answers
- Where is Gila?
- Gila is located in United States, at 33.1116° N, 111.2556° W.
- Are there dams on the Gila?
- No dam on the Gila is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.